Aotea

A truly circular operation. Aotea’s extraction and production facilities run on solar and biomass left over from the extraction process. Their closed-loop return system allows customers to send back packaging to be sterilised, repacked and reused, a considered response to the 120 billion cosmetic packages discarded globally every year.

Rooted in community. Manufacturing on the papakāinga means keeping employment, knowledge and economic benefit within the Aotea community. It also means honouring the cultural principles that shape the brand's direction.

Science in service of Indigenous knowledge. Mātauranga Māori has long understood the healing properties of kawakawa and kūmarahou. Aotea is working to bring clinical research into conversation with that knowledge, pursuing what it believes will be a world-first critical extraction of the lipids and terpenes within these plants.