During the pandemic, Claudine Piechotta kept herself and her family busy with projects: making homemade pasta, self-styling the kids’ hair, engaging in sessions of dress-up. But one activity — crafting soap — sparked a new business: The Totally Soap Company. The Business & Arts Journal of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce floated her story to readers.

Piechotta had a long-standing interest in natural products. Sequestered in her 1803 Doylestown farmhouse and seeking new things to do, she got the idea to consider making soap “…the old-fashioned way, with oils, butters, soda ash, clays, and fragrances found in nature.”

Her family bubbled with excitement at the chance to join her experiment. Her husband handled the marketing photography; the kids stirred, poured, and packaged.

The Totally Soap Company, which launched in Feb. 2021, has seen sales healthy enough to begin expanding its product line.

Reflecting on the circumstances that launched her business, Piechotta reported: “COVID-19 has been a test for all of us. But it was like the Dark Ages before the Renaissance. If we hadn’t had the time together to dream, invent, experiment, and play, this might never have happened at all.”

More on this family business is in The Business & Arts Journal of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce.