The New Zealand beauty entrepreneur has her sights set on global expansion with an impending move to the UK. <\/p>\n
Emma Lewisham has spent the past six years pioneering her line of high-performance, plant-powered products in a saturated market, spearheading a new era of luxury skincare. <\/p>\n
\n After cementing her
\n reputation as the world\u2019s first 100% circular-designed, climate-positive and B-Corp certified brand in New Zealand and Australia, Lewisham took her brand international three years ago.\n <\/p>\n
Forging retail relationships in the US, UK and EU attracted the attention of retail juggernauts including Space NK, Harrods, Net-A-Porter and Liberty. Today, the brand is available from 230 retailers globally (including 16 luxury retailers) with warehousing and logistics established in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US. <\/p>\n
But as the success of the Emma Lewisham brand grew, Lewisham and husband Andrew decided to move to London, in time for daughter, Milla, to start school. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time the Lewisham family have based themselves in London; they relocated for three months when the brand first broke into the UK market. Nor is this a forever move. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been travelling there two or three times a year for the last three years. It\u2019s a second base for our growth in the UK and expansion into the rest of Europe and now America and more to come,\u201d Lewisham says. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt we had to flip the base for a period and give the brand a really good push alongside our team up there. Moving to London had been at the back of my mind for a while. The level of travel I was doing and being away from my family was gruelling, plus opportunities kept coming in and not being able to do them was tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n
With London just a 90-minute flight from Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium, it\u2019s the perfect location for dialling up her brand presence in Europe. <\/p>\n
Lewisham adds she\u2019ll be back on home soil regularly, checking in with her teams and manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand every year for \u201cgood chunks of time\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand and Australia are such important markets for us, so I\u2019ll still be very visible and active,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But in the interim, Lewisham says the move to London will be an anchor for her husband and daughter. <\/p>\n
While it may not be a forever move, Lewisham says it will allow her to oversee the brand’s expansion into markets including the US and EU. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
As involved as she is with her eponymous skincare line, the hallmark of a successful business is one that can be run remotely \u2013 relying on a senior team who can carry the torch while Lewisham is based offshore. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur team is solid, and we have an amazing relationship with our exclusive retail partner, Mecca, where the brand is doing so well. Things are flying for us. I decided okay, for a period, I don\u2019t have to be here 24\/7,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
Conscious not to lose the small team agility established over the past six years, Lewisham says she feels \u201cvery connected\u201d to her team despite operating in different markets and time zones. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that comes down to having the right people on the bus … if they\u2019re not, they have to get off. It is a business and you have to make hard calls on who\u2019s in your team,\u201d Lewisham says. <\/p>\n
She calls expansion offshore \u201cincredibly challenging\u201d, which makes the victory of being sold in multiple UK retailers, including SpaceNK, Harrods and Liberty, all the sweeter. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just established over there; we\u2019re accelerating. [The UK] has been our fastest-growing market over the past 12 months. We\u2019re in the top five luxury skincare brands at SpaceNK and our Vitale Elixir is the number two selling luxury serum behind Dr Barbara Sturm\u2019s Hyaluronic Serum,\u201d she says, quick to point out hers is the only New Zealand brand sold in the notoriously hard-to-get-into beauty department store. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s helped us break into the UK has been the performance and the quality of the product. We\u2019ve always made skincare with complete integrity, rooted in the belief that our high-quality formulations can stand the test of time and transcend trends,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m passionate about having the most phenomenal products and point of view to break through, because it\u2019s such a competitive and saturated market.\u201d <\/p>\n
The new Emma Lewisham Supernatural Creme Cleanser is priced at $84, or $77 for the refill. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Her approach \u2013 conscious and considered \u2013 has led Lewisham to introduce newness only when ready, not pressured to keep up with the level of churn typical of the beauty industry. <\/p>\n
The new Supernatural Creme Cleanser is the next cab off the rank, launching on March 31. It\u2019s the second cleanser to be added to Lewisham\u2019s line after the introduction of her Illuminating Oil Cleanser in 2020. <\/p>\n
The decision to formulate a creme-based cleanser came down to consumer preference (not everyone loves an oil), alongside groundbreaking research into formulations that can penetrate deeply into skin, despite only being in contact with it briefly before being washed off. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s taken so long to bring out another cleanser, because we genuinely wanted to see something distinct we could do in a product, not just bring out something new for buzz,\u201d Lewisham says. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t launch a lot of products. We haven\u2019t launched a product in a while. We really take our time on them and not rush them through.\u201d <\/p>\n
The team of physiologists was challenged by flipping the concept of cleansing on its head. \u201cUp to this point, cleansing has been about removal, but what if from the very first step, you\u2019re giving to skin more than you take?\u201d Lewisham says. <\/p>\n
Calming, balancing and hydrating skin were Lewisham\u2019s North Star during the formulation process, creating what she calls a \u201cwash-on\u201d product that supports the skin barrier and microbiome, alleviating inflammation and boosting hydration. <\/p>\n
Lewisham says the cloud-like cleanser marries luxury skincare with clinical performance, while offering a spa-like experience from home. <\/p>\n
It emulsifies upon contact with water, gently cleansing skin with key ingredients like white biotech hyaluronic acid, patchouli and lichen extract, and a targeted prebiotic to leave skin feeling hydrated (not stripped). <\/p>\n
Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this approach to innovation, never settling for the status quo, that earned her brand recognition from Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, Peter Agre. The endorsement was supported by a two-year relationship that Lewisham has been building with the laureate during her frequent trips to America. <\/p>\n
She calls him a \u201cpurist\u201d of the science world and adds that his genuine recognition of her brand\u2019s scientific robustness is one of her proudest moments in business so far. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows what New Zealand businesses can do. At the moment, I feel like everyone\u2019s so down and out in the country, but we have got so much to offer the world. We can achieve so much,\u201d Lewisham says. <\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is limitless \u2013 we just need to back ourselves again.\u201d <\/p>\n
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