A Conversation with Caroline Laye (Creativity Over Coffee)
Guess what, friends! It’s time for our next installment of Creativity Over Coffee and can’t wait for you to hear my chat with my friend Caroline! You’re gonna love it! So grab your coffee (or tea) and join us!
Creativity Over Coffee
Meet Caroline Laye founder of Atlantic Soap Co. based on Cape Cod. I first met Caroline last November at a little event at Coastal Brahmin’s pop-up shop in Mashpee Commons. We clicked instantly and became fast friends. Caroline is such a nice person and she makes the most unbelievable products. I LOVE her soaps. She is so generous with her time and information. I’m looking forward to catching up with her in person at New England Coastal Creative’s Bloom Conference. I’m so excited to introduce you to Caroline:
A Conversation with Caroline Laye
Thank you so much for deciding to join me for coffee and chat about your creative process. When I had just graduated from film school in London and couldn’t find work, I found inspiration through the many biographies I read from the library. I used to go there each week and take out more.
Many people believe they are not creative. I hear this all the time. It is my hope with these conversations with my talented friends that I hope to inspire my readers to believe that they truly are creative. That creativity is just sitting inside of them waiting to bubble over.
Hi Caroline, it’s such a pleasure to have you on the blog. Can you share more about your creative path with my readers?
Caroline – I’m so happy to be here and to share with your readers! I was always a pretty creative kid, I loved to draw and I loved being on the stage singing and acting. I went to college at GW in Washington, DC and that was really my first exposure to big art institutions like the National Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Corcoran Gallery. In DC most of the museums are free so I was lucky to be able to spend a ton of time wandering the galleries and taking in all the beauty and inspiration they had to offer. I decided to major in Art History with a Minor in Fine Arts. After college I attended grad school in London and got a Masters Degree in Fine & Decorative Arts. I met like-minded students who shared my passion for art and fueled my creativity. It was a very exciting and formative time of my life that I remember with great fondness and try to always keep that early enthusiasm alive in my everyday work.
I can see your art background coming out in your products and packaging. Can you share more about Atlantic Soap Company with my readers? What made you start making soap?
Caroline – In 2015 my husband landed his dream job in Woods Hole on Cape Cod. We moved here without really knowing anyone and I did not have a clear career path, I just knew I had to get the lay of the land and make something work. For a couple of years I worked in a shop in Falmouth as a sales clerk, merchandiser and buyer and while I liked the shop and my co-workers, I needed a bigger creative challenge. One day, purely by chance, I discovered a magazine about soap making and lightning struck. I started to do research and make small batches in my kitchen and I was hooked! I never could have imagined how far you can take your creativity in soap making and how much you can manipulate recipes and designs to make something that is uniquely your own.
When do you feel most creative or happy?
Caroline – I love designing new products for ASC. Sometimes inspiration comes in the middle of the night, sometimes while I am cooking dinner, and sometimes while I am at the beach admiring the colors and textures of my Cape surroundings. I have several notebooks filled with scribbled ideas for new products and I revisit them whenever I feel stuck.
That’s a great idea! Who or what inspires you?
Caroline – It’s no accident that the business is called Atlantic. The sea itself is an inspiration but also the vast array of cultures, explorers, artists and creatures that live on both sides of the Atlantic inspire my work and my creative process. The minerals and salts of the Atlantic are in every bar of soap I make and they are tied in that way to Cape Cod but also to the whole ocean. I love the romance of this, it makes me want to get out and explore!
Do you have a favorite product you make? I love your Chatham Kelp Beauty Bar.
Caroline – The Chatham Kelp Beauty Bar is definitely special but my all time favorite is Ultramarine. It has seen a few different versions but the constant is always the brilliant blue. When I was studying art history I was so captivated by the brilliant ultramarine blue used by painters to create stunning skies or seas. Ultramarine means “beyond the sea” in Latin and I can’t think of a more perfect pigment to represent an art historian who lives and works by the sea and uses seawater as an ingredient.
Ooooh, the color is fabulous. I really like that one too. What’s your favorite color?
Caroline – Blue! Then Pink.
My readers love to hear more about the process of making and creating. Can you give us a peek at what it’s like to run your company? Any must have things that make your life easier being a creative entrepreneur?
Caroline – Running ASC is never dull! I wear a lot of hats so there is always something to do (often many things simultaneously). I usually take some time Monday morning with my coffee to review the week and plan my production schedule, meetings that need to take place, campaigns for new products or upcoming events, and anything else that might need my attention. For must have things, I am a listmaker! I would never get anything done without a list and I love my Mutitasker notepad from James Point Stationery. It keeps me on point!
What’s been the most challenging and what has been the most rewarding aspects of owning your own business?
Caroline – I can answer both of those with the same thing: it’s all up to me! As a solopreneur, you are the one who is accountable and who has to set the agenda and the goals for the business and then stick to it. It’s definitely very challenging at times but it is also the most rewarding job I have ever had. Creative freedom is truly worth all of the challenges that come with it.
What’s next for Atlantic Soap Company? Do you have any new products or launches coming soon?
Caroline – I am very excited to be launching the Terrazzo Facial Bar. This extra special bar is a collaboration with Nicole Perullo of Nolia Mabel Skin Spa and it brings together several nourishing elements to bring forth your best, most radiant complexion. Gentle exfoliants like activated charcoal, rose clay, french green clay and fine volcanic sand cleanse the skin of impurities while inclusions of rose hydrosol and aloe vera soothe, hydrate, and nourish the skin. This is launching March 19th, available for pre-order now here.
I actually had a sneak peek of this bar and love it! I use it every night on my face. What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps or who would like to start a creative business?
Caroline – Build a network of small business peers and mentors! Do it as soon as you can! This is especially important if you do not have a business partner. The support and shared wisdom and expertise that I have found through groups like EforAll and the New England Coastal Creatives has been invaluable. Having someone to chat to who gets it will keep you sane and help you remember that everyone has challenges. Having fellow creatives to bounce ideas around or talk things through is so important and so stimulating.
Growing up I was a huge follower of INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO. At the end of the program, they would ask the interviewee these questions:
What is your favorite word? Aesthetics
What is your least favorite word? Anxious
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Art Museums and World of Interiors Magazine
What turns you off? Closed minded people
What is your favorite curse word? Fuck
What sound or noise do you love? My dog “talking”
What sound or noise do you hate? My dog puking
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Interior Designer
What profession would you not like to do? Accountant
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? You loved as hard as you could and lived a creative life
Wasn’t that just such a lovely conversation? Everything she makes is so beautiful and natural. I love that it’s infused with the sea. A huge thank you to Caroline for sharing so much about her journey, her art background, and what it’s like to make soap and other lovely things on Cape Cod. Be sure to follow along with Caroline:
If you’d like more Creativity Over Coffee you can read the full series here.
Photos courtesy of Caroline Laye.
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