Ubiety is local company close to our hearts, and we’re thrilled to be stocking their collection of sustainable, vegan and environmentally friendly body care products.
We caught up with the team to find out a bit more about their product collection and Dorothy House Hospice Care.
Ubiety Collection, photographed by Adrian Howard Campbell
Tell us bit about the inspiration behind Ubiety.
As a local charity whose work is only partly funded by valuable public money, we needed to look for other sources of income in order to meet the needs in our community. With Arcania Apothecary’s generous offer to develop a range of products for us, there was an opportunity to reflect Dorothy House Hospice’s incredible care practices in a luxurious new brand. Not only does the brand promote our approach to holistic health, it also generates income for the charity and gives us national reach.
The inspiring work of our Complementary Therapies Team led to the development of fragrances designed to relax, re-energise, or soothe dependant on you, or your loved one’s own self-care needs. Richard Howard at Arcania worked on every single product formulation with at least one of our aromatherapists and their passion for healing and well-being expertise is squeezed into every single bottle.
For us, Ubiety is the condition of being in a definite place, somewhere you feel relaxed, mindful and totally comfortable. Like a favourite spot in a patch of sun on the sofa, curled up with a book with a cup of tea in your hand. What’s important is realising that it shouldn’t take a crisis to start looking after yourself and others and be more mindful, that the care and thoughtfulness you receive when you are unwell is the care that can be achieved every day.
So these products are designed to inspire you to create more of those ‘Ubiety’ moments and feel better and more balanced, even in ‘normal’ life. After all, what is normal anyway?
How important was it for you to develop a collection which was environmentally friendly and vegan?
As a charity who provides care for people, we acknowledge the importance of sustaining our environment and preserving our planet for generations to come. As we use nature’s natural healing properties in our products, it wouldn’t make sense not to ensure that the ingredients and packaging we use, have as little negative impact on the planet as possible. We aren’t perfect but we are striving every day to reduce our packaging waste and source sustainable materials- luckily our partner Arcania is equally committed to the environment and we really benefit from their own research into providing the best, sustainable options.
As we developed the range, it also became important to us that we could offer something that those who make vegan choices can use. Many natural lip balms and candles for example, use beeswax, which of course isn’t vegan friendly. We wanted to make sure that people who make ethical choices can experience the benefits of Ubiety too- as long as the plant materials we use, are sustainable, of course!
Clementine and Spearmind Uplifting Hand Wash
Ubiety is the collective effort of a host of local experts, how did these partnerships begin?
One of the benefits of being a charity, is that we can be a little bit cheekier than your usual entrepreneur and ask for a lot! The idea was a gift from Arcania, who have a ridiculous amount of expertise in skin and body care and whose staff had personal experiences of our charity’s care- a match made in heaven! What amazed us though, was how when we explained our concept to other potential expert partners, how keen they all were to help. Limelight Bath is a fantastic local business owned by Cathy Biggs- not only did she develop the most amazing plant-based wax base for us, she gave us tons of invaluable advice on setting up our brand from start to finish.
The love she has for our charity, really shows in the product- it has an incredible burn time, scent throw and quality. Our designers, Supple Studio, who only work with ethically minded clients, are cut from the same cloth. They immersed themselves in the brief and created beautiful packaging and designs that exactly reflected what we think our customers are- discerning, mindful and timeless!
Tell us a bit about Dorothy House and the care they provide.
We are a charitable hospice that Hospice provides free, palliative and end of life care services across a 700 square mile community in Bath and North East Somerset, and parts of Somerset and Wiltshire. Not only do we provide clinical support to patients, we also provide help with mental health and well-being for the patients, their carers and their family members. When referred into the hospice, patients and their families have the opportunity to access counselling, massage, physiotherapy, aromatherapy, Reiki, Arts therapy, coffee mornings, sewing bees, support groups, allotment clubs, plus outstanding medical care of course! This isn’t a complete list but you can see why we call our practice ‘holistic’ and want more people to understand the value of our approach and how they can translate it into the ‘every day.’
Ubiety’s Cedarwood, Sage and Ylang Yland Natural Scented Candle
What are your plans for 2019?
We are already looking to expand our home fragrance range- aromatherapy is so important to us to enable relaxation and we want to bring out two new fragrances that reflect the moods of our other products but that can scent the home all day long. We also want to introduce some new treats into our body care range- so watch this space! We are really lucky that Arcania will continue with us on this journey- every product we co-design is based on ingredients with genuine efficacy that really do what they say and we’re confident the range will become even stronger.
Of course, we are also looking to spread the word about our brand, nationally and even internationally- our charity has spent the last 40 years working with international care providers, learning from them and providing them with advice. We think, just like our charity, that what Ubiety is trying to achieve has resonance in every country and every culture!
Graham & Green’s Ubiety Collection
To view our full collection of Ubiety products, click here.
To find out more about Ubiety, click here.