Terressentials

Vivi Gorman, GREENandSAVE
Posted on Friday 17th July 2009

Location: Middletown, MD

Website: www.terressentials.com

Email: terressentials@mailworks.org

Mission: Our mission is to educate the public about the personal health and environmental benefits about living an organic lifestyle and using genuine USDA certified organic products.

Terressentials is a small company started in 1992 that is an authentic dedicated USDA certified organic processor of a wide range of artisan crafted fresh and delightfully yummy and effective skin, body and hair care products for women, men and children. Terressentials was started by Diana and Jim after they began their organic wellness journey to help Diana recover from the ravaging physical effects of cancer and radical experimental chemotherapy. Their intensive research into ingredients, farming practices, manufacturing processes and product formulations gave them the information to create a pathway to recovery from the chemo’s side effects by avoiding toxic chemical body care and household products, and by switching to an organic diet and lifestyle. Diana and Jim searched the world and found organic foods, but real organic body care products were nowhere to be found. They saw the need for healthier genuine organic personal care products and developed personal care products certified to the USDA National Organic Program and Terressentials was born. Terressentials certified organic products are made fresh in small batches and are shipped to thousands of good people all around the world via the company’s web site, select retail partners and the company’s two organic stores.

The Leadership:

Diana Kaye and James Hahn

Founders

Since: 1992

Biographical highlights: Diana and James were trained as design professionals in the 1970’s and worked in the architectural field until the early 1990’s. They worked on many projects in Washington, DC and outside the beltway always seeking to create spaces and places of memorable beauty from quality materials. Diana’s road to recovery from cancer, led the couple to investigate the composition and lifecycle effects of building materials and, along the way, they discovered sick building syndrome and healthy building design. Their special training as sensitive designers and nontoxic materials specialists paved the way for their transition into their new field of endeavor – the creation of elegant and healthy organic personal care products. Their many years of design training and special focus on natural materials does not allow them to deviate from their hallowed organic path to create products that showcase the beauty of nature in all her glory. As artisans and purists, they can only formulate genuine organic products. This unique perspective shines through in every product that bears the Terressentials name. The Terressentials products reflect extreme quality and purity, radiate vibrance with their intoxicating 100% organic aromatics and emollients, and celebrate life, nature and art in their distinctive packaging.

GREEN Questions:

  1. What are the smart, green or eco-friendly features of your business or product?
    We are USDA certified organic and a dedicated organic personal care processors. This means no nasty chemicals – ever.

  2. What inspired your business or product?
    We enjoy cultural diversity and the taste sensations of gourmet ethnic cuisine. When we first set out to create our products and explored the palate of organic oils, butters, herbs and spices, we modeled our body care formulas on the divine work of our favorite chefs. Body care products are sensory-oriented products, and we wanted to introduce people to the joyful experience of nourishing their skin and their minds with rich, organic foods.

  3. How do you envision customers using your services or product?
    We want our products to provide an escape from the harshness and artifice of modern living. When folks use our body washes in their shower, and they close their eyes and inhale the aroma and let the product glide over their body, we seek to transport them to another utopian place, if only for a few stolen moments to help them relax and find a window of peace in their day.

  4. How do you see your business or product fitting in to the green movement?
    We have always sought to inspire others to create things of beauty. As purists and artists, we are concerned about humans losing touch with the real world and about the effects on the human psyche as a result of the isolation that occurs when people live every day surrounded by artifice. Humans are simply not designed to thrive when their bodies are coated with synthetic polymer plastics. Our goal is to demonstrate leadership by setting an example – by setting a high bar and to encourage others to reach further than they think they can.

  5. What would you change about your community, country or world to make it more eco-friendly?
    We believe that there should be a law requiring every community to have gardens and every citizen to participate in their community by performing a service of their choice for their community. In a perfect world, however, we would not need a law to require people to participate, people would choose to build community gardens and exercise their civic responsibilities out of a selfless desire to leave the world a better place in their passing through it.

Product statistics:

  1. When was your product first conceived? The conception of our first product – a 100% organic and edible lip protector – was in 1993.

  2. Where was it conceived? Ha! That’s a good one. We were having a meeting while soaking in our jacuzzi tub! That’s one of the advantages of being business partners and life partners.

  3. Who is responsible for developing it? As with everything that we have created, we worked on the lip protector together.

  4. How much was the original retail price? How much does it cost now? That’s an interesting historical question. When we first offer our lip protector the price was $2.95. Today, we offer our yummy 100% Organic White Chocolate Lip Protectors for $3.75. A great treat!

  5. Where is it currently made? All of our products are made on our organic farm in our new crafting studio in our beautiful Middletown Valley in central Maryland.

  6. Where was it first made available? Our 100% Organic White Chocolate Lip Protectors were first offered in our organic boutique at our organic farm in Maryland.

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