FER A CHEVAL

Fer à Cheval is Marseille’s oldest surviving soap maker, still cooking traditional savon de Marseille in large cauldrons as it has since 1856. The formula is remarkably direct: vegetable oils and very little else, without unnecessary colour or perfume.

One block can wash hands, help with laundry or clean a working surface, which makes it a useful counterpoint to a cupboard full of specialised bottles. The old workshop matters because the process is not being preserved as theatre. It continues to produce an uncomplicated household standard—gentle, versatile and proven over generations of actual cleaning.