Beauty Lessons From The Past Tatcha’s graceful Japanese approach to beauty, where less is always more

“Being at Ground Zero at the time of 9/11 changed my life. That day was a wake-up call for many, including me, that the time to be happy is right now. I realised that if work is how I spend many of the waking hours of my life, I needed work that would make me feel happy and fulfilled; this eventually led me creating Tatcha.”

“I went travelling in search of a simpler, more authentic approach to beauty and life, and found myself in Kyoto. I had always been blessed with good skin, until in my 20s when I developed acute dermatitis. While in Kyoto, a chance encounter with a modern-day geisha led me to classical Japanese beauty rituals and ingredients that have been used for centuries. Their less-is-more approach gave me my skin back, but it also healed my soul.

To be honest, I was not looking to fill a gap so much as a personal need. The skincare I found was focused so much on technology and a ‘more is more’ approach. I was looking for something that was efficacious, but not too aggressive for my skin.”

“There are different kinds of Eastern beauty, although they are often considered the same. Korean beauty, for example, focuses on technology and trends, new formats, new ingredients, and so forth. Japanese beauty is about simplicity and is rooted in timeless ingredients like rice, seaweed and green tea. We also blend this approach with cutting-edge technology in the creation of our formulas.

“In a broader sense than skincare, consumers are beginning to care about the company behind the product, their values and priorities are as important as what they are offering. But the rituals and ingredients at the foundation of Tatcha are timeless and time-tested; for us, innovation is about finding ways to bring them to life in an authentic, effortless way for fast-paced modern life.”