I originally trained as a chemist and have a masters in cosmetic science from the London College of Fashion – which was a super niche course. From there, I worked for some big names including Aesop for years and Soho House. In 2016 a friend of mine asked me to create a bespoke hand wash for his cocktail bar in East London – White Lyan. This was the first thing I’d ever made myself and it snowballed from there.

To be totally honest, I develop products that I’m most interested in and I always enjoy experimenting with something new. A while ago, I wanted to start using beeswax in my products – which is actually hard to come by as it’s really precious. After two months of trying, I managed to source some and created an all-purpose balm. I always wanted to streamline a collection that was multi-purpose, because for years the beauty industry has tried to segment things and it’s mostly unnecessary. Scientifically there’s no reason why you need multiple products for the same purpose – and from a sustainability perspective, this is important.

We all know about single use plastic and how bad it is, but not everybody has the flexibility to do something about it. Nearly all of our product is packaged in glass. I realised if we built our supply chain from the ground up, we could try and make things plastic-free. We now collect empty glass bottles from the people we supply to and bring them back to wash and sterilise, before refilling and sending them back out. A lot of people work with us for this reason and think I’m an eco-warrior but I wouldn’t claim that – to me this is just common sense.

I really love the sage and coffee body scrub – it’s made from post-consumer waste espresso grounds which we collect and blend back into the product. You’ll only know that once you read all the details on the back. People tend to buy it because they love it and discover that later. It’s an element of surprise.

All of our products are formulated with essential oils and our fragrances are totally natural. At the heart of our brand is science and plants because although I’m a scientist, I also believe in the power of plants. Our basil, parsley and black pepper hand wash is my favourite – our first product. All of our products have a unisex scent too, which I love.

I want our products to be accessible. For example, we have quite a limited facial skincare range but it really is a multi-use range meant for all skin types. We don’t want people to feel like they have to do masses of research about which of our products to use – we keep it simple.

We work with people or brands we see a synergy with. It’s always inspirational to find out how other businesses operate. Cosmetics brands can be quite insular but there’s so many learnings to take away from other industries.

We are based in an old shipping container and there’s all kinds of businesses based around us – from food and drink to hairdressers. There’s always inspiration nearby. London is a sink or swim environment – which I find motivating. You have to work even harder to make things work and if something can work here, it can work anywhere.