It all started with a piece of soap ...
Since 2004 Flow Cosmetics is one of the pioneers of domestic natural cosmetics series. Handmade products in Riihimäki have established themselves with quality conscious consumers, as they are behind a solid cosmetics expertise, clean and high quality organic ingredients and genuine love for nature.
Today, there are already over 100 hand-made skin and hair care at the Riihimäki plant, as well as makeup products, which are sold in many different countries in addition to Finland.
It all started with a soap experiment from Riitta Jänkälä's own home kitchen founder and CEO of Flow Cosmetics. From the outset, the products were also familiar to the daughter, Suvi Kunnar, who is currently working as the operational director of Flow Cosmetics.
The soap experiment was a success, which, in addition to work, began to develop other skin and hair care products for sale and in the craft market for sale. At that time around the world, small artisan cosmetics were born
Specialized companies and the idea of self -supporting organic cosmetics began to attract. The final decision on the abandonment of hairdressing entrepreneurship came in 2004, when Riitta set up a business name for the soap business. A few years later, daughter Suvi joined and slowly the rest of your family has become a way or another in one way or another.
Love for a more natural lifestyle woke up
Riitta Jänkälä, founder of Flow Cosmetics, was a busy career in the 1990s, who took care of the family and at the same time spun a common hairdressing salon in Vantaa and later in Hyvinkää. The rapid rhythm of life in Southern Finland took Riita, who had grown up in the north, as the hairdressing and beauty business increased.
However, longing for nature was always in the background, and at the turn of the millennium, Riitta began to become more aware of the daily chemicals she encountered in her work.
“The breaks of the chemicals I constantly dealt with in my work and the synthetic odors of beauty care products began to feel disgusting. A decent wake-up happened in the early 2000s while I was part-time at home with my pit.
Aromatherapy studies had led me to familiarize yourself with the healing effects of herbs and plants, and to get to know the poorly available natural cosmetics in Finland at that time. I didn't want my kids to get in touch with unnecessary chemicals anymore, so I decided to try making lavender soap in my home kitchen myself. ”
Mom and daughter as a working couple
Riitta is an innovator who still formulates all products with their knowledge and experience, but above all, led by a strong intuition. Suvi, who has been responsible for Flow's operational operations since 2009, is the one who makes sure and sometimes even stinking his mother from moving too fast.
“I'm common sense, Mom has feelings! The mother trusts her instinct and is effectively advancing in a fast pace. He often knows what he wants and why, I am a more thoughtful joke for us. However, friction has never been born, we supplement and balance each other. It's great to be able to work with your own family, work does not seem like work, but this is a way of life for us. Often, the cottage dock visions the future and new products are designed together. ”
Riitta describes her and her daughter as close, thinking similarly, and says their working methods complement each other.
“I may be fast in my movements, and it is good to have a more thoughtful and accurate Suvi stinging me when needed. We are yin and yang! ” Riitta states.
Suvi is on the same line: “I'm a meticulous, and my mother is generous. Of course, there is also the downside in the vicinity: emotions are more sensitive to surface, and sometimes we get hot. Usually, however, it is in some way related to a particularly busy and stressful situation, such as building a fairground. In terms of the direction and development of the company, we are on the same line. Mom gives me the freedom to make decisions, even though she is the founder and creator of the company. ”
Family business in more than one way
Both Riitta and Suvi experience that family values and working with the family are also transmitted to other business activities.
“We care about all employees, and it is extremely important to us that there is a good atmosphere at work and comfortable to be. We're a bit like a big family. ”
During the work, Suvi and Riitta feel like they are mother and daughter first, and then only colleagues.
In 2014, the company was facing a new kind of challenge. As demand grew, the old production facilities in Hyvinkää became tight, and Riitta and Suvi had to make a difficult choice. Either had to be changed to larger spaces and invested in more efficient devices, or switching to a subcontractor to make products, as many cosmetics do.
“The production of Flow products was transferred to the subcontractor for a moment-it was the worst mistake in my career! Customers noticed the difference in compositions and quality and for the first time we started to get negative feedback on the products. Fortunately, we realized we pulled the handbrake in time. I realized that efficiency and productivity are not the most important, and that our professional skills over the years were our biggest resources. Our thing is to make the products from start to finish ourselves. At that time, doing the hand crystallized into a core idea of Flow and it has carried us to the point where we are now. ”
Naturalness above product development
Riitta has always qualified for her products only so clean and natural raw materials that they could even eat. Furthermore, the main ingredients of the products can be found, for example. seed oils from different berries, flower extracts, coconut fat, salt, sugar and apple vinegar.
“Mother's intuition and brave experiments have always progressed. We also listen to a lot of Flow dealers and consumers' feedback, but there was no need to run after trends. Of course, we are quoted in the media with a lot of attention, functional raw materials. For example, it would be madness not to use hyaluronic acid in the products, which has been proven to be moisture
Top class and consumers are already aware of its efficiency with the media attention.
Sometimes it has happened that Flow has been ahead of its time. A good example of this is flower waters, which in the early 2010s in the early 2010s. Only rose water was moving, so it was decided to give up the production of others. ”
Finland has the purest nature in the world and its deliveries within our hands. Clean and genuinely natural ingredients are important to us, so all ingredients of our products are carefully selected.
Our production complies with the criteria for certified natural cosmetics and uses organic certified raw materials and wild plants in the pure nature of the northern nature.
The concentration of organic farmed or wild raw materials is particularly high in our products and is clearly visible in packaging and product efficiency.
Check out the full Flow Cosmetics rangeAlways natural. Always effective. Always honest.
