Our Story
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
It all started in 2010 with a little scrap of paper and three numbers: 6, 3, 1. It was a traditional recipe our grandmother gave us for making soap in the villages. First, we were excited. Then we realized the recipe was wrong. Then we read a lot, experimented even more, binged the entire Game of Thrones while stirring, and finally, once we were confident we had done a good job, we opened Helleo’s workshop in 2013.
We’re Manos & Stelios, two inspired soap makers and amateur cultivators.
Our plan is simple: to create the purest soaps, as eco-friendly as possible, using the finest natural ingredients—which we grow ourselves whenever we can.
“You have the brushes, you have the colors; paint paradise and step inside.”
— Nikos Kazantzakis
FROM SOIL TO SOAP
We started our Food Forest in 2010 in an old vineyard in Embaros village in Heraklion, Crete, famous for its rich olive groves. Back then, there were just three blood orange trees and five large walnut trees marking the river’s edge. Today, we have 52 forest trees, 163 fruit trees, 70 herbs, and 52 supporting shrubs, with as many different varieties as possible. And wherever there’s space, we plant.
Why a Food Forest? Because we mimic the diversity of a wild forest—but with species that mainly provide food. And just like in a forest, there’s harmony without human interference, so we let nature take the lead rather than fertilizers or pesticides.
The result is a small ecosystem where everyone thrives: the soil and earthworms, insects, bees and plants, trees and birds. And in return, we harvest exceptional-quality olive oil, along with oranges, grapes, berries, cherries, figs, walnuts, various herbs, and much more. Some of it goes home to our families, and the rest we bring to our workshop to craft our imaginative soaps!
We cultivate a productive forest. We create sustainable soaps. We design a lifestyle that is ethical.
“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” Masanobu Fukuoka
