A Little About How I Started
Speedwell Nature was set up in 2020 by Sharon Duggan who creates lovely, natural handmade soap, as well as handmade jewellery made with recycled silver. All made in the village of Cranleigh in Surrey, at the foot of the Surrey Hills (an area of outstanding natural beauty -AONB).
Speedwell Nature soaps are completely free of chemicals (yes, really - because sodium hydroxide used to create lye when mixed with water, is no longer present once the soap has saponified), free of preservatives and are only coloured using botanical dye plants or natural clays. They are also scented using only essential oils. The added extra about Speedwell's soaps is that they look gorgeous as they're made in small batches using beautiful moulds. This makes using the soap a luxurious lathering and moisturising experience!
There's also as little waste in Speedwell products as it's possible to have, however, using cardboard and paper is never great either as it has a higher carbon footprint than plastic, but there are certain legal requirements regarding labelling that have to be followed.
Speedwell Nature Jewellery is predominantly silver jewellery using recycled silver
About Me
I'm really passionate about the environment and have been educating and writing about it for over thirty years. I've written for the environmental charity WWF(UK), have run sustainable living projects and workshops, been an organic gardener for thirty-five years, make my own household cleaners and quite a few personal care products and lots more. I'm also an Accredited Climate Change Teacher and am committed to ensuring that any plants I use are either grown on my organic allotment, in my organic garden or are picked up off the forest floor to be used as moulds for my silver jewellery.
I've been a professional singer and tarot reader for many years, as well as making soap and jewellery as hobbies, however, when my music business was badly hit during the pandemic, it inspired me to turn my hobbies into a business.
As for speedwells, well they have long been one of my favourite flowers with their beautiful bluey-violet colour – I call them tiny perfection and the name just dropped instantly into my head when I first started this latest reinvention of myself - so it must be right! I've been passionate about wild flowers though, native trees and the natural world since childhood, growing up in a small seaside village in Wales. To this day, I continue to increase my extensive knowledge on my daily walks in remote places, as well as on trips to the coast. I'm a keen gardener with spaces that have evolved to be a heady mix of both wild and cultivated plants. My other big inspiration is the myth and magic of our beautiful countryside and I'm keen to infuse my work (and my soaps!) with its wild energy! My designs are very rustic, but in a good way, so I really hope that you love them too....
