Mummy preservation inspires Irish peat-based skin care line
CosmeticsDesign-Europe spoke to Bennie Clavin, director of business development at the Co. Offaly-based business who reveals the motivation behind the start-up as the discovery of bog bodies - a human corpse that has been naturally mummified within a peat bog - in the last twenty years.
“The near perfect condition that these bodies were found in was the impetus behind researching how peat preserve bodies so well,” she explains.
Clavin says that raised bogs are found almost exclusively in central Ireland and there is an association between peat and healing going back to the country’s Celtic forefathers who used it to heal themselves after a day’s battle.
In more recent times, peat has been used to treat skin conditions like eczema, acne and psoriasis, through the use of peat baths in Europe.
However; the director of business development says that “none have a full suite of products as we do, and the range features 100% Irish peat, which has been found to have the highest organic content of all bogs in the world.”
Turning the idea into a concrete business
The founders of Ógra, meaning ‘youth’ firstly applied to Enterprise Ireland for 'innovation vouchers' to carry out the initial research on the bog to understand what it contains.
Following this, research was performed by the Limerick Institute of Technology where Clavin says scientists highlighted that the vegetation of Irish bog produces very high anti-oxidants in the form of Fulvic and Humic acids.
"These anti-oxidants are among the strongest out there and are only becoming known to scientists," she explains.
The brand then partnered with formulation chemists 'Cosmetic Creations' in Mayo who produced formulations using natural ingredients before applying to the Irish Medical board for certification.
With the skin care products' black and gold opulence style packaging, Bennie says the brand has received overwhelming feedback but that’s not to say that it won’t be subject to change as the company grows internationally.
Taking the line global
In fact the director of business development says the brand has spent the last two years getting the framework in place to go to international marketplaces. "Currently, we have international contracts in place and we are exporting to US, Russia and UK."
Ógra has also achieved HPSU status with Enterprise Ireland, which is generally only awarded when the body believes a brand has very good export potential, according to Clavin.
In addition, the company was awarded a significant scientific research grant by EI, to perform bio-active profiling of the vegetation on the bog.
"This two year program is ground breaking research. We have performed two focus group trials on the sensory aspects of our products with overwhelming results," Bennie concludes.
