The story of fraternal entrepreneurs Jeremy and Keston Muijs is a remarkable one. Following years of flexing their skills as consultants in product and brand development consultants in both their native New Zealand and in the U.S., an assignment to explore the connection between wellness and beauty would eventually transform their career trajectory. Putting ideas and innovation into action, after the client behind the aforementioned job decided to back off, the Muijs brothers founded Grown Alchemist in 2002. Since its inception, the cosmetics brand’s holistic scientific approach and exclusive use of natural ingredients has gained an increasingly growing global client base. And now, almost two decades on, the company step up its operations by opening its first store at home base Melbourne. The store, or in true Grown Alchemist parlance, the Grown Alchemist Retail Lab, is situated in Carlton, a leafy neighbourhood just north of the city’s bustling Central Business District, and occupies a listed Victorian cottage.
The company’s in-house design team have collaborated closely with local architecture practice Herbert & Mason on the interior design which draws heavily from industrial laboratories, while clearly referencing Grown Alchemist‘s alignment with science and innovation. The setting sees a backdrop of exposed brick and a seemingly inserted box of glass and steel which creates a lab vibe. Furnishings are few, and comprise of a large steel counter with built-in cabinets and sinks, and matching tall cabinets. A protruding door at the back of the store, encapsulated in metal, leads to an adjacent space with two treatment rooms, offering the latest in-clinic technology and advanced therapy. Demonstrating Grown Alchemist‘s stature as an innovative cosmetics brand, each treatment aims to give clients a moment of respite, inviting a sense of calm while achieving optimal skin health. The Grown Alchemist Retail Lab stocks the full range of skin, body and hair care products, in addition to the brand’s nutricosmetics.
Grown Alchemist
226 Faraday Street (Carlton)
Melbourne, VIC 3053
Telephone: +61 3 91139558
Mon-Sun 10-6
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
