Meet Adam Newton-Bogue of Los Angeles / OC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Newton-Bogue.

Adam, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Bogue Milk Soap began in Ojai, California, in 1973, when Grandma Helen Bogue opened Dos Manos, an all-handmade shop rooted in the creative spirit of the Ojai Valley. The goat milk soap first made for that shop became the foundation of a family craft that has continued across three generations.

Real ingredients. Small batch. Noticeably better.
Over the years, that original bar of handmade all-natural soap grew into a broader world of botanical bath, body, shaving, hair care, and wellness products—still shaped by the same hands-on approach. Fresh goat milk, plant-based oils and butters, mineral clays, botanicals, and pure essential oils remain at the heart of our Farm to Bath philosophy, while Ojai’s mountains, citrus groves, herbal traditions, and maker culture continue to inspire the blends we create.

In 2009, Susan’s handcrafted goat milk shaving soap kits were picked up by Whole Foods Market in Northern California — the first time a Bogue product reached shelves beyond Ojai.

Today, Bogue Milk Soap remains a small, independent family business. Our story is not simply about making soap for more than five decades; it’s about carrying a craft forward, allowing each generation to learn from the last while adding new ideas of its own. Inspired by the land. Crafted by the hand.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been a lot of struggles through three generations of Bogue Milk Soap, the 2008 crash and subsequent loss of the family home, in California two large wildfires within few years of each other caused evacuations, work stoppages and eventually the closure of our warehouse.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Three generations making handmade goods has now been passed to Adam Newton-Bogue.

Adam Newton-Bogue is the third generation of the Bogue family’s tradition of craft and entrepreneurship — though his path to Ojai ran through the restaurant kitchens of New York.

Raised between Ojai and the East Coast, Adam grew up around farmers, bakers, restaurateurs, and makers — an appreciation for thoughtfully made things instilled early by his grandmother Helen and mother Susan at their Ojai shop, Dos Manos. By four years old, he was already spending time at the shop, surrounded by handmade goods, botanical ingredients, and the everyday rhythm of a family workshop.

In New York, Adam helped build some of the city’s most talked-about restaurants: Cafeteria (with Tyler Florence in the kitchen) and The Carriage House, both covered by The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker at the time. He later brought that sensibility west, reviving the storied Dukes coffee shop on the Sunset Strip and opening Kitchen 24, an L.A. take on Cafeteria.

It was at Dukes, sourcing ingredients for a menu built around the farmers’ market, that the throughline to Ojai became obvious. As Adam puts it: “I went from farm to table, to farm to bath.”

Today his philosophy is simple: start with exceptional ingredients, respect the process, and make things that are refined, mindful, and effective — the same standard he once held a kitchen to, now applied to every bar of goat milk soap.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Not a lot of luck in notable events but lucky to have good large family and friends who support.

Pricing:

• Inspired by the Land. Crafted by the Hand. Handcrafted Goat Milk Soap, Botanical Bath, Body & Wellness, crafted in small batches for three generations— meaningful daily rituals, mindful living.
• Handmade in Ojai California since 1973

Contact Info:

• Website: https://boguemilksoap.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boguemilksoap/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Boguemilksoap/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@boguemilksoap