Just out in the February edition of SPC Magazine: My review of Cosmoprof Asia 2016. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Travel
SPC Magazine: Show review of Cosmoprof Asia 2016
Filed under Asia, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Vivaness 2017: [Show Report]
Well, Europe’s biggest organic beauty trade fair Vivaness and its companion show Biofach (the world’s biggest organic food show) have come and gone.
This year the two trade fairs took place from 15th to 18th February 2017 in Nuremberg. According to organisers Messe Nürnberg, more than 50.000 visitors from 134 countries visited the two trade shows. There were 2,785 organic exhibitors in total (259 of these brands/companies were at Vivaness) and this year’s Country of the Year was the host country, Germany.
As always, it was an exciting and exhausting four days! This was my fourth trade show (if you’re interested: here are the Vivaness 2014, Vivaness 2015 and Vivaness 2016 articles). And now, without further ado and in no particular order, here are my favourite brand discoveries at Vivaness 2017!
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Filed under Industry News, Mintel, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Show Reports, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
OWN: Spring Edition 2017
Here is the PDF version of Organic & Wellness News Spring Edition 2017, which includes four articles written by me:
- A preview of Vivaness 2017 trade show (page 28)
- An overview of the Fair Trade market in Germany (page 28)
- A feature on DIY Beauty (page 1/23)
- And a look at the organic beauty market in the US (page 21).Enjoy!
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Filed under Industry News, organicwellnessnews.com, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
[Brand Profile]: Jath from ENS Korea/Jallon
And here – as promised – is the brand profile about Jath, the new organic beauty brand from Korean natural products manufacturer Jallon. I had met Jallon at Cosmoprof Asia 2016 back in November; the company has recently taken over the marketing for my all-time favourite beauty brand Whamisa. At the trade show, Jallon presented two new organic brands: Nature Belle (you can read my article about Nature Belle here) and Jath.
Jath is a premium anti-ageing face care range which was launched in the summer of 2016. Like its sister brands Whamisa and Nature Belle, Jath is manufactured by ENS Korea, certified organic by German association BDIH (Cosmos) and the entire range is completely water-free: the first ingredient in all five products is aloe vera leaf water.
The Jath line-up includes an eye cream, a face cream and three serums/elixirs which are packaged in glass bottles and jars; the outer packaging is made from stiff cardboard. All products have been scented with a similar blend of essential oils (rosewood, bergamot, geranium and lemongrass) and the fragrance is rather invigorating: zesty citrus notes, aromatic herbals and spicy wood accords.
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
[Brand Profile]: Nature Belle from ENS Korea/Jallon
At Cosmoprof Asia last month I also met one of my favourite organic beauty brands from Korea: Whamisa. Whamisa’s manufacturer ENS Korea was a first-time exhibitor at the trade show, together with organic manufacturer Jallon which has taken over the marketing and promotion for the Whamisa brand.
And Jallon presented two new certified organic product ranges: premium anti-ageing range Jath and children & baby care range Nature Belle. I’ll post a more detailed article on Jath soon. This brand profile is about Nature Belle. Click on the link below for more information, ingredients and pics!
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Taipei: Fasun [Brand Profile]
I first came across organic Taiwanese beauty brand Fasun a couple of years ago. The packaging is rather cute (also, there are not that many certified organic domestic C&T brands) and the INCI list looks interesting.
When I was in Taipei last month I finally had the opportunity to check out the brand more closely. I’m particularly interested in face care so I bought two products, a foaming facial wash and an intriguing-looking face mask. Click on the link below for more information and pics on Fasun.
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, Industry News, Retail, Travel, Trends
CBM Magazine: Retail Focus articles from 2016 [Ainz & Tulpe, Olive Young, Belport, Parashop, Wahanda, Mankind et. al.]
Here are some of the Retail Focus articles I wrote for CBM Magazine in 2016. Retail Focus is a monthly article series of short company/brand/store profiles.
I often write about retailers or stores that I have come across on my travels – like Japanese drugstore chain Ainz & Tulpe, Korean perfumery retailer Belport, Korean drugstore chain Olive Young or French parapharmacy chain Parashop.
This year we also published articles on interesting online retailers, like Vegane Pflege from Germany, UK salon booking company Wahanda (Wahanda also owns the Treatwell and Salonmeister sites) and men’s grooming store Mankind.
Other retailers, like US drugstore chains Ulta or CVS, I’ve never actually visited but still managed to write in-depth company profiles about them (thank you, Internet!).
The copyright to these articles belongs to HPCi Media/cosmeticsbusiness.com.
Enjoy!
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Industry News, Retail, Store Profiles, Travel, Trends
Retail notes from Hong Kong: [Show Report] Cosmoprof Asia 2016
Well, the 21st edition of Asia’s biggest beauty trade show has come and gone. Cosmoprof Asia 2016 took place from 15th to 18th November 2016.
This year, organisers UBM BolognaFiere had divided the trade show into two sections: Ingredients, Machinery/Equipment, Pack & OEM took place from 15th-17th November at AsiaWorld-Expo; Cosmetics & Toiletries, Salon Beauty, Hair & Nails was at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre from 16th-18th November.
Since my focus is retail cosmetics I spent the entire trade show at HKCEC. And like Cosmoprof Asia 2014 and Cosmoprof Asia 2015, Cosmoprof Asia 2016 turned out to be a fabulous show: I discovered interesting new beauty brands and met up with many familiar faces – it was an exciting (and exhausting!) three days.
Click on the link below for some of my favourite brand discoveries!
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Filed under Asia, Brand Profiles, cosmeticsbusiness.com, Exhibitions, Industry News, Retail, Trade Shows, Travel, Trends
Tokyo Design Week 2016: [Show Report]
One of the highlights of this autumn’s Tokyo trip was the visit to Tokyo Design Week 2016. TDW is one of the biggest and most important design shows in Asia; it takes place each year in Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu-mae park in late October (this year, TDW took place from 26th October to 7th November) and it is – quite simply – fabulous.
Product design, robotics, arts and crafts, architecture, interior design, intelligent fabrics – off-beat, ingenious, weird, innovative logical and sometimes completely bizarre design ideas; from young creators and world-famous designers and architects, design school graduates from across Asia; big international exhibitors and niche companies. It makes the brain sparkle.
This was my third visit to TDW (here are my show reviews of TDW 2014 and TDW 2015) and in 2016, my personal favourites included a pair of robot carp, a stylish boutique skin care brand from Taiwan, an Ukiyo-e juke box and two dozen juice mixers that played “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” with different sounds. Click on the link for more pics of my favourite TDW 2016 exhibits!
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Filed under Asia, Design, Show Reports, Travel
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
My flight back to Berlin was on Sunday evening so I had most of the day left for sight-seeing. I wanted to visit Helsinki’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art because they are showing a temporary exhibition by Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa – who is also the creator of the open-air “Sea Lives” exhibition that is currently displayed on Helsinki’s Senate Square: large-scale sea creatures constructed from colourful recycled plastic strips.
Kiasma is housed in a striking-looking building on Mannerheimiauko street in the middle of the city centre. Designed by American architect Steven Holl, the museum was officially opened in 1998. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery’s network of museums; they present cutting-edge Scandinavian contemporary art (no Warhol soup cans here!) with a strong emphasis on Finnish artists.
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Filed under Exhibitions, Travel
TRENDS. TRAVELS. AND BERLIN 