Yves Saint Laurent Beauté puts the spotlight on its collective gardens of Ourika, located in the Atlas region. Launched in 2013, this avant-garde project has developed over the years to give birth to spaces pampered by a women’s cooperative and dedicated to the cultivation of plants and botanical research.
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty (YSL Beauté) favors the beauty of tomorrow for a better social and environmental footprint through the collective gardens of Ourika. Imbued with this commitment, the brand continues to develop this magnificent botanical collection located at the foot of the Atlas. A space highlighted and protected by YSL Beauté bringing together more than 200 species.
This garden is divided into three distinct spaces. The Premier, made up of sixty-four cultivation plots, is intended for the production and harvesting of plants included in YSL Beauté products. The second facts as a test area where new ingredients are tested. And the third pays tribute to the famous designer Yves Saint Laurent and his passion for flowers through the cultivation of a dozen reference plants and flowers. In other words, a marvelous garden where there is a laboratory for experimentation and observation, allowing the brand to continue the research and innovation work that will enrich the YSL Beauté products of tomorrow.
Since the launch of the project in 2013, this unique space has been lavish with botanical treasures such as the pistil of saffron harvested throughout the year and used in the Or Rouge range that the brand launched in 2013, from the flower calendula from the Touche Éclat formula, walnut leaf from the Top Secrets line, pomegranate from the Rouge Volupté Shine range and, since 2018, ingredients from the Pure Shots range such as iris, mallow, prickly pear and cactus flower.
Creations under the seal of sustainability
“The mission of the Ourika Collective Gardens is to observe, cultivate and protect nature so as to make the most of all that it has to offer, explains Stephan Bezy, International Managing Director of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. Built on the heritage of Yves Saint Laurent, this project renews the brand’s promise of enchantment by developing an innovative and responsible program that puts the earth in the spotlight.»
By creating its first garden dedicated to the cultivation of cosmetic ingredients, the House has adopted an innovative approach to research, centered around a space entirely devoted to botany. “In the Ourika Collective Gardens, each of the ingredients is selected, cultivated and harvested in a sustainable way, and extracted with care, in compliance with the strictest standards.», supports, for her part, Caroline Nègre, international scientific director of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté.
This long-term commitment has already produced convincing results for the brand. Indeed, in 2020, more than 12 million products in the YSL Beauté range contained at least one ingredient from the Ourika Collective Gardens. In 2021, 15 exclusive ingredients are sustainably sourced from gardens. And by 2025, 100% of new products launched by the brand will incorporate at least one ingredient from the Gardens.
An oasis of sustainable beauty cultivated by women
Beyond their ecological dimension, the Collective Gardens of Ourika are also a human adventure that aims to promote women’s entrepreneurship and their financial independence. This social program strives to promote the know-how and ancestral craftsmanship of local communities, while creating jobs for a cooperative of 32 women. Over the past five years in particular, the work of these women has evolved and diversified, prompting them to expand their know-how beyond garden maintenance tasks to learn nursery management, trading in seeds, teas and biscuits, and even running cooking classes for tourists. Wishing to acknowledge this work, YSL Beauté ensures fair remuneration for these women by guaranteeing a minimum price indexed to the cost price of the products, to which is added a development bonus.
The objective, in the near future, is to further develop the virtuous cycle to which this experimental and emblematic space obeys, by continuing to encourage and stimulate those who cultivate the land so that they can reap what they have sown, Literally as well as figuratively. The strength of these gardens lies in their ability to transform, spur and nurture change.
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