The specialty ingredient company got its start in 1880 in Lyon, France. And Gattefossé Group has been in the operating in the United States since 1982. As Olivier Midler, the Group’s CEO, quipped during he celebration, it was at the urging of one of the company’s French clients—who had already had success in the region—that Gattefossé expanded to the States. That company, he told the crowd, was L’Oréal.
Gattefossé has service and distribution operations elsewhere in the region, including Brazil, Mexico, and Canada. In fact, as of March 17, the company has been in Canada for 20 years.
At the lab
The company now has 4 labs operating as Technical Centers of Excellence. This latest one is located in Paramus, New Jersey. Gattefossé already had a facility in New Jersey. But with the opening of its North America Technical Center of Excellence added more offices, more conference space, and significant new labs, according to Eric Brun’s remarks at the celebration event. Brun is president and CEO North America for Gattefossé.
The new labs will serve both the pharma and cosmetics industries. And as Brun explains it, the team specializing in personal care will work to “develop specific formulas to meet local needs” and “capture local trends.”
Initially the company’s personal care pros at the new North America Technical Center of Excellence will focus on skin care and sun care, according to Brun, and will then eventually turn their attention to hair care and to makeup (which is to say color cosmetics and complexion products).
In the market place
Gattefossé is a private, family-owned company, and takes great pride in relationships—with employees, clients, distribution partners, and the like.
The company provides personal care clients with technical and marketing services as well as application development and R&D support. And, its “range of natural actives and functional ingredients, derived from the company’s expertise in lipid chemistry and plant extraction, helps the designers of cosmetic products to meet the latest market trends while complying with a fast moving regulatory environment,” according to press materials about the new lab facility.
The company partners closely with clients, even holding private workshops and more open masterclasses to teach scientists to effectively formulate with new Gattefossé ingredients and to create products that align with coming trends.
Speak with any personal care customer attending the celebration at the consulate last week, and be prepared to hear about plant-based actives, functionalized raw materials, and especially the company’s proficiency with textures. Indeed, “Gattefossé also has a recognized expertise in the development of functional ingredients and in the evaluation of their sensorial properties,” according to the press material.
It goes on to say that “the company...pioneered the use of sensorial panels applied to cosmetic products more than 20 years ago. These are precious guides to new ingredient development as well as to the formulation support provided to customers.”
Those customers are in line to continue being the beneficiaries of the all that and more thanks to the new North America Technical Center of Excellence. As Brun told the crowd gathered to celebrate, “these labs are yours.”