This month, Nookmag directs the attention to start-ups. There are several different definitions of start-ups and for us, start-ups mean creativity, being fresh in the scene and possessing the urge to make an impact. In this two-part edition, we explore the depths of The Botanical Plate, an initiative that is all about nature and more.
The idea of medicine men/women in the modern context and culture is as mysterious as the existence of mermaids. Misconceptions abound while true understanding only inhabits the minds of a few who cares. Describing itself as a growing planthead tribe, The Botanical Plate is inspired by the art of the medicine men/women and aspires to show the local community what it means and how it is relevant today.
The Botanical Plate is founded by Ruth Schooling, a passionate soul who is exceptionally in-tuned with nature. It aims to spread “botanical magic in the form of small batch plant-based lifestyle and body care products inspired and thoughtfully handcrafted by medicine women from around the world”. To The Botanical Plate, medicine men/women are simply beings who are in-tuned with the people, environment around them, Mother Earth and themselves. They heal and care organically with ingredients gathered from the wild.
Ruth explains, “Looking back at the whole medicine woman thing, I’m very inspired by Jamu. What I like about it is if you go back to the olden days, it was just mothers and daughters looking after themselves. It was just recipes passed down from mothers to daughters.”
The Botanical Plate features body care products from Plantfolk Apothecary, Wild Earth Botanicals and The Rex Apothecary. Not surprisingly, these labels are run by women who are in-tuned with themselves and the earth – the core quality that Ruth looks out for. Under The Botanical Plate, Ruth also concocts her own recipes of scrubs using herbs and grains.
Nookmag (N): Hello Ruth! Tell us more about yourself. Have you always been intrigued by Mother Nature? What brought you to this lifestyle?
Ruth (R): Ola…That question is always so overwhelming! We are all so many things! But, what I will tell you is that I am made up of undying passion, a wild heart and creativity. My love for nature runs deep and I am always in a continual state of overwhelm for all that is in it and all that makes it. I always move with intention and with the highest belief in myself and in the betterment of the world. If I’m not spending my time rolling around in nature, travelling about, or doing the many other things I love doing I divide my time between the people I love and my yoga mat – basically anything that takes life back a notch.
Everything in my life has always closely revolved around nature. I’ll never forget a Kurt Vonnegut’s quote I read in the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”
It reminds me to not take things so seriously and spend as many of my days farting around in nature and to keep it close. Besides what innately lays within us, I have my family’s adventurous spirit to thank – I’m guessing it all grew from family roadtrips to kampongs and deserted islands from before I could even walk! For the last nine years, it was the spirit of my friends from the little island I used to live at the north of Australia and of late, the influence of my wildly passionate earth loving friends from Sydney and Singapore. I must say though, that having been exposed to the incredible landscapes and lifestyle of Australia, everything about my love for nature seriously bloomed organically and out of control, it opened me up so much and has shaped many of my beliefs. I think when one becomes truly open and connected to nature and to oneself, many things start to shift and for me, it went towards being highly aware of the world around me, it’s this whole utterly fulfilling cycle that I always want to be in. I mean we can learn so much from nature. We are nature. I love that it has always made me live in the present, always set things straight for me, it is the only thing I’m 100% sure of, so from there, I decided that I would build upon every area of my life as an offering towards our dearest Mother Earth and I couldn’t feel more blessed to where it has led me!
N: The Botanical Plate was actually a school project, and we heard that people were so convinced they started to place orders! Tell us more about that and what propelled you to form The Botanical Plate, the botanical and edible body care label?
R: Yes, it was! The Botanical Plate started out as a final-year project three years ago. Well they didn’t place orders but I had numerous people drop me messages on social media telling me that the link to my grand opening didn’t work, asking me where I was located as they had wanted to visit and that my (fake) email link was broken. I also had an editor contact me for a feature in their October issue for their topic on ‘cruelty-free living’. For this project, we basically had to create a business that embodies a real one – we had to gain followers, create the entire business plan, the website, manufacture the product, all of the usual… so I don’t blame them for not knowing otherwise. I was really excited that it created such a positive response so quick though!
The idea of The Botanical Plate grew out from a very important time in my life and from my deep love for the greens. It was a time of really deep growth and figuring things out – I was learning, living by the lifestyle and growing in many ways that was only the beginning of what I had carved my being, beliefs and passions to be today. I’ve always been a passionate person but at that point of time, it really locked in that I needed to do something immensely meaningful for this earth and myself… and it was The Botanical Plate. Even though it was only an idea, it was still something I was creating and putting out there.
