Herlum

Herlum is a clean, uncomplicated beauty brand founded on the belief that simplicity makes for a better world.

Every product in their concise collection is made with the fewest possible ingredients, using socially, ethically and environmentally conscious processes. With thoughtfully created scents, pleasing textures and effective formulas, Herlum is a daily wellbeing ritual, for everybody.

We had the opportunity to ask the founder, Isadora Belfort a few questions about the brand, her process into starting Herlum and how sustainability plays important role within.

Art Direction & Interview NICOLE GAVRILLES
Photography VICTORIA JANE

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I moved to the United Kingdom to study at King’s College London. My husband is from Poland and we met when we were both studying and in our first year living in London, and this has been our home ever since. Having worked for L’Oréal and other international beauty companies for over a decade, I’ve always been passionate about beauty products and how they make us feel well and happy. However, I started to become disenchanted by the beauty industry’s half-hearted engagement with social, ethical and environmental causes. That’s why I set about founding Herlum: a collection of safe, effective and sustainable solutions with beautiful unisex scents.

What would you say is the biggest inspiration or purpose for your brand?

I believe that a true wellbeing ritual is not just being kind to ourselves, but also to others, to our homes and our planet. We can achieve this, and feel truly well, by doing things with simplicity, focusing on sustainability and clean ingredients. For me, that is what the beauty world urgently needs. My biggest inspiration comes from nature and art. I was influenced by the proximity to nature which defined my childhood in tropical Latin America, and I’m inspired by art as a platform to tackle complex issues. I’m fascinated by the work of Brazilian artists Vik Muniz and Zanini de Zanine who upcycle materials into incredible pieces of art, and by the Danish–Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson who uses art to drive conversations on climate change.

What drew you towards making your brand sustainable?

I love nature and it’s distressing to know that climate change is the most urgent threat facing the Earth in human history. Taking care of people and the planet is in our hands and we can all do something using our own skills. I grew up in a tropical country, and some of the best memories of my life involve the natural world. As a child, one of my favourite things to do was pick the berries from two trees in my family’s garden – jabuticaba and tamarind. They both have a sweet and tangy taste. Being outdoors in nature, in the warmth and energy of my Latin American home, left me with a deeply rooted respect for our planet and our local communities. There are incredible, pure ingredients in Brazil that are nature-based solutions for complex issues, and I wanted to share them with other people.

What would you define as the key aspects that make your brand sustainable?

At Herlum, sustainability means existing in the present without compromising our future and we follow the principle of the circular economy: all of the materials and components in our products are designed to be reinvented again and again. Our products are manufactured locally in the United Kingdom and are vegan, biodegradable and palm oil-free, housed in recycled and 100% recyclable packaging – even the pump. We use few, fine and sustainably sourced ingredients and we repurpose floral waste from the perfume-making process. This is obtained through an enzymatic process that requires mild processing with salt and water – a more environmentally friendly way to develop new raw materials for fragrance use.

“I believe that a true wellbeing ritual is not just being kind to ourselves, but also to others, to our homes and our planet.”

It shows that not just sustainability is the core of Herlum, but also ethics. When factoring in production, what areas are the most important to you?

Sustainability is also about making a positive impact on everybody, everywhere and everything we work with. We visit our suppliers to ensure that their working conditions are safe and fair, and that they agree to our unequivocal code of conduct. Likewise, all raw materials used are sourced from suppliers who commit to the same high standards as we do, meaning that our sources of supply never cause hardship to individuals, or infringe on human rights.

We are proud to work with the leading provider of natural ingredients ethically sourced from the Amazon Rainforest and other Brazilian biomes. Our trusted supplier works closely with local communities, promoting alternative sources of income that have improved the lives of more than 2,500 families, while also preserving natural resources and saving these areas from deforestation.

