Laura Lajoie owns Copper Beech Handmade, LLC in Worcester, MA.
Describe your business or work:
We make small batches of handmade, cold process soaps using all vegetable oils, fragrance and essential oils, mineral and other colorants, and eco-friendly decorations. We package our products using as little plastic as possible, and we personally use everything we make before we package it for sale. We just fell in love with all the varied designs that cold process soap making allows, and we want to share it with our family, friends and everyone! Our soap’s not fancy, but it IS fun!!
We love when people compliment our soap, saying things like, “it’s too pretty to use!” We know it’s a compliment, and we take it as such. But we also know that there’s no time like the present to use the pretty things! If it makes you smile, use it all the time!! Life is short – enjoy every little bit of it!
Laura Lajoie
How to do business with Copper Beech Handmade:
Contact & Location:
- Phone: 5087691384
- 4 Stowell Ave, Worcester, MA 01606
Special Hours & Protocols:
Online shop open 24/7. Local craft fairs whenever possible, although this year will be difficult to say.
Social Media & Website
- Website: https://copper-beech-handmade-llc.myshopify.com/
- Instagram / @copperbeechhandmade
- Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/copperbeechhandmade/
About Laura Lajoie
Tell us about you and how you got started:
My grandmother used to have the best smelling soaps in her bathroom! We spent a lot of time with her during the summers when I was young, and she always had soaps with little flecks in them, or glycerin *see-through* soaps with shapes in them that I just thought were so fun. Even as I got older, if I went to a craft fair or gift shop, I would stop to smell all the pretty soaps! I figured I should just try it, so I read about soapmaking for several years (while my kids were small) before trying my hand at cold-process soaping. The slower-moving cold-process techniques allow for more time to play with color and designs, and I decided that’s where I wanted to focus what was then just my new hobby. When my kids were finally old enough that I could trust they wouldn’t eat stuff off the floor anymore, I figured I’d try my hand at it! Still reading, and now also getting hints from other soapers on YouTube, I gave it a shot, and fell in love! I started making so much soap, I would just give it to family and friends as gifts. Then friends started telling me they’d pay for my soaps, they loved them so much! Whaaaat?!? A year or so ago, we decided we’d try to officially sell at local craft shows when we could, and try to get a web shop up and running, which we did at the end of 2019. We mostly still make soap for fun, but in addition to our family and our full-time jobs, other hobbies and responsibilities, we love to share our handmade creations with everyone!
What are your favorite resources:
Marketing/business is not really in our wheelhouse, so resources, like Ladies Night Out Worcester that I can be a part of to help me network, are so important. There are lots of great, trustworthy soap supply retailers online, and so many other soapers I’ve met and seen on channels like YouTube that are super helpful and willing to share what they know.
Any advice for others that are trying to start a project or business:
Don’t get discouraged! We’re still struggling through that phase, but we have so many friends and family that support and encourage us, we just keep trying!