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Mettler soap Previous Next First step of the manufacturing process: the vegetable oils are heated to 70° C. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Caustic soda and then glycerine (about 70%) are added to the mixing tank. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Pure alcohol is then added to the mixture to trigger hot saponification. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch The soap hardens and is then reheated slightly to become liquid. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch It's left to rest for two days to solidify. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch The recipe and the industrial process are carefully kept secret. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Three steps are necessary before obtaining a final product. Between each step, you have to wait for the soap to harden. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Mettler's female operators are all of foreign origin. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch The quality must be impeccable to be awarded the "handmade in Switzerland" label. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch A bit of poetry amid the glycerine waste. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch At each stage of production, the hands of the operators come into action. Only a few tasks are semi-automated. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Mettler has been produced according to the same recipe since 1929. The only change: animal fat has been replaced by vegetable fat. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Before packing, the soaps are levelled by hand. This is called embossing. © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch © Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Picture 4 Picture 5 Picture 6 Picture 7 Picture 8 Picture 9 Picture 10 Picture 11 Picture 12 Picture 13 Picture 14 Picture 15 Picture 16 Picture 17 This content was published on November 4, 2020 - 10:30 You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us! If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
![The four-metre-long painting "Sonntag der Bergbauern" [Sunday of the Mountain Farmers, 1923-24/26] had to be removed by a crane from the German Chancellery in Berlin for the exhibition in Bern.](https://www.swissinfo.ch/content/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/12/01_Pressebild_KirchnerxKirchner.jpg?crop=1165px,0px,1670px,1670px&w=480&ver=1ea8acae)
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.