Our new beauty obsession, Camille Co.
We discovered Camille Co. when our designer started burning a delicious smelling and beautifully packaged Ginger & Wild Honeysuckle Soy Candle - yes, it's as lush as it sounds! After a bit of research, we found the New Zealand born brand, created by Cheyney McDonnell, had a whole range of fragrance and body care products. Made for the environmentally-conscious, Camille Co. have designed their packaging especially to reduce waste and take care of our beautiful country. We called up Cheyney to find out about how it got started and what's next on the journey...
How did Camille Co. get started?
I have always been a sucker for good design. After studying a degree in Visual Communication Design, I began my career as a packaging designer. I loved the design component of this position but really struggled with the amount of waste that came with importing products to repackage and up-sell. Often products arrive onshore inside a box, inside another box, inside another box, protected with bubble wrap and cardboard, on a pallet, wrapped in plastic to be opened up, put inside a new box, inside another box, inside another box, to go on the shelf (you get the drift) and by the time it gets to the end user it has gone through so much packaging! I realised that much of this could be avoided if products were a) made and assembled locally and b) protected by thoughtfully designed packaging. My conscience couldn't cope, I wanted to design for a living but use my skills to help minimise waste, not create it. Out if this notion, Camille Co. was born.
How does Camille Co. look after the environment?
I have gone to great lengths to ensure that Camille Co. products have as little impact on the environment as possible, striving for environmentally friendly alternatives at every step of the way, from raw material extraction, manufacturing, production, transport, logistics, quality of ingredients and disposal. Our product ingredients are high quality to ensure that our products are luxurious and long lasting. I want to create quality over quantity. The packaging folds like origami, without the need for adhesives (ie. tape, staples, glues etc). Camille Co. products are made here in New Zealand and the packaging is printed locally using soy ink.
What's the inspiration behind the products?
Camille Co. products were created for those who appreciate beautiful design, who care for our environment and enjoy taking time out to relax and unwind. Camille Co. offer 8 products in total: 4 soap variants, and 4 candle variants. I worked alongside a New Zealand based perfumer to develop fragrances inspired by nature: Blackcurrant & Vanilla, Cape Gooseberry & Musk, Ginger & Wild Honeysuckle and Warm Amber & Peach. The fragrances are beautiful - They're complex, like a perfume you wear, they have base notes, middle notes and top notes. Creating the fragrances has been one of my favourite processes so far in the Camille Co. journey.
Where to next?
Our current products will be the backbone of Camille Co. We are starting to create another product to fit our range but not without rigorous testing and planning to ensure it adheres to our core values (these are: sustainability, quality, relationships, design and education). Watch this space!
Camille Co. can be purchased online here or at one of their 5 stockists throughout New Zealand (which can be found on their website).
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