BASSETERRE, St. Kitts –- ESTABLISHED just a few months ago, Kavvies Kreative Kollections is setting the benchmark in the development of soap and soap products in St. Kitts and Nevis.
This small enterprise and its initiative were birthed in the St. Paul’s area by a single-parent mother, with it being a family affair, primarily operated by her and daughter. But when the need arises a few more family members would contribute.
Speaking with SKNVibes Business at the recent Development Bank Fair held in the Independence Square, owner and manager of the enterprise Kavita Francis explained that her business is into an assortment of items and not only the production of soaps.
“We do soaps, lotion bars and knit bands, as you can see. We have a variety of soaps. They are just not ordinary soaps; they are soaps with flairs and we make them as realistic possible,” Francis said.
“I have been doing it for about two months…the soaps making part of it. We have been doing word frames, photo art, invitations and so forth. But we just started doing the body products about two months ago,” she explained.
She noted that the word frames are personalised; in that a customer may want to present someone with a gift made up of words on a special occasion, such as Mother’s or Father’s Day, and she would make up sentences or phrases, if the individual could not, and have them framed in a decorative manner.
Photo art is also personalised and done in a similar manner.
The frames, she added, are made from local material.
Francis informed that most of her soap-making material are not sourced locally but procured overseas, and that the product contains several of the regular ingredients one would find within any imported bath soap.
“All of my bath soaps would contain Vitamin E Oil and Olive Oil. And depending on the type of soap I am making, for example, I would use Tree Oil, honey and goat milk for the Goat Milk Soap.”
Francis also informed that they currently produce bath and decorative soaps.
Bath soaps are typically made up of moisturisers and cleansing agents that work together to soften skin and loosen it. Depending on the brand, there can be more cleansing agents than moisturisers or vice versa.
Francis also informed that she produces hand lotions, and they are made from natural ingredients.
“In producing hand lotions, I would use Coco Butter, Shea Butter, Bees Wax, Coconut Oil, Almond Oil and Olive Oil. The finished product comes in solid bars and when applied to the skin, it melts on touch.
The Willet’s Estate Housing Development resident, who is employed at the Royal Bank of Canada, explained that the love for new creations was the driving force behind her soap operation.
To this end, she began researching how soaps and body lotions are produced, at which time she was still carrying out other aspects of the business, such as making handcrafted items.
“I was always of a creative nature. I always like to see something different and not the same old stuff one would find on the local market. I saw these beautiful soaps and they just reached out to me, and I went and looked at them online and saw how they were made. They even have a lot of courses online, so I did a lot of those.”
Francis currently operates the business from her home and is seeking to have it permanently established within a prominent commercial area that would be easily accessible to customers.
She said that her aim is to produce the current products on a larger scale, and that she was grossly influenced by a US company called Bath and Body Works and someday hopes to achieve that status.
Francis stated that if individuals are interested in purchasing large or small amounts of the soaps, she could be found on facebook or at kavvieskreativekollection.com, or at (869) 664-8301.
