Long-form · the house

Three essays on a soap workshop in Tripoli.

Tripoli's soap khans are older than most countries that buy from them. We write about the craft at length because a paragraph on a product page is not enough. Three pieces below: one on the family, one on the workshop, one on the city.

Read - 12 minOlive oil, lye, and a craft that refused to die.Tripoli has been a soap city since the Middle Ages. Its hand-made craft nearly vanished in the twentieth century - until a jeweler from the old souk lost everything and brought it back. This is the story of Khan Al Saboun, told straight.Read