Fincken is a village of 461 people in the Mecklenburg lake district, where the Elde runs into the Finckener See. oeá is made in a house on the shore. Andrea Bader works there, mixing the soap and pouring the candles by hand; her daughter Johanna, who lives away from the lake, runs the rest of it, the direction, the shop and the people who buy from them. Between them lies a lake and the quiet that comes with it.

Soap came before the candles, more than ten years ago. They made it for themselves at first, then for family and friends, long before there was a shop. Only once they had their own soap kitchen did it become a business. They still make it the same way: cold processed and in small batches, with ten per cent more oil than the lye can turn into soap. As the lye transforms the oils into soap, a small amount remains untouched, giving each bar its nourishing qualities. They use organic olive, coconut, shea, almond and castor oils, and never palm oil. Every batch comes out a little different in colour and pattern, and they leave it that way.

The candles came later. They are hand-poured from a blend of soy and rapeseed wax, scented only with essential oils, and, in the concrete vessels, finished with a wooden wick that crackles softly as it burns. oeá casts those concrete vessels itself, and once the wax is gone, the vessel remains. Six of the seven scents are available as refills, designed to drop into the same pot for a couple of euros less than a new candle. Nothing is meant to be used once and thrown away.