About crafted surprise

It started with soap

Crafted Surprise is an Australian-based, family-run business in Melbourne.

It started in 2014 with handcrafted melt and pour soaps. In late 2019, we moved into cold process soapmaking. We loved having more freedom over the recipes, ingredients, and the way we made our soaps, and as we became more involved in soapmaking, we started looking more closely at the tools we were using too.

Then 2020 happened. Finding good quality soap-making tools locally became difficult, so with the help of our family, we started making the tools we needed ourselves.

We never really set out to start a soap-making tools business. It happened because we needed something that we couldn't easily find.

Then, during a soap-making video, someone spotted the handmade multi-bar cutter we were using and asked where we had bought it.

When they found out we had made it at home, they asked if we could make one for them.

So, we did. And then someone else asked. And someone else.

That was really the beginning of the tool-making side of Crafted Surprise.

Made here, because we use them too

Over the years, Crafted Surprise has grown through word of mouth and through listening to the people who use our tools.

We make a range of Australian-made soap-making tools, including soap cutters, soap moulds, soap stamps, bevellers, planers and other tools designed to make soap-making a little easier and more enjoyable.

Because we are soapmakers ourselves, we tend to look at our tools from the same side of the bench as our customers. If something is awkward to use, difficult to clean, unnecessarily complicated, or simply doesn't make sense, we want to know about it.

A lot of our tools have also come from customers asking, "Could you make one that does this?" Sometimes the answer is yes.

That has led to custom soap cutters, different beveller sizes, personalised stamps, shampoo and conditioner bar moulds, kaleidoscope tools and other small modifications that aren't part of our standard range.

A small family business

Crafted Surprise is still a family business, and we still work around our full-time jobs.

Most of our tools are made to order, including different options such as left- or right-handed tools, oiled or non-oiled timber finishes, custom logos, and smaller production runs.

The work happens after hours and on weekends, so there is a real person behind every order. From the first message to making, checking, packing, and posting your order, we take care with what leaves our workshop.

The people behind Crafted Surprise

Crafted Surprise is a small team, and each of us brings different skills and experience to the business.

Between us, we look after customer service, sourcing, finance, woodworking, engineering, 3D printing, CNC routing, graphic design, website development, and all the practical work that goes into getting an order from our workshop to your door.

Some of us still make soap too, which means we understand the tools from personal experience. We know what it is like to be standing at the bench with a fresh loaf of soap in front of you and wanting a tool that works properly, feels good to use, and gives you consistent results.

Our different skills also allow us to design and make things that are a little outside the ordinary, from custom stamps and altered tool sizes to 3D-printed designs, moulds and other specialised soap-making tools.

It is very much a family effort, and that's something we are proud of.

Still making things the way we always have

Crafted Surprise has changed quite a bit since those first soaps in 2014, but the basic idea hasn't changed.

Make useful things.

Make them well.

Listen to the people who use them.

And when someone has an idea for a tool that doesn't exist yet, see if we can make it.

We're proud to make our soap-making tools here in Australia and grateful to the soapmakers who have supported our little family business along the way.

Thanks for being here.

The Crafted Surprise family