The Shetland Soap Company aims to do more than create scents inspired by the landscape and heritage of the island.
It is part of COPE Limited, a social enterprise that provides skills and employability training for people in Shetland living with learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.
Shetland Soap Company makes a wide range of products from soaps and shower gels to bath bombs and shampoo bars.
They have a number of scent ranges, all unique but sharing one common inspiration: Shetland.
Those on the programme could be serving customers in the Shetland Soap Company shop in Lerwick or working behind the scenes to create and package any of their signature scents.
Inspired by the island
When you first smell any of the ranges, it doesn’t take long to decipher how it ties in with life in Shetland.
Norseman encapsulates Shetland’s Viking past with notes of wood and leather. Shoormal, the Shetland word for where the shore meets the sea, smells of waterlily and is reminiscent of the beach.
Osla Jamwal-Fraser, branding & marketing officer at COPE explained the thought behind Crofters, a lemongrass and rosemary based scent.
She said: “The fragrances are developed on the basis of things that are inspired by Shetland.
“For example, with Crofters, the name is taken from the fact that crofters are one of our main industries in Shetland, but the scent is a fresh clean scent.
“This goes along with the idea that crofters will be people who want to have that clean feeling when they come in and wash their hands after working with the sheep.”
COPE Limited
Since its inception in 2002, the Shetland Soap Company has been one of COPE’s four businesses on the island, the other three being a kitchen, home and garden company.
All four businesses work to help disabled islanders build up the confidence needed to start their own employment pathway.
Mrs Jamwal-Fraser explained why COPE decided to branch out into different areas like this: “The reason why we have different business areas was originally to diversify the areas of skills development that we could provide.
“Participants can choose what they want to do and specialise in areas that are suited to their skills, ambitions and interests.”
There are currently 30 participants working across all four business areas. Furthermore, six people who previously took part in the training are now on the payroll as employees.
COPE was built to help those living with leaning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders to become more autonomous and gain vital skills needed for any workplace.
“We have the social purpose as our main central purpose for existing, everything else that we do functions around that,” said Mrs Jamwal-Fraser.
“It really is about trying to help and have a positive impact on as many people’s lives as possible.”
‘If you feel like you’re valued, you step up to that mark’
Mrs Jamwal-Fraser said the impact the training has on people in the community is “truly amazing”.
She said: “For a lot of our participants, coming into COPE is maybe one of the first times in their lives where they are expected to contribute.
“They are given an inclusive environment where people are willing to give people the time and support that they need individually to reach their full potential.
“We see people come in and absolutely blossom and, in a certain sense, becoming different people because they grow.”
COPE’s ethos of inclusion comes into play when they provide everyone involved in the training with equal opportunities.
“All of us, not just people with learning difficulties or disabilities, have limits that are placed on us by what is expected of us and what people tell us we can do,” explained Mrs Jamwal-Fraser.
“If you feel like you’re accepted and you feel like you’re valued, you step up to that mark, everyone does. That is not something that is different for people with learning disabilities, it’s just that they have much less access to it that other people do.”
More than just soap
Shetland Soap Company products are sold all across the UK. They have also received interest from international stockists, but Brexit meant that this remains in the pipeline for now.
Many who visit the island take the products home as gifts, or to keep a bit of the island with them.
Mrs Jamwal-Fraser explained that by making a purchase, whether it be online or on the island itself, customers are doing much more than just buying soap.
She said: “At the end of the day, you’re not just getting a really nice bar of soap.
“What you’re getting is to feel like you have contributed to that great piece of work. You’ve contributed to a participant having a fantastic day and opportunities that otherwise they perhaps wouldn’t have.”