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Kulia Disrupts the Clean Beauty Market through Next-Level Packaging
Jasmine Keeney, the founder of Kulia, is striving to create a new standard in organic skincare. She sources her oils worldwide and uses the highest quality and most ethical and sustainable version of each ingredient. All formulas are certified organic and/or wild-grown and held to the industry's highest standards.
To bring Kulia to life, Keeney paired up with a well-known San Francisco strategic design agency, Designsake Studio. Owner Danielle McWaters has worked within the beauty and skincare industry for over ten years specializing in packaging solutions and strategic thinking to drive brand relationships through various consumer touchpoints.
Says McWaters, “When my team and I first met with Jasmine, she brought us this idea and asked, “Can you help bring Kulia to life?” I know how challenging it is to stand apart in a VERY crowded, clean beauty space. After learning about Jasmine’s commitment to selecting only 100% organic and or wild-grown ingredients, I was hooked. We knew we needed every aspect of the branding to align with those values.” .
Neenah Packaging: A Natural Choice
With help from the industry’s best formulator, Designsake and Keeney developed Kulia’s products, sourced components, designed product packaging, created content, and solidified its business model, product positioning, and launch strategy. Using recycled glass, Neenah’s FSC certified paper stocks, and soy-based inks, Designsake ensured each layer of Kulia’s packaging speaks to the brand’s sustainability values. .
“My team and I wanted to create a look and feel that reflects the company’s ethos and demanded consumers’ attention on the shelf. We ditched neutral color schemes and foil finishes that saturated the clean beauty space and swapped them for custom illustrations of florals that paint the Hawaiian Islands. We want to take consumers to a destination every time they interact with Kulia products, one that feels natural, organic, and wild grown,” remarks McWaters..
Rethinking the Science of Security
With the Kulia launch imminent, COVID19 entered the picture. Brands saw an instant shift in consumers attitudes and behaviors all centered-around one central theme: the risk of high-touch surfaces. To stay relevant, brands were forced to rethink consumer safety like never before.
Says McWaters, “We've known the risk of disease transmission from surfaces is real, but it took a global pandemic for companies and consumers to realize the actual vulnerabilities of high touch surfaces, explicitly packaging. As a studio, we kept asking ourselves, how are brands cultivating this new, invaluable relationship with customers and meeting their demands for safer delivery of products? And what precisely does this mean for packaging as a communication tool for companies? It was at this point, we found Matter.”
Matter is a new antimicrobial, aqueous coating that protects product packaging against 99.9% of microbes, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Traditionally used in the healthcare sector, it is incorporated into masks, gowns, and hospital wrist bands. It virtually eliminates microbes’ opportunity to exist on a protected surface long enough to accumulate in a high concentration that they become communicable.
Says McWaters, “We firmly believe that consumers interacting with packaging should still take all necessary precautions as laid out by the CDC. What Matter provides is a crucial extra layer of packaging protection that helps inhibit bacterial survival, providing much-needed reassurance during these trying times and into the unforeseeable future.”
Beauty without Compromise
Discovering that they could use Matter as a topical coating for their clean beauty packaging, Designsake reached out to Neenah for samples and testing.
“We knew Neenah would be the best partner to make these samples come to life. Neenah continues to be one of our biggest fans,” comments McWaters.
After confirming the invisible coating wouldn’t affect or change the finish, they selected an uncoated sustainable substrate, Neenah® Folding Board in PC White Eggshell, for Kulia’s skincare product packaging. The result is a stunning display of sustainability enhanced by simple, elegant design and specialty print techniques.
Worry-Free Beauty is Here to Stay
Concludes McWaters, “There is no compromise on the aesthetic or functionality when using Matter. You don’t lose any design details or brand equity with the coating process. Kulia loved the idea. It fits well within their goals to disrupt the clean beauty space via transparency, sustainability, and responsibility to consumer safety. We’ve proven you don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics for safety or recyclability. We hope this platform can bring joy back to unboxing and create the next evolution of the customer experience.”
Says Kulia Founder Jasmine Keeney, “When deciding to incorporate Matter into our packaging, we asked ourselves if it supported the transparency and sustainability we strive for. The answer was yes, and yes. We are creating a brand that cares about the well-being of our customers and providing transparency for them. Partnering with Matter very much aligns with this and was a no-brainer for us.”
Efficacious formulas, colorful, eye-catching design, and purpose-driven mission all combine to prove the new clean beauty standard is here.
