Handmade in Hong Kong: Green Queen’s Top 5 Artesanal Pioneers

The artisanal movement is admittedly not a huge one in Asia’s World City but there are a few locally-grown treasures. Below are a list of Green Queen’s Favourite Made in Hong Kong items; great for indulging one’s green pampering passions and perfect for gift-giving. These brands/companies also get a special Green Queen shout-out for empowering a greener Hong Kong and generally promoting a sustainable way of life.

Gladys HandMade Soap: hand-milled functional soaps made by Gladys herself using non-toxic ingredients and essential oils. Gladys’s soaps offer different functions such as the Mugwort Peaceful Soap or the The Coffee Household Soaps. The products can be tailor-made to suit needs or events such as the Wedding Soap collection. Gladys also hand-makes lip balms, massage oil blends, insect repellent, itch relief balms, body butters and more. Gladys’s soaps are made in small quantities so the soap profiles change regularly. Gladys’s products are hand wrapped in beautiful recyclable packaging. Approx HKD 50 per soap bar.

Squeaky Clean: Based in Discovery Bay, Squeaky Clean hand-makes chemical- free powder detergent goodness, scented with essential oils, no less! Packaged in vintagey-brown-paper bags, here is what they promise: no phosphates, no chlorine, no optical brighteners or dyes- basically totally non-toxic. Great at removing stubborn stains and gentle enough for your baby’s bottom though strong enough for cloth diapers! The blends come in Everyday or Extra Gentle and are offered in the following scents: Lavender/Vanilla, Lemon/Orange and Unscented for the extra-sensitive among us. 16oz for HKD 70 will get you about 48 loads or go for the family-pack 24oz for HKD 110 which should get you 96 loads.

HK Honey: HK Honey is the real thing, a full-blown Hong Kong locavore eco-movement. The HK Honey team has revived the art of beekeeping in our city and given locally-made artisanal honey some serious street-cred. You can also hold them responsible for making it uber hip to be an urban beekeeper. HK Honey is extremely collaborative: anyone can contact them and join the movement to learn about Chinese honey bees and set up their own roof-top golden hive. If you just want to get a taste, contact them for a tour and meet the bee-keeeprs- a great family day out! The team also hosts bee-keeping and candle-making workshops. They produce and sell delectable jars of Hong Kong honey (HKD 240 for 250g jar), as well as clean-burning beeswax candles (HKD 120 per candle jar). 

Bella Sapone: Bella is a Hong Kong based homemaker dedicated to living an eco-friendly organic life. This passion led her to develop Bella Sapone, an extensive line of earth-friendly homemade cleansers which uses non-toxic ingredients such as virgin olive and coconut oils, organic cane sugar and essential oils. Bella Sapone offers liquid dish soap, body soap hand soap and laundry soap as well as shampoo and hand-made bar soaps. Bella products are stocked at various health stores around Hong Kong; check the website for stockiest and exact pricing. Starting from HKD 48 for 500ml bottles and HKD 48 her soap bar. 

So…Soap! It’s hard not to root for So…Soap! Other than the charming name, this social venture was founded to offer marginalized women in Hong Kong an honest, sustainable and flexible livelihood. The women produce toxin-free, glycerin-based bio-degradable liquid soap from their Hong Kong homes, enabling them to promote a greener environment and care for their families. The bottles are recycled soy milk containers, the soap contains calming essential oils, the packaging is chic and modern and these women earn a decent wage. What is not to love?  HKD 88-108 for a 500ml bottle, So…Soap offers Tea Tree Hand Soap and Body Soap in 3 different scents: Bergamot, Lavender and Orange Ginger.

