The Lowdown on Organic Brand Spiezia

Spiezia Organics are are Cornwall-based manufacturer of 100 percent Soil Association certified Products. Co-owner Amanda answers some questions about the brand.

Q: How and why was Spiezia established? 
The Spiezia Organic range was originally established some 10 years ago by Dr. Mariano Spiezia - a qualified medical Doctor who subsequently studied to practice homeopathic medicine, believing that the power of nature and herbs was a better and more powerful way to heal.  Mariano had already developed some healing ointments for patients. 

Today, the team of Directors and staff are still as passionate about this ethos which is based on a practice which is - Made for Life.  What does that mean?  It means that we do not use anything other than what is provided by nature in any of our products.

The Spiezia - Made for Life organic range are all based on their ability to be kind to people’s skin and their bodies. We are based in Cornwall on an organic Farm - Gear Fram in the Lizard and our belief is that we should do everything we can to look after people’s health and skin in a natural and ethical way.  Our commitment is also to not damage the environment as a result of what we do and not only that but to make a positive contribution to protecting the environment.  Our use of organic herbs and flowers means that we are not only using the purest ingredients we can but it also means that we are encouraging and promoting the development of organic farming which is pesticide free.

Q: What kind of difficulties have the brand faced in launching organic beauty products, especially in regards to obtaining certification and competing against mainstream brands?

Our biggest chanllenge is confusion by the public! We recently undertook a survey which clearly demonstrated that 78 percent of consumers do not understand what a natural product is or the fact that a “natural” product only needs to contain up to 2 percent of naturally derived ingredients - the remaining 98 percent can be stuffed full of potentially harmful chemicals.  In addition because of the varying demainds of the organic certifying bodies there is additional confusion - what is the difference between “made with organic ingredients” and “organic”?

We chose to make sure that we have Soil Associtaion certification for every single product.  Not only this, but we wanted to ensure that all of our products are certified to 100 percent, which we achieved across our full range. This was until the Soil Association changed the standard in 2006 so that any products which contain waters even if they are floral waters could not be certified  to 100 percent.  The Soil Association have very stringent standards which is good as it means that we have demonstrated our commitment to the highest standard.

However there is no legislation in the UK relating to labelling of organic and or natural products so there are a number of natural and organic ranges who use the words in their labelling and packaging and promotion but are far from “organic”.  We find this hugely frustrating and our view is that if you are going to “talk the talk then walk the walk”.  There should be integrity and honesty by producers when they sell to the public.  At the moment the only way a consumer will know whether what they are buying is if they carefully read the label and have a knowledge about potentially harmful chemicals.

Q: The cosmetic industry argue that natural/organic substances are no safer than synthetic chemicals and anyway it is difficult to define a natural/organic substance. A synthetic chemical to them is no different to natural chemical. How would you respond to that?

My view is that this is a cop out! It is far easier to use synthetic chemicals than make the effort to use what is already provided by Nature.  It takes a long time and a great deal of resaerch and therefore money to make 100 percent organic, pure and natural products and it is far easier to stick with what is quick, easy and therefore cheaper - great for profit margins! Herbs and flowers have been used for centuries to cure all sorts of ailments without adverse effect and there is no reason why the cosmetic industry with their higly qualified chemists and scientists should not use their knowldege to develop the use of natural and organic substances in skincare products.

Q: What advice do you have for consumers who are looking for natural and organic products but don’t know where to start?

Look for products that have Soil Association certification . Go onto websites such as www.skindeep.com which show the toxicity levels of chemicals and read labels before you buy!