On the 27th of November 2018, we organized a hands-on soap making workshop at Makerspace which was conducted by Evelyn Marieta the founder of Wunderbath Co, a business that focuses on producing handmade bath products. We had about 20 participants who took part in the workshop consisting of a diverse group of students and university staff.

In conjunction with World Disability Day which was the week after the workshop, we had two guest speakers with disabilities to share some of their inspirational stories. One of them is a current student at Sunway University. Their talks helped to fuel a passionate short discussion on improving the quality and well-being of students with disability in campus.

Evelyn conducting the soap making workshop.

Shortly after, Evelyn gave an inspiring introduction on how she started off making soaps as a business venture and how young entrepreneurs could learn and do the same with skillsets that they would gain from the workshop. Participants were really excited about the workshop and everyone brought their own moulds to keep the soap that they make. We wanted to also promote re-using waste materials and it encouraged participants to bring containers like milk cartons, yogurt cups, coffee boxes, juice boxes, plastic bottles and etc.

Soap mixture ready for vigorous stirring!

Final step – pour the mixture into your personalized mould.

Soaps are now ready for use.

Sliced soap – with lavender.

One other desirable outcome from this workshop was that some participants felt motivated to want to learn about making handmade soaps using used cooking oil to reduce waste products. To make that a reality, we intend to reach out to Green Yards, a social initiative in Malaysia specializing in re-processing used cooking oil from the local community to be made into soaps and candles.

Participants, guest speakers and the organizing team.