Our Story

Hi, I’m Shae – your friendly Gold Coast soap maker. I’m forever chasing adventure, sandy toes and wide, open spaces with my family, in our revamped vintage caravan, Bertie.

 

Crawford and Co Handmade was born of a desire to do better by the earth, and the intense chemical sensitivity I developed upon becoming a mum. 

I would feel ill at the mere whiff of synthetic scents and I realised how omnipresent these fragrances are in the products we use at home and on our skin.

I was inspired to strip life back to the essentials: to live simply, breathe clean air and use natural products with minimal ingredients that do what they should. 

Life without candles was never an option, so I combined my love of candle-making with my flair for aromatherapy concoctions and set about creating a collection of non-toxic candles, using little more than soy wax, braided cotton and pure essential oils. 

Developing a soap recipe was a natural progression in lessening my family’s environmental impact and protecting our health. I was done mispronouncing weird ingredients and binning plastic bodywash bottles. 

I wanted a safe, zero-waste soap that cleaned without irritation. Six months of trial and error culminated in the creamy, cruelty-free lather you experience from our soap bars.   

Not content to stop in the bathroom, I extended this same ethos to the kitchen in creating The Kitchen Block; loosely modelled on traditional French dish soap.  It must have a certain je ne sais quoi, as it’s quickly become our bestselling product. 

From humble beginnings, selling at the Currumbin Community Markets, our products are now stocked by more than twenty retailers, including leading eco store, Biome. 

I hope that my little labours of love will help you in your pursuit of a healthier, greener home.

Shae x