Founded by Addison Walz in Brooklyn, New York, Mater creates small-batch cold-process soaps and organic plant-based body care that celebrate the enduring alchemy of soap-making. Using natural, sustainably sourced ingredients including pine tar, botanical powders, clays and sea plants, each product is made with careful attention to material, process and everyday ritual.
Mater takes its name from the Latin word for mother. Pronounced like water (mȯ-tər).
The collection includes soaps for bathing and body care, alongside a substantial kitchen soap block designed to replace conventional liquid soap in plastic bottles—bringing the same considered approach to one of the hardest-working objects in the home.
Mater is named in gratitude to the earth from which its ingredients are drawn, and to the actual and symbolic mothers who nurture us, broaden our understanding of beauty, and teach us to steward and cultivate in return. Each formulation encourages a more considered approach to everyday care.
Raised in Rome, Addison's formative years fostered an appreciation for quality and simplicity in food, art and ritual. Her background in sculpture, textiles and natural dyes continues to inform the Mater aesthetic and ethos, where soap is considered not simply as a product, but as an essential utilitarian object—one that transforms through use and elevates the everyday act of washing.
In 2025, Addison was selected as one of fifty recipients of the Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship, recognising her thoughtful approach to entrepreneurship and design.