No matter whether you are a Suecophile (lover of all things Swedish) or not, you will love Scandic Botanica’s line of all natural skincare care products. Having spent summers in Sweden since childhood, founder Souraya Hamdi learned the traditions of her Swedish mother and grandmother and created lip balms, facial serums, face masks, and body scrubs that help you embody the simplistic Swedish way of life. She marries her Nordic background with their love of all natural, chemical free, organic ingredients. A recent addition is her line of men’s care products called Harbour Organics.
What were you doing before you started Scandic Botanica?
Before starting SCANDIC BOTANICA I was and still am working as make-up artist. I’ve had a great career that I love and consider myself very lucky to have worked in so many genres such as fashion, advertising, celebrity, tv/film. When I started the brand it was a side project for myself, clients and friends, it just grew organically from there.
What inspired you to create Scandic Botanica?
Make-up and skincare go hand in hand, so it was something I’ve always been exposed to and educated on extensively, but family and tradition were the true inspiration. My mother and grandmother, both avid nature lovers, taught me everything about nature in Sweden. From foraging for mushrooms in the forest (a Scandinavian summer tradition) to turning wild flowers, berries, leaves and bark into food and medicine, it was a wonderful childhood education that you can’t replicate. When it came time to start SCANDIC BOTANICA it was a natural progression and way honor my family, our traditions and to share it with others.
Tell us about the ingredients, how you source them and how is it made.
Most of our key ingredients come from Scandinavia and some globally, but always from sustainable natural/organic sources. All of our products are super concentrated, we do not use harmful chemicals or preservatives and our small-batch focus helps ensure the purest and freshest products possible.
Packaging is a big problem in terms of creating waste. What kind of packaging do you use?
We use packaging that is only recyclable/upcyclable, if you think you can’t recycle it you can reuse it, the Scandinavian lifestyle of reuse is a big part of our values. Our signature packaging with the wax stamps are aluminum and we do not use exterior packaging in order to avoid waste. We encourage our customers to reuse everything down to the shipping materials.
What are your plans for the future?
We would love to be in every household and we are working on it! While partnering with the most amazing stores and small businesses that carry our products, our direct-to-consumer model helps reach more of our loyal customers nationally and internationally, our current target is growing that side of the business along with some limited edition collaborations.
What are your biggest challenges?
As any indie brand knows, running a small business comes with a load of challenges. Scaling up, logistics and sourcing are some of the biggest issues, but no matter how difficult the challenges are the product quality must stay the same and our customers trust in our brand comes first!
