Quintinn van Rensburg

Owner of Schoonhuid

Quintinn was once a chef for a wealthy American family at a game reserve near Makhanda. “It was one of those places where you see the Big Five every day, so after a while it’s not a novelty any more. You want the elephant to move out of the road when you’re on your way to town!”

During the Covid-19 lockdown he had to come home, and then, of course, there were many layoffs. Dark times, also on a personal level, because Quintinn was wrestling with himself to find out who he really was.

“Besides all I was going through, I also had to decide what I was going to do next. I wanted to do something creative; I wanted to show who I was. I wanted it all to be made locally and I wanted to do it damn well.”

So he started to make soap and other bath and body products – and on 16 October 2020 Schoonhuid was born.

“My culinary knowledge helped a lot. I understand butters and oils, and those are the main ingredients of these products.”

Quintinn makes 10 kinds of soap representing 10 people who each had a big influence on his life. The 11th soap is named Quintinn, a colourful soap with rainbow shards curling around it. On the back of the packaging is a letter to a younger version of himself and to everyone who feels “different” or whom the world has labelled “unnatural”.

“These past two-and-a-half years have gone so fast, and so much has happened. Schoonhuid expanded very fast; it has demanded all my time and energy, so I haven’t really been able to stop and think about everything yet. But what I can say is that it’s going well, and that I feel a sense of bliss here in Graaff-Reinet.”