With the awakened passion for healing and belief in the use of food for medicine, as well as to live a sustainable life free from harm of any living beings or this earth, The Botanical Plate was formed with humble and nourishing beginnings. I discovered many things that I never knew the importance of – what it meant to support local, to be organic, self-sufficient, small-batched, non-mass produced, GMO’s, toxic body care, the repercussions of unconscious living and all of that. Basically, I believed that all these knowledge and goodness needed to be shared because when I think about it, it would really suck for me if I live my life now without knowing any of the controversies of larger corporations, if I had no stand in helping the helpless and if I didn’t come across all the insanely delicious food and products I’ve tasted and tested that actually worked!
Funnily enough, The Botanical Plate actually started out as a vegetarian food delivery service but as the months went by, it somehow unfolded into a body care and lifestyle brand. But it didn’t really make a difference to me as long as it has anything to do with plants, herbs, healing, creating a community of sharing and simplicity. I wanted to set up a space for likeminded local Singaporeans to come and learn as well as teach each other about how to take better care of themselves and the world around them through diet and lifestyle, to provide something that complements our daily life in a sustainably viable manner with little negative effects on the environment and our bodies… as I myself have seen immense changes in my own life since making little, positive changes every day.
N: Nature and respect for Mother Earth seems to play a big role in The Botanical Plate, from conceptualisation to production. Could you give us some examples of how these two elements affect your work process at The Botanical Plate?
R: When I first started The Botanical Plate I had these intentions in mind – to consume less, consume responsibly, to learn to test and trust in the healing benefits of plants in order to provide locals with something that has minimal environmental impact, but at the same time is effective and affordable.
Respect for Mother Nature plays the biggest part of The Botanical Plate. As I mentioned before, it is the only thing I’m 100% sure of, and it’s evident that our treatment and intention towards nature affect pretty much everything that we do. It provides us with what we need to survive; it provides us with that lightness and happiness we seek. But if we are doing things blindly and choosing unwisely without thinking twice of the circumstances, we end up being the ones that suffer. I mean look at the way we litter for example… the items go back into the oceans and pollute water ways as well as biodiversity, which then comes back to bite us in the ass. We’re now getting insanely unclean water, which then results in marine life and the earth being infiltrated with toxins.
From conceptualisation to production of whatever we create or bring in, we try to continuously improve our knowledge and practices right down to the detail in order to show people that you can be sustainable and live a life free from harm yet still allowing it to be wholesome and fulfilling. We don’t need as many things as we think we need.
We like to play with ingredients that overlap into many things. Oils that can be used as a make-up remover, moisturiser, massage oil, or whatever else you choose.
We’re in an age of over consumption and choices – just not very educated on which are the better choices to make. Everyone is on their own journey to realisation but we kinda need to speed that up! Plus, there’s so much goodness that can come out of this. It’s a process and we are still learning and we know so little but we are doing the best we can do, whether it is minimal packaging, not over consuming a certain raw material or cutting down on products with complicated ingredients.
We’re a visual culture, and it’s really to show that sustainability can look stylish, it can look nice. It doesn’t compromise our loves and likes but more importantly, it doesn’t have to be hefty on the environment.
Many times, it starts with rethinking how we live our lives today. Personally, the Singaporean lifestyle moves way too fast and is too convenient. We have people working close to endless hours who can’t find the time to really care for their bodies in the way that they would like to. They have other things to worry about and generally from what I know, many end up heading to commercial stores (ones that produce products in the masses) to find what they need – face wash, shampoo, cleansers etc. The problem is that a lot of the back end production processes of these products are not very sustainable to start with, a lot of them are made in large factories that use up beyond insane amounts of energy, rely on the use of too much water, contain many harmful chemicals and ingredients that we really don’t need to get the job done.
You can find many Singaporeans turning to small-batched artisan products, made locally and non-locally. We’re in an age where we want to see the transparency of businesses to gain back the knowledge of truth that many of these large corporations have sucked dry from us. I generally adapt recipes that have been passed down from mothers and daughters from the Indonesian cultures or learning about the properties of each ingredient then formulating and tweaking my own recipe. Other than that, I work with women who already are experienced in this area. I wasn’t brought up with this mentality; I grew it and I’m still learning largely about it. In way, it’s a global community where we learn from women who are already experts.
Follow The Botanical Plate on Facebook and Instagram @thebotanicalplate.
