Nothing more makes us happy other than meeting and having conversations with Empowered Woman who empower other women too. In this edition of #womenWe&Earthlove, we would love to share stories of 12 women that we love and so do earth too since they are passionately doing and promoting sustainable living in their community with their different backgrounds.
In the 1st edition, we have Irwin Insani, the founder of Origin Natural Skincare.
We knew Iwin personally in 2018, introduced by our friend. As we were curious and interested to know more about her and her handmade soap (Origin), we came to her house and she gladly and humbly welcomed us. Since then, we have frequently met her and her team and made us know how Origin step by step.
This week, we met her and here is our conversation with her:
Q: Hi Iwin! Can you share a little bit about yourself to the readers? And also how did you start Origin?
Iwin : Hi, I am Iwin, the founder of Origin Natural Skincare. I was born and raised in Lombok and was the youngest child among 6 siblings in my family. Before starting Origin, I graduated from the teacher & training faculty, but I did not get received any job as a teacher, I even tried to apply for the position in 15 schools. In the end, I worked in the private sector for years then married in 2015. After that, I launched 2 businesses before I started Origin.
Origin started as a hobby in 2017. I am a person who can not stand still or do nothing in my spare time. Then, one day I found how to make soap from reading and watching Youtube videos. I still remembered that the first “baby” soap that I made was papaya soap with olive oil and it did not produce soap at all. Then, I kept experimenting to produce better soaps.
Q: Interesting! Now, that Origin is 3 years old already, why do you choose to promote ethical/eco-friendly beauty product?
During my trial period, I used Palm Oil, because I was still learning the basics of the soap. But then, I realized that palm oil is not ethical as I knew how the disregard for the indigenous community in Kalimantan “ Dayak” due to Palm Oil Industry. Many of them lose their land for palm tree plantations due to the high demand for palm oil-based products. Fortunately, after doing some research I found an NGO encouraging the indigenous to stop selling their land and doing deforestation by producing another alternative which is Illipe Butter.
Illipe butter is the forgotten local product that the Dayak community has had for a hundred years. It is prepared from the nut of the Shorea Stenoptera tree, an endemic and endangered species of trees that only grow in Borneo. Illipe butter itself has good moisturizing ingredients, since then I decided to stop using Palm oil and supports the community. Starting from that point, I committed to using local ingredients that support the prosperity of the local community. I also use VCO made by women’s groups in north Lombok and beeswax from Sumbawa.
Q: How did this start becoming a business?
Iwin: In my trial period, I shared the soaps I made for free with my family and friends. Then, there was my one friend who really liked them and frequently asked for it. Thus, I decided to do this more professionally. And now, we grow with more products with our simple philosophy which is to create sustainable and natural beauty products with only the finest ingredients.
Q: What does beauty mean to you?
Iwin: I am one of the believers that beauty is healthy skin. We do not need a bunch of layers of makeup to be considered beautiful, I am more into natural beauty. I think it is also portrayed that Origin is only producing skincare products, not cosmetics.
Our skin is “alive” so putting chemical ingredients is a bad idea for me check out hotrod paint job orange county. I still encourage people to take care of their skin, and one of my beauty routines is having body lotion to make sure my skin is moisturized.
Q: What constitutes a happy or meaningful life to you as an empowered woman?
Iwin: I refer it as a situation where “You win, I win”. It becomes meaningful when other people also benefited from what I am doing, it adds value when I know that the women community/farmers are benefited.
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Learn more about origin here or follow the Instagram here.
#womenWe&Earthlove is our first series edition where we want to share the stories of 12 women in Lombok who promote sustainable living and yet empower their community, knowing someone that people should know about? let our team know and email us in info@gumibamboo.com
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Gumi Bamboo is a Lombok based Social Enterprise working closely with women group (previously employed as stone miners) to produce earth friendly product sourcing bamboo materials from their Community Forestry, providing them leadership & life skill through Bamboo craftsmanship.
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Gumi Bamboo is a Social Business empowering women group ex stone miners in Lombok, Indonesia.
