What do wine making, beautiful artwork, and natural skincare have in common? Cruelty-free and vegan personal care line, CREO, has managed to blend the three. We found out how in an interview with co-founder and chief chemist, Karl Wright.

How many of you shop by label appeal? You know, buying a product because it looks pretty or would match your bathroom? We are all guilty of this, but it is also important to make sure the products you purchase are good for you and work the way you want them to.

That’s where CREO comes in. These products obviously offer major aesthetic appeal with beautiful artist-created labels. Even better, the brand uses healthy ingredients to create the hand-crafted skin and hair care products. As for the wine making? You’ll just have to read the interview.

An Interview With CREO Co-Founder and Chief Chemist, Karl Wright

Liz Thompson: You call yourself a “consulting winemaker”. How did wine lead you to natural hair and skincare?

Karl Wright: I was working in the Napa Valley when some friends I grew up with were taking the pressed grapes and harvesting the seeds to make oil, and composting the skins. We formulated a skincare line which used the cold pressed grape seed oil and an antioxidant grape seed extract that I made from the seeds, as well. Then I got involved in a project where we patented the extraction and use of germinated seed extracts.

A lot of the protein chemistry and antioxidant chemistry crosses over from winemaking to personal care. This also involves molecular interactions, free radical oxidation, polyphenols / antioxidant effects and enzyme chemistry.

Formulating skincare products has also made me a better winemaker.

LT: What is your ingredient commitment?

KW: We are committed to using plant-derived, cruelty-free ingredients and to provide products that are designed to make hair look better through true hair health without the use of silicones or plastics, [which are] designed to produce a cosmetic effect without enhancing the overall health of the hair.

(Note: CREO also makes products for face and body.)

LT: Who are your products designed for?

KW: Our products are designed for discerning individuals, primarily women, who are ecologically sensitive but also demand a product that provides salon professional grade performance.

LT: Where did you get the idea to blend art with personal care?

KW: We started with the idea that perhaps a shampoo bottle could be something more than just a clinical looking piece of plastic. So much of the packaging nowadays has a “sameness” to it and we truly feel that the hand crafted nature of the CREO product (all of our products are produced by hand, not in a giant factory) deserved a more hand touched look. In addition, we felt that the meaning of the brand name, “CREO”, should play into a more creative approach. CREO finds its roots in Latin and means “to create or to make”. When we started to brainstorm with a local artist, it was actually she who first posed the question, “what if we put an actual painting on the bottle?” Our hope is that in time we will be able to use CREO as a vehicle for bringing a wide variety of artists to the public eye and to devote a portion of the proceeds toward art oriented non-profits.

LT: How do you choose the artists you collaborate with?

KW: We do it the old fashioned way – we talk to people. Our approach is very simple. We mock up labels and go out into the world and gather reactions. What we’re looking for is a smile, an immediate gut reaction that will often be accompanied by an outreached hand and an observable desire to interact with the bottle. If we don’t see that, we keep looking. If we do see it, we know that we have that magical “it factor” to lend an additional element of delight for the consumer.

LT: What is one healthy tip you can offer our readers?

KW: Don’t be fooled by silicone. Although it is not inherently bad, it can deceive you into thinking that something meaningful is happening when it is not. Although it can have a somewhat beneficial effect of holding moisture in longer, silicone mostly works to fill in rough hair surfaces, making them appear smooth. While this isn’t inherently bad, it is temporary. So, our one piece of advice would be “pursue truly healthy hair with a smooth outer surface”. Once that is attained, all of the products designed for temporary cosmetic improvement will usually be completely unnecessary.

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Image courtesy CREO

The post CREO Co-Founder Talks Wine, Art, and the Worst Ingredient for Your Hair appeared first on EcoSalon.

In search of ocean air and juicy rose hips…just outside of the city.

The other day I took my bike on a long long ride  to get to the sea through neighborhoods I never new existed. The idea was to get away from the city to breath fresh salty air and eat some newly caught clams. The bonus was that I got to pick ripe rose hips. The rose bushes were growing in the sand just at the edge of the beach. As a rose hip loving Swede, this was a happy moment and I picked as many as I could find.

Rose hips are very high in vitamin C and there are plenty of things to make with it. For example, the outer fruity part of the rose hip (often orange or red) can be dried and used for soup and tea (which can be done with the fresh fruit as well). A rose hip soup is very popular in Sweden especially among children. I love it. The soup can be eaten warm or cold, with ice cream or tiny almond cookies (mandel biskvier) that are best soaked in the soup. My favorite is to serve the the soup while cross-country skiing, eating it while smoking hot directly from a thermos. I can’t think of a better energy treat than that!

If you ever have split open a rose hip you probably know that the hairy part that surrounds the seeds creates itchiness on your skin. It’s annoying but totally harmless. (It’s actually used as an itching powder).

Fresh rose hips are often used to make jam, marmalade or jelly. You can also make schnapps, liqueur or, why not some rose hip sherry? My sister Anna Kindvall has become sort of an expert at making sherry out of rose hips. She makes it so well that a restaurant recently wanted to put it on their dessert wine list. In her wine cabinet you can find different vintages of the wine and like many other wines, it only gets better with age. The wine is sweet and flavorful. It works well with desserts or different kinds of cheeses. It’s also great in cooking and, I agree with my sister, a dash of rose hip sherry in a chantarelle sauce is heavenly.

My sister (and others) claim that the most flavorful rose hips are the ones with long narrow fruits. I have also heard that the best time to pick them is after the 1st frost. Here in Brooklyn it’s still summer and the ones I picked were all small and round (with a really nice aroma). I couldn’t get hold of winemakers yeast so I’m using instant yeast. In time we will see how my batch of  wine will turn out.

Anna’s Rose Hip Sherry

• 8 ½ cups (2 liters) rose hips (preferably the long narrow fruits)
• 3 1/3 lb (1 ½ kg) sugar
• 12 2/3 cups (3 liter) water
• 25 gr wine maker’s yeast (or fresh yeast, it might even work with instant yeast)

Roughly trim the rose hips but don’t rinse them with water as the surface contains natural yeast that are useful in the process (or that’s what I’ve heard). Make a sugar syrup by heating up the sugar together with the water. When the sugar has dissolved let it cool. Use some of the liquid to dissolve the yeast. Let the yeast start (there will be bubbles on the surface) before mixing with the rest of the sugar liquid and the rose hips in a bucket or a glass carboy. Cover the jar and let the wine sit still for three months. At this time the liquid should look clear and the rose hips have fallen to the bottom of the jar.

Tap the sherry into dark bottles (for example on 12 fl oz beer bottles). To avoid the sediment at the bottom, Anna recommends spooning up the sherry instead of pouring (can be hard with a carboy). Seal with a suitable cork or cap. Let the sherry stand for at least one more month before drinking.

Illustrations by Johanna Kindvall

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