Hannelore Storm’s market stall instantly draws crowds in. With vibrant coloured soaps, every pattern and smell imaginable it’s a stall very hard to miss. Hannelore sat down with Caitlyn Morgan to discuss her creative passion. Pictures: Carmel Zaccone
SIX years ago Hannelore Storm had never even been to Australia, fast forward a year and she was packing her bags in Vienna ready to make a life changing move.
While in Vienna, Hannelore was a pastor, leading the local church, this continued via Skype for the first 12 months of living in Mildura.
When she wasn’t busy video-calling those from back home, she found herself experimenting with creating a soap that wouldn’t cause her skin to breakout.
“Commercial soap had always irritated my skin and made it all itchy,” she says.
“Back in Vienna, a friend of mine had made me a soap that I could actually use so I decided to give it a try.
“I started to make them as a hobby, then friends started asking about it and shortly after I noticed no one else seemed to be selling anything like it here locally.”
Although there was other local soap makers, none had patterns or colours as vibrant or “arty” as hers.
“What really got me into it was the artistic side of it, not just creating the formulas and recipes but being creative with the colours and patterns,” she says.
“Even as a small child I remember often making my own potions with essential oils.”
Hannelore admits there is some trial and error when creating soap but it is a lot similar than most would imagine.
“It’s no longer rocket science, it use to be a lot of guessing but now that is all worked out using an online calculator,” she says.
“Soap makers are a really good community of people, who often help out each other. I was quite surprised by how easily many away their secrets.”
Since first opening her business, Hannelore has continued to expand her range, now including bath bombs, liquid soap, bath soaks, body butters, lip balms, emulsified scrubs, wax melts and candles.
“Everyone wants something different, which is why I do so many different things,” she says.
“While many soap makers only have one or two recipes, I have as many different recipes as there are different skin types so everyone will find a soap that suits their skin.
“Some customers look at ingredients, others look at colour and others decide based on the smell.”
Hannelore says she can never tell what will be the most popular, with each market different to the next.
“What is popular is different market to market, I can never tell what will sell with it always depending on who is out there and what they are after,” she says.
“While smells are always hard to determine what will sell best, more and more people are looking for products that are animal free.
“To cater to this, I ensure all fragrances are phthalate free and none of our ingredients are ever tested on animals.”
H. Storm – Handmade Soaps and Body Products can be purchased online or at the Mildura City Heart Market, Red Cliffs Country Market and Mildura Central Outdoor Markets.
