Provo businesses help customers’ creativity

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Provo is giving students the chance to roll up their sleeves while making soap, art and other hand-made crafts. Color Me Mine, The Soap Factory and HERE are three businesses offering creative hands-on experiences in Provo.

Color Me Mine

Employee Taylor Rogers said Color Me Mine is a great date location. Customers can create custom pottery and take canvas painting classes. Color Me Mine also has date nights and family home evening nights.

“It’s a guarantee that you’ll have a second date because you have to give the piece back to your date,” Rogers said. “They’ll come in and they’ll paint it and then it takes three days to fire it so it’s a guarantee that you’ll see that person again.”

Rogers said up to 100 people come to the Color Me Mine shop each weekend. Some customers are interested in Color Me Mine because of the discounts available for BYU and UVU students, as well as the personalized decor items such as BYU stickers.

The Soap Factory

The Soap Factory in downtown Provo allows customers to take pride in the suds they make.

BYU alumnus David Peterson is the previous owner of Nature’s Fusion Essential Oils and wanted to help people apply uses for the oils, so he started The Soap Factory.

“My passion is education. If I am going to teach people about essential oil, I want people to have a good experience,” Peterson said. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we make soap?'”

The Soap Factory’s customers include BYU students, elderly couples, tourists, families and people in treatment centers, Peterson said.

BYU senior photography student Amy Rodenburg said she likes the customization of each product and the friendly and helpful staff at The Soap Factory.

“It also feels like a safe haven of sorts. There are just good people and good vibes,” Rodenburg said. “My husband and I went there as newlyweds, but we go there every once in a while for a fun date night or even as a time to sit and talk and reconnect with each other.”

HERE

The HERE Gift Gallery, just a few stores east of The Soap Factory, holds a variety of classes for locals to learn how to make stained glass, bind books, paint, weave and more.

Owner and designer Jed Platt said HERE “is Provo’s storefront for creativity.”

HERE generally holds weekly art workshops. Platt said the workshops are “interactive, informative, creative, affordable and under two hours,” which he believes makes them great date nights. Platt said people who come to HERE can take home what they created.

“Many artists and makers like to share their talents and passion to create,” Platt said. “Some instructors are currently showing work in our gallery, others have come in as customers and, being inspired by our space, have offered to teach a class.”

The next workshop will be held by Brianna Hatch, who will be teaching book binding on Oct. 27.

HERE sits across from the Provo City Center Temple, in the heart of downtown along with The Soap Factory. Platt spoke of his appreciation for HERE’s downtown location.

“We love the new energy downtown and are working hard to keep the heart of our city alive and the creative juices flowing,” Platt said.

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