SoapJoy! is a small, woman-owned business based in San Diego and Pasadena, California.  The owner, Joy, has long been interested in the “practical arts”, particularly soapmaking and knitting, because these forms of artisan craftsmanship also serve a functional or utilitarian purpose.  Her interest in handcrafted soaps has spanned much of the last decade, ever since a close friend gave her a bar of hand-milled French Lavender soap for her birthday.  After years of thinking about handcrafted soaps, and because she desperately needed something to distract her from writing her dissertation in higher education, Joy finally took the plunge  and started making her own soap.  That was it!  She fell in love (some might say became OBSESSED!) with soaps and all things soap-related, as well as with the idea that she could hand-pick which skin-loving oils and butters to put in her soap.  Family and friends have benefited from Joy’s soap obsession by receiving boxes filled with different kinds of soaps in the mail as gifts and for special occasions.  To ensure a continuing supply of free soap, these same family and friends encouraged her to move forward and open her own soap business.  The result is SoapJoy!, a company that combines Joy’s desire for functional artisan craftsmanship with her ongoing commitment to help make the world a better and cleaner place, one bar of soap at a time.