Green Queen Loves: HK Recycles

Attention ALL Hong Kong residents who don’t recycle. Which is most of you. Yeah, yeah, we have heard every excuse. ‘There are no recycling bins in my building.’ ‘I don’t have time.’ ‘I don’t know how to recycle.’ Well here is the fool-proof solution: sign up to HK Recycles, a brand new social enterprise that

For just HKD20 a week, HK Recycles will collect your recycling and well, get it recycled! Here are the facts:

• –> it’s cheap – as their website cleverly notes: less than a cup of coffee

• –> it’s convenient – they pick up once a week at your doorstep

• –> they ensure that the waste actually gets recycled- they have a no landfill policy

• –> they do private households as well as offices, shops, basically any entity with waste to recycle

• –> they provide you with a starter kit which includes 4 compact recycle bags for easy sorting

• –> they do glass! Until now, there has been no viable glass recycling programme in Hong Kong

• –> they employ people from marginalized communities and pay them above market rate

No Excuses! Sign Up NOW: HK Recycles

Green Queen HK Favourites: Just Green Organic Convenience Store

When it comes to the green grocery shopping scene in Hong Kong, we eco-warriors are getting more and more spoiled. New stores are opening all over the place and we all benefit from a larger variety of green choices, not to mention better pricing as competition intensifies. 

Of all the eco stores in town, Just Green stole Green Queen’s Heart long ago. It is literally her happy place; she often gets lost in the Soho location for hours and that is saying something in a 500 sq.ft shop.

Founder Helen Sung’s aim is to be the Green 7-11 and as far as Green Queen is concerned, she and her burgeoning team are well on her way. The clean and bright store is well-laid out and has everything you need to live a healthy, green life. From groceries to dairy and meat to cleaning products to bath & body potions to snack to supplements, there is nothing you can’t find.  Just Green has a variety of brands and options that boggles the mind. They are always experimenting with new products and companies from all over the globe, even if it means stocking small quantities. The other big plus is that the staff knows every product like the bag of their hand. Green Queen has tested them- they are a knowledgeable bunch.

While Green Queen would happily take home the entire inventory, here are a few of her favorite Just Green things:

• Ecolution PFOA Free Hydrolon Cookware: eco-friendly pots and pans with water-based non stick solution. Ecolution is safe, reasonably priced and offers a lifetime warranty. Just Green can order the models they don’t stock for you- just take your pick on the Ecolution website.

• Woolly Pocket Living Wall Pocket Planter: Want to grow your own tomatoes and chillies? Hang a Woolly on your kitchen wall. Made from recycled plastic bottles, the planter allows you to cultivate flowers, herbs, lettuces, peppers and much more. It even boasts a built-in irrigation system so no mess to worry about.

• Freshly Grown Wheatgrass: a firm favourite amongst health gurus everywhere, no one can dispute wheatgrass’s detoxing superpowers. Buy it fresh at Just Green- they also stock the special juicer you will need to extract the green nectar.

Other highlights:

-Just Green offers what is Hong Kong’s best selection of chemical-free, unprocessed power/energy bars with dozens of brands such as Raw Revolution, Pro Bar, Go Raw, GNU foods, Nakd and a host of dietary requirement options be it gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, raw or dairy-free.

-They stock a great selection of dairy-free milks such as quinoa, cashew, hazelnut, coconut and chocolate coconut as well as many nut butters like sunflower butter, cashew new butter, almond butter, hazelnut butter and pumpkin seed butter.

-They have some great chocolate bars such as the raw superfood line Ombar, and the gourmet organic Dagoba; they also have various raw cacao powders, nibs and butters for those who want to make their own chocolate. For those sensitive to cacao, Just Green has Carob options.

-For the athletes among us, the store has several protein powder options that are whey and soy free. To complete the protein smoothie option, they sell every superfood powder you can imagine from maca to pomegranate.

Just Green  is now in 3 current locations: Lamma Island; St Francis Street, Wanchai and Graham Street, Soho with more outlets planned in the near future.

NB: Just Green had no knowledge of this post prior to its publishing. Green Queen strongly values her editorial integrity and all the site’s posts reflect her personal opinions and assessments.