The practices surrounding the use of olive oil intrigued me. It has been used for anointing, (my grandfather was a priest) and for medicinal purposes. My mum never was without her bottle of olive oil when she was at the beach for skin moisture, and of coarse with our mediterranean background, we poured it all over our food. Olive oil has stood the test of time and remains essential and iconic and super delicious. So my love affair with this beautiful, fragrant green oil began as a child as it was used everyday….who doesn’t love a fresh tomato with feta, olives and oregano, doused with extra virgin olive oil? Simple pleasures.
I moved to Byron Bay in 1978 with my husband Peter, who is also of Mediterranean heritage. I have always been creative, in art the of crafting leather bags, designing, sketching and oil painting. My love for music and guitar playing, led to audio engineering, and I remain a sound engineer. My domestic world was coloured with goat rearing, cheese making, landscaping, sewing, and designing homewares. The world of creative thought was endless. The canvas eventually grew to include our mud brick home. My husband blames his aching wrists on my limitless creativity but has loved the journey into a world without bounds. I wanted to live in a creative space and we achieved that. Whilst handling mud ( laspi in greek), during the building process I began to understand why mud packs and mud treatments were so beneficial. My hands always felt soft at the end of the day, even after working, as they were constantly immersed in mud! I realised mud had amazing properties.
Nostalgic memories of bathing with rustic soap in the courtyard at my grandparent’s home on the Greek island of Symi, sparked a passion for the art of soap making. Understanding the benefits of precious pure olive oil and mud led to a natural progression of combining what has now become the foundation of L A S P I products. After a period of 5 years of different trials and tests, I rested with my recipe.
Family and friends became excited about the benefits they were experiencing as they visited our home and tried our
L A S P I products. The results were obvious. Friends would come for dinner and after a quick trip to the sink to try the much talked about L A S P I, would sit at the table amazed at how radiant their skin looked. The journey had begun, and L A S P I was born.