Miriam Ciantar is the CEO and founder of eco-friendly skincare brand Baroque & Rose. Here, she discusses her inspirations, the origins of her fast-growing suite of products, the brand’s ethos and her decision to move into a travel retail market which she describes as having a “perfect synergy”. While the launch has been put temporarily on hold by the COVID-19 crisis, Miriam believes Baroque & Rose’s underlying values and focus on sustainable, eco-friendly, organic and unisex credentials mean it will be well placed in a post-crisis world where such criteria matter more than ever.
How did you become a celebrity make-up artist and evolve from that role to founding Baroque & Rose?
When I returned to Malta from the UK in 1977 and attended my first Maltese wedding, a friend of mine commented on how much she loved my make-up and if I was available to do hers for her wedding. I was flattered and delighted to help. My friend’s wedding photos were so well-liked, I started getting bookings.
I must have been one of the first – if not the very first – professional make-up artist on the island. I’ve always had a passion for makeup from as young as five-years-old, no Barbie doll or family member was safe regardless of their gender. It always amazed me how you can change someone’s appearance and make them feel good and be confident just by using colour.
After some time working as a bridal make-up artist, I desired to learn more about the industry and studied to become an aesthetician. I soon became the owner of four beauty salons on the island and The Malta College of Make-up, issuing certifications. By this time, I had also branched out to working in the media and carried this on for many years, covering all aspects of make-up in dramas, live shows, theatre, and also under the spotlight myself doing guest appearances on TV and stage make-up.
I returned to the UK in 2013 seeking a bigger challenge; I had fallen in love with the beauty industry and my passion for it was greater than ever before. I felt I had so much to offer the industry, and was always disappointed in the absence of products that I personally would have liked to see on shelves. This was the catalyst for my brand.
What inspired you to start Baroque & Rose and what were the initial – and biggest – challenges you had to overcome as an up-and-coming beauty brand?
Having worked in the beauty industry for over 40 years, I was frustrated that there were no luxury organic unisex products on the market. I observed that the industry also created a huge amount of waste using single use containers for their products. The sole aim was to make the packaging look good without any consideration for what happened to it once it was discarded by the consumer.
[Click on the icon to listen to Baroque & Rose founder Miriam Ciantar talking to Martin Moodie]
Looking for inspiration — and trying to find what was missing — I soon realised that there were many gaps in our industry that needed to be addressed. I wanted to develop a holistic brand and one that not only had fresh, certified organic, and safe-to-use ingredients but was beautiful too.
There have been many challenges including a variety of issues to address such as packaging, licences, certification etc. I wanted to deliver something that people would love, and then obviously the outlay of launching an upcoming brand like this has been huge. It was key to take each day and each challenge head-on and to do my best to overcome them.
What differentiates Baroque & Rose from other luxury skincare brands currently in the market?
My aim was to establish a company that was so much more than just a brand – Baroque & Rose is different in many ways. Over many years the beauty industry has evolved in to one that is just selling the feel and look good factor. Baroque & Rose added a ‘Live Better’ factor and we needed to advocate that clear message to consumers.
What we have created is a brand that is 100% safe to use; and helps the body become more in tune with natural organic ingredients. Our bodies will accept natural ingredients whereas it will repel man-made ingredients, because the body sees them as something alien. With the growth of new media, we can broadcast this natural message to every demographic.
How does your ‘Earth to Face’ philosophy help inform your approach to the production, distribution, and marketing of your brand?
‘Earth to Face’ is utilising the very best ingredients that nature has to offer, grown from the earth, harvested by hand, and kept in their purest form throughout our manufacturing. We use an age old maceration process, where no heat is applied to the ingredients. This maintains all of the nutrients contained within those ingredients, which are at their most potent when used on your face.
One of the key messages in your brand statement is ‘leading the way to bring about change’ – in what ways is Baroque & Rose promoting change within the beauty industry?
