Designer Interview: Henri and Jonathan Abesera
When Henri Abesera was a young boy in France, he distinctly remembers his grandmother's soap. "She used an all-purpose soap made from olive oil to clean everything —laundry, the children, even her hair. It was nothing fancy, just a big block of soap with no perfume—in fact, sometimes it smelled terrible," he recalls. "But it was amazing how silky clean our skin felt afterward."
Years later, while leading beauty care businesses Nature de France and Clay France, he came across a story about the famous Savon de Marseille. History has it that the soap was inspired by Napoleon, who instructed a chemist to create an olive oil soap for his wife, Josephine. Henri remembered his grandmother's version of Savon de Marseille and made his own.
Jonathan and Henri Abesera Henri's grandmother isn't the only family member behind his newest venture, Olivia Care (Los Angeles). Jonathan Abesera, Henri's son, serves as director of sales. For the last eight years, the two have been manufacturing olive oil-based soap scented with pure essential oils from France.
The firm's packaging has evolved over the years and is often tailored to fit the retail outlet. But the soap formulations and scents are all the same, says Jonathan. All packaging design and manufacturing is handled in-house, at the firm's Los Angeles location or overseas.
Says Jonathan, "Some retailers like one look, while others prefer something different." One packaging element is common, however. On the back of all its boxes, Olivia Care retells the story of Napoleon and Josephine's soap.
Featuring blue and yellow patterns, its Provence line is inspired by Provençal art. In this line, two 8-oz rectangular bars are supplied in a gift box reminiscent of a cigar box, and one 10.5-oz bar is provided in a sliding box with a pull ribbon. "They are beautiful, hard boxes that people hold on to for jewelry or other keepsakes," says Jonathan. Single 8-oz bars are provided in individual boxes printed with the Provençal pattern, as well as in natural paperboard boxes with labels color-coordinated to the scents of the essential oils.
The O line from Olivia Care recounts the history of olive oil soap on all its boxes. For its O line, four 5-oz oval-shaped soaps are packaged in cardboard lidded boxes with sweeping Os color-coordinated to the scents.
Olivia Care also offers body lotions and splashes, shower gels, bath salts and scrubs, salt soufflés, and shea butters in the Provence line. The O line is expanding to include these items as well. A third line, Nature de Provence, also offers four packs of the soaps in lidded boxes with a Provençal pattern, as well as a collection of lotions, splashes, and shower gels.
The firm is launching a fourth line, called Terre Mare. Packaged in earth and sea tones, it will feature clay-based soaps, facial masks, and fragrances with essential oils.
Consumers aren't the only ones to recognize the care the Abeseras put into packaging. Jonathan reports that the licensee behind fragrances under development by American Rag and Seven Jeans has hired an offshoot from the Abeseras' firm, named Cosmopack USA, to design and manufacture the packaging.