Based in the UK coastal town of Margate, personal care brand Haeckels arose from founder Dom Bridges’ disappointment with how major skincare firms operate. From its cottage business beginnings in 2012 to today, Haeckles’ products use responsibly-sourced, hand-harvested seaweed off the Margate coast. Now, the beloved brand has undergone its first major refresh with a redesign reflecting its oceanic roots (and even some ocean-friendly changes to the packaging).
The new packaging blends ocean and lab aesthetics, with a steely blue-grey utilized on the jars and cylinders for the skin line. A cool, oceanic aesthetic contrasts mightily with the bright yellow used on the outer packaging. Boxes for Haeckels’ seaweed bar soaps instead use dark greens and greys, reminiscent of seaweed’s natural hue. The bottles of shampoos, conditioner, and lotions are clear-colored, topped with a black-colored pump, and use a mild blue on the body with deep blue outer boxes.
Haeckels’ new packaging is visually striking and includes several eco-friendly features hidden in plain sight, just like the vibrant ocean life that thrives out of sight under the ocean’s surface. New jars and tubes get made using a bio-polymer called Vivomar, made by Shellworks. Vivomar is all-natural, vegan, and produced by common microbes. According to Shellworks, Vivomar is home and industrially compostable and will also naturally degrade in the environment, consumed by the same microbes that produce the substrate.
(Above are two images taken from Haeckels’ Instagram. On the left is the hand balm container made using Vivomar after having home composted for 6 weeks. According to the brand, it will leave no trace after 52 weeks.)
Using Vivomar and its fish food-like qualities is the latest in eco-forward initiatives for Haeckels. The brand’s candles are shipped using packaging made from mycelium, while the glasses used for the candles are insulated and can get repurposed as spiffy drinking glasses. While glass is easily recyclable, the process still requires energy, making repurposing a better end-of-life scenario. Moreover, Haeckels offers in-store and online customers a 15% refill discount. For customers in the UK, Haeckles places return labels on shipped products, encouraging customers to return empty packaging to the company. Haeckels have previously offered recyclable pumps as well. Haeckels is also a member of 1% for the Planet, a non-profit that encourages and guides businesses to donate one percent of their sales towards environmental non-profits.
Haeckel’s entire personal care line range is available at its website, its Margate location, and in selected stockists worldwide.
Images courtesy of Haeckels.