For reasons I cannot understand, there is not a world authority that sets a benchmark standard for the beauty industry to comply with. As governments across the globe will not set such a benchmark, Baroque & Rose voluntarily sets its own high standard – one of transparency, honesty, and responsibility. We are open and honest to the consumer about where ingredients in our products come from — clearly stating on the product an ingredient list of what it contains — and are responsible for our single use containers and packaging once they are discarded by our consumers.
Our packaging is recyclable and/or biodegradable, leaving no negative impact on our planet. Our brand takes its responsibility past the sale and purchase of our products.
Could you tell us about your partnership with JES Travel Retail and share some of your plans regarding your expansion into the channel?
JES Travel Retail (JES) and I worked closely together in 2018; with an aspiration to learn more about the global travel retail sector. The collaboration resulted in gaining a better understanding of the travel retail sector itself and getting our products into travel retail press later in the year.
It became clear at this time that travel retail was a sector that had a perfect synergy with the Baroque & Rose brand. However, due to the expansion of the assortment and the importance that we place on the highest quality of products, we were not able to launch our full range until the beginning of this year.
Given our previous work with JES we were more than happy to contact Tim Jobber, (JES Travel Retail Founder) and ask him to partner with us on the launch of the complete range into the channel. Through our work with JES and my regular visits to airport stores worldwide, I’ve gained an in-depth knowledge of the global travel retail sector and subsequently highlighted numerous areas where Baroque & Rose has an ideal synergy with the channel.
I see multiple reasons why travel retail is the ideal match for the Baroque & Rose brand. That includes the importance that the sector places on sustainability, and its customer’s affinity to the quality we have strived to achieve within our products. These factors are coupled with retail partners that show the highest level of retail professionalism whether it be within airports, cruise, or inflight sectors. Whilst I appreciate that the latter is undergoing fundamental changes during these unprecedented times, it still remains an attractive prospect for us — both within classic retail and related ecommerce platforms.
Last year, you launched the Instant Beauty and Detox set into travel retail. Could you tell us more about that launch and how it was received?
The launch was extremely successful and culminated with a number of features in travel retail press, as well as my attendance at the TFWA World Exhibition later in the year. From various discussions, I understood that travel retail would benefit from a wider assortment, details of which we already have in the planning stage.
The beauty category is certainly a key travel retail growth drivers. What opportunities for growth do you see in the market for a holistic, natural, and vegan-friendly brand such as Baroque & Rose?
Yes, the category is growing and this together with travel retail’s emphasis on health-based products that offer sustainability which is within the fabric of our brand means that we see multiple opportunities.
What are your biggest priorities for the year ahead?
Forging close working relationships with our chosen commercial partners, and understanding their business and representing them in the best light possible. Delivering the finest luxury products to our consumers; constantly educating our customers about our product ingredients; understanding how and why the body needs them and the body’s reaction to them; and gaining a customer base from which we can launch other product ranges.
What have been the biggest influences in your life and your major inspirations?
My parents. My mother is an extremely talented musician – her dedication to practice taught me that practice is the only way you can achieve an excellent product that delivers the minimum a paying customer expects.
My father’s impact on my life reveals itself to me still today. What he instilled in me, I will be forever grateful for. His philosophy was attention to detail. He was never complacent in his search for excellence, from manufacturing furniture to maintaining his properties. He never worried about having customers or the money side of business, he knew by producing the very best products that people would always purchase quality over inferior goods.
I was designing furniture with my parents at the age of 16, and learned to source the finest materials. My father would say you can’t cut corners with your materials if you want to build the best products. So when I first began owning and managing beauty salons, I found the transition into business relatively seamless. My desire to build a global brand comes with a completely new set of challenges, but what my father taught me is still key – attention to detail is everything, no matter how small the detail, it has to be right, 99% is not enough!
Contact:
email: miriam@baroqueandrose.co.uk
Web: www.baroqueandrose.com/
