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13 - 16 February 2024 // Nürnberg, Germany
VIVANESS Newsroom
The power of the North
Column
Anyone involved in natural cosmetics knows how important the rhythms of nature are for people and nature. The rhythm of day and night is the one that we are distinctly aware of every single day, as activity and regeneration alternate with one another. It is different with the seasons. Some people love the summer, others prefer the winter. Although I do miss the sun during the dark months, I feel that the changing of the seasons also has its own appeal. I recently spent time in Sweden and was able to physically experience how rhythms can shift dramatically. The long nights in winter are followed by the long days in summer. Clearly this does something to people and to nature too.
I am fascinated by the way that plants handle this challenge. I like to imagine how in the long nights over the winter months the plants gather their forces, so that they can then exert all their energy, in what is a very short growth phase, to growing and maturing in the long days of the short summer. Incidentally, Goethe did a lot of research into this, and determined in the course of his work in the natural sciences that plants develop special strengths according to the growing conditions they are exposed to. The way that nature develops enormous creativity and power in order to survive is simply astonishing. In the Arctic in particular, plants thrive that can handle extreme rhythms of light and dark, cold and warmth. And we can capitalise on that as humans. The capabilities of northern plants are huge. This is why berries, wattle and plants from the North are highly coveted active ingredients for cosmetic products nowadays. Beauty products from the North are trending products, not just because of the fantastic active ingredients but also because they look great in the bathroom, since the Scandinavian design impresses as much as the contents.
Elfriede Dambacher, owner of the Naturkosmetik Konzepte consultancy, is an international expert in the natural cosmetics industry, publisher of various market surveys and author. For more information, please visit: www.naturkosmetik-konzepte.de