Third year student Odhrán Claffey from Mercy Secondary School, Kilbeggan “cleaned up” at the County Local Enterprise Awards, held in Golden Island Shopping Centre, Athlone, on Tuesday, March 5. As part of the Student Enterprise Programme, and trading as mini-company Silken Ivory, Odhrán took the Intermediate title in the schools contest. Designing, manufacturing and selling his unique soaps, Odhran told Topic about his creative process.
“I buy unscented soap base from Wicklow and then I cut that up and melt it down. Once it’s all melted, I put essential oils into it like rose or lavender and maybe add mica pigments or oats, something like that. I put them into a soap moulds, then put them in the fridge and wrap them. I sold out at the school Christmas market.”