The Massachusetts Sustainable Business Network recently recognized Artifact Soapworks, a black property business in Cambridge, as one of the most aware of the Massachusetts environment.
The business is owned by the resident of Cambridge, Barbara A. Thomas, who manufactures and sells soaps of organic and biodegradable ingredients. Thomas was one of the seven small businesses around Massachusetts to receive a 2024 sustainable business award earlier this month. The SBN, which grants the prize annually, is a non -profit organization that focuses on creating a greener local economy.
Thomas said she was “shocked” and “proud” of having won a 2024 sustainable business award.
“I had no idea that a small company as small as mine, much less to someone who worked in his studio, was on radar for such a prestigious prize,” Thomas said. “Because the types of people who win this award are indigenous farms or seafood or people with brick and mortar.”
Thomas gets his ingredients to make local farm and businesses. She buys olive oil and karité butter from Catania Oils, a business operated by the family in yesterday, Massachusetts. It also practices sustainable production, often using manual tools to limit its carbon footprint.
Thomas said that his passion for soap manufacturing began during his time as studying chemical engineering integrated as a student at MIT in the early 1990s. One of his teachers offered additional credit to students who executed batch processing projects out of the class, and one of those projects was the manufacture of soaps.
“I decided to make soap, and I began to give it to my family and friends during Christmas,” Thomas said. “Like when you have, as, a fruit cake you give, something that is traditional and delicious or that is only expected during vacation seasons in December.”
After his family began to spread his soap to his friends and family in New York, Thomas said he decided to convert artifact soaps into a LLC.
Faithful to his name, Artifact Soapworks sells soaps in the forms of famous figures and statues, including the models based on Willendorf, Gargoyles and Buddha.
“Anyone can make square soap, but I like to make soaps that look like artifacts,” Thomas said.
Thomas soaps are not only formed by molds, but are formed by the values and experiences of Thomas’s life. She said she strives to be honest with her clients, use clean and vegan ingredients and use chemical engineering principles to design soaps that are good for the environment and the people who use them.
“There are all these other companies that make square soap and make promises,” said Thomas. “I only tell people that my soap will cleanse you.”
In addition to the manufacture of soap, Thomas teaches people how to make their own soap to spread the awareness of the environmental impact of soap use.
“Some of the people who take my class begin their own soap businesses,” Thomas said. “And I say: ‘You do not need to outsource other countries, there are local places here that you can use and this is the best way I can teach you to save water or recycle soap molds.'”
Artifact Soapworks also participated in the emerging window of the month of black history in Harvard Square earlier this month. Thomas said this was a good opportunity to show his online business, as well as other black property businesses, to the local community.
“February serves as an annual vital commemoration that recognizes and celebrates the deep contributions of the black diaspora,” Thomas said.
Thomas says that the emerging window also creates awareness about the challenges of being an owner of a black business, especially in a expensive area like Cambridge.
“This month, which bind as black business owners, or simply recognize the month of black history, serves as a catalyst for difficult but necessary conversations about systemic racism, both historically and currently,” said Thomas.
“I, by choice, decided to be a business at home, but some people are not making emerging windows by choice,” Thomas added. “They want a store and they are looking for something that can afford your home here in Cambridge.”
– You can contact staff writer Kevin Zhong in kevin.zhong@thecrimson.com.
– You can contact staff writer Jaya N. Karamcheti in jaya.karamcheti@thecrimson.com.