Photo by Joanna Wizmur
Fancy all-purpose soap bars that will improve your skin, hair and even smell without harming you or planet earth? Sauberkunst is the Berlin indie equivalent of Lush – packaging-free, handmade, fair-trade, vegan… just think no funky colours, no gimmicky marketing or aggressive sales methods, and 80 percent organic! It all started when Annett Förster (today 40), a naturopath from Brandenburg, began experimenting with the craft of natural soap-making in her kitchen in 2010. Two years later, what started as a hobby turned into a thriving small business, with two production sites in Brandenburg and 40 employees hand-making the vegan, mostly organic, fair-trade products, to be sold unpackaged at her two locations: the original Sauberkunst in Mitte’s Nikolaiviertel, and since last month, her brand new shop near S-Bahn Schönhauser Allee, in Prenzlauer Berg. Here, adepts of the toiletries aisle of Berlin’s package-free supermarkets such as Original Unverpack and Der Sache Wegen will be spoiled for choice. A bestseller is the solid bar of shampoo (€5.50) that comes in a variety of playful fragrances, such as Mango Lassi, Cherry Blossom and Sandalwood with coffee extract. The equivalent of up to three regular bottles of hair product, it instantly becomes foamy as you lather it up in your hands. Our favourite is the “Gute Laune” body butter (€5.50), a solid take on Shea butter, which, with its delicate smell and creamy feel, just does what it says on the (non-)cover. For real Fundis: Sauberkunst also sells reusable organic makeup removal pads (four for €5.90), which you can chuck into the washing machine at 60 degrees instead of the bin.
Sauberkunst, Probststr. 1, Mitte, and Schivelbeiner Str. 35, Prenzlauer Berg, Mon-Fri 11-20, Sat 11-18