Home Food-Vegetable Carving Soap Glass Contact

Page Carvings Displays Carvings Paintings Information

Soap Carving History

Hand carved soap flowers originated in the village of Chian Rai, in Northern Thailand.

The villagers started carving soaps as a hobby while not working on their farm.

Those soap flowers were then sold at the night bazaar along with various other handcrafted souvenirs like ceramics, carved wood and clothing.

Artist Jean-Marc Montjarret, already an expert in fruit and vegetable carving, discovered soap carving during a visit to Thailand and decided to learn the craft. He soon after returned to Thailand and spent four months with a well known carver and author carving soaps many hours daily.

He then used his learning’s to develop his own techniques, studying many real flowers in order to create realistic soap flowers.

He uses a special soap that he imports from Asia as none of the soaps he tried in the United States were soft enough to work with. He also does not use any special tools, only one very sharp carving knife.

Each of his creations is unique and should be enjoyed for a very long time.