Our recycled bottles are manufactured in the UK using sustainably sourced material from Central and South America, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa. This approach prevents plastic pollution reaching our oceans in the first place, cleans up existing waste, and encourages micro-entrepreneurship in developing countries. Our supplier works directly with communities stricken by poverty and over $100,000 a day is paid out to collectors.

We love the subtle yet soothing scents you’ve chosen for your hand wash, lotion, and candles. Are there any stories or connected memories to those scent combinations?

Thank you, I’m so happy you love the scents! My aim was to develop comforting genderless fragrances, which were derived from nature and that I could wear at the same time as my husband. The memories connected to them come from simple pleasures and a life lived in proximity to nature. I love those seconds when your nose and mind instantly notice a change to the environment, more specifically when you walk into a garden, or when you open the windows after a summer’s rain and you can smell the wet earth and trees. I wanted to encapsulate this feeling and bring relaxing nature scents to people and their homes.

“At Herlum, sustainability means existing in the present without compromising our future and we follow the principle of the circular economy: all of the materials and components in our products are designed to be reinvented again and again.”

What's been the most challenging hurdle you have come across/overcome thus far?

Launching a business in the midst of a pandemic! I started developing the products in 2019 and when the pandemic struck in March 2020 it was a scary time on many levels. But among all the uncertainties during this time, including Brexit, my gut feeling was to not press pause on this project. Some hurdles included the increased lead times to receive the raw materials, and in the production queue with our factories. Our launch was originally planned for September 2020 and this ended up being delayed to March 2021.

Name 3 personal heroes, can be related or unrelated to your field and why:

Nivedha RM is an engineer and the founder of Indian waste management company Trashcon. Starting at the age of 21, without financial backing, Nivedha created the world’s first automated waste segregation machine. To me, she represents all unsung heroes who work with waste management and make our world a cleaner, safer and better place to live. It’s unbelievable that waste segregation is still a manual process in most parts of the world, and what Nivedha created is an incredible solution to ending waste and it positively impacts 40k lives every day.

Jeanne Gang is a Chicago-based architect and her amazing projects are designed with wildlife and social relationships in mind. I especially like her Aqua Tower building, which is the world's tallest skyscraper designed by a woman, and it has bird-safe features against glass strikes. Close to 1 billion birds in the United States die each year from collisions with windows, and protecting against this is something that Gang has been advocating for since 2003. Her work is really inspiring and fuses nature, design, inventive engineering and environmental awareness.

My mum, because she made a lot of sacrifices raising me and my sister and she taught me my values. When I was growing up, she was working as a producer for the social and environmental TV Show Globo Ecologia. I loved watching and learning from it and my favourite episode was about Project TAMAR, an organization that protects sea turtles from extinction in the Brazilian coastline. I became obsessed with turtles and I remember sharing everything about this project with friends and teachers in primary school.

What impression/legacy do you hope your work with Herlum will leave behind?

For me, true luxury is a world where we all have health, clean air and water and a happy flora and fauna. The legacy I hope to leave behind is a brand that brings true wellbeing to people through high quality, ethical products designed with simplicity and for the circular economy.

Something you're currently reading/listening to/watching:

I’m currently reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, a collection of 366 daily meditations on wisdom and perseverance based on stoic philosophy. I’m also reading Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. His words can touch the soul, and I particularly like this excerpt: ‘It is clear that we must trust what is difficult; everything alive trusts in it, everything in Nature grows and defends itself anyway it can (…). We know little, but that we must trust in what is difficult is a certainty, that something is difficult must be one more reason for us to do it.’.

One thing you’re looking forward to…

I’m looking forward to the journey. We’ve only just started and I hope to meet more like minded people who want to make our world a better place. I’m also very excited that Herlum is launching at department store Liberty London, and I hope it won’t be long until we bring new body care and home fragrance products. I think Steve Jobs was right when he said that the journey is the reward.

For more information about Herlum, follow on instagram. Herlum products are available on herlum.co.uk and in store and online at Liberty London.

Interview published for ONE Magazine Online