What Senteurs d’Orient
Where Lebanon
Since Hana Debs Akkari founded the company in 2000
Why The antithesis of the mass-market product, Senteurs d’Orient offers luxury soaps handmade by artisans using traditional techniques and only the finest natural and organic ingredients.
www.senteursdorient.com
Senteurs d’Orient market themselves as authentic makers of natural luxury soaps from the Orient. What’s new about that, you may ask. After all this is a region that has specialised, for thousands of years, in crafting beautiful soaps sold as works of art. Yet this is also a region that has failed to safeguard the skills of its craftsmen. Nowadays, like the Western world, the highly individualised, limited business of made-to-order fabrication has largely collapsed in the face of a mass-market model with unlimited profit potential.
“From the outset, I wanted to honour the tradition of Levantine soap making. That is after all a major reason why this country was a port of call on the ancient silk route,” reveals Hana Akkari the creator and founder of Senteurs d’Orient. The majority of techniques she employs are in keeping with soap’s first recorded mention, a 4,500-year-old Sumerian tablet. Yet she also has one foot in the present, having fitted a state-of-the-art, modern and sophisticated laboratory tailored to ensure the hand-made character of the products while supporting a superior production environment for her labourers.
In keeping with this tradition, Senteurs d'Orient is dedicated to producing natural soap that is totally free of any bleaching agents or animal fat. The company offers only the highest quality natural ingredients such as the purest oils from Lebanon, the best Shea butter from Western Africa and the delicate fragrances of Grasse, France.
Of course, much of the mystique behind luxury goods hinges on the assumption that they are handmade by skilled craftsmen. But this assumption has recently been blown out of the water. Hermès has openly outsourced the sewing of scarves to Mauritius. Louis Vuitton, a 3 billion USD-a-year leather industry in its own right, created a shoe factory in India, and Armani has embraced Chinese labourers. So Senteurs d’Orient’s steadfast approach to traditional artisanal Lebanese production is praiseworthy to say the least.
Furthermore, Senteurs d’Orient helps Lebanese women undertake professional training. “A proportion of the profits from every sale go towards educating women in Lebanon in order to provide them with a better life and greater possibilities for choices,” reveals Akkari. Yet after all is said and done, it’s the quality of the product that will keep you coming back for more and Senteurs d'Orient soap offers a luxurious bathing experience. The fact that this experience evokes the timeless traditions of the Middle East is a bonus.
