“Given the labor markets, becoming a new artisan will be the best employment path forward for many,” said SmallBusinessLabs.com based on a 2008 report. With mainstream jobs on the decline many unemployed are finding the best career option is to become their own boss. The artisanal movement is a trend that emerged from the Great Recession and has become synonymous with Brooklyn culture. Local hipsters have capitalized on the trend, making Brooklyn a mecca of artisanry. The city is a source for many handmade items, including an array of apothecary products.
Popular lines are specialized to reflect the formulators’ unique philosophies on beauty care. Adina Grigore of Sprout Wellness started mixing products because the typical drugstore and department store brands are too harsh for her ultra-sensitive skin. Angela Shore bases her line, Jiva Apoha, on Ayurvedic principles and shamanism. The rock n’ roll lifestyle inspires Armour Beauty designer Theo Kogan. Amanda Walker created A Perfume Organic as an anti-allergy line. It is one of only five American fragrance companies that is USDA certified organic. Emma Graves’ Between You and the Moon focuses on her own “Triangulator” theory of healing arts. “Scent is Life” is the modernist mantra of C.B. I Hate perfume founder Christopher Brosius. Developing a niche idea has been the key to success with these beauty entrepreneurs.
Small scale beauty companies have created a market tuned into New Yorkers looking for something they cannot find at Sephora, Duane Reade, or Saks Fifth Avenue. Part of the appeal is that “artisanal” carries the cache of being “exclusive”. In a city with everything at a person’s fingertips, possessing something locally sourced is a status symbol. “Their products have both fed wealthy New Yorkers’ demand for custom-made, non-mass-producible goods and created new demand for those items among the middle class,” said Will Oremus of Slate. New York’s elite supporting the local economy while staying beautiful is a trend custom-made in Brooklyn.
Image courtesy Fragrantica.com
Image courtesy Fragrantica.com
No comments:
Post a Comment