The Essence of Ofa Karri: A Story of Nature, Healing, and the Power of Aromatic Oils
*OFA KARRI
*OFA KARRI
In the dynamic world of wellness, where innovation meets tradition, stands Ofa Karri—a brand that marries the ancient art of essential oils with contemporary wellness practices. Spearheaded by the visionary founder, Margaux Marcy, Ofa Karri is not just a brand; it’s a movement towards holistic health and natural beauty.
Central to Ofa Karri’s ethos is the transformative potential of aromatherapy to nurture emotional, physical, and mental health. Margaux discusses the intentional crafting of their product line—from the soothing aromatic rollers to the invigorating body oils and multi-purpose scent sprays—each designed with the goal of harmonizing the soul and body.
It’s a journey into the essence of wellness, where every product tells a story of personal and communal healing, and where Margaux Marcy’s dream of integrating essential oils into daily self-care rituals comes to life.
Margaux, your journey with Ofa Karri is both personal and profound. Can you share the inspiration behind the brand's name and its significance to you?
The name Ofa Karri stood out from the beginning, with its exotic sound, the fluidity of the letters, and its uniqueness. We were convinced that the brand would be named this and we never looked back.
OFA stands for Oils For All. It’s the foundation of our brand and our mission: to make the use of essential oils accessible, understandable, and modern for everyone!
KARRI comes from Karri Knight, the tallest tree in Europe, an eucalyptus over 80 meters tall located in the Canas Valley in Northern Portugal.
Living in Portugal for 7 years, the local and preserved nature of this beautiful country has been a great source of inspiration in the invention, creation, development, and visual identity of Ofa Karri.
The story of Ofa Karri is deeply intertwined with the idea of emotional well-being. How do you envision beauty products as tools for emotional healing and self-care?
Aromatherapy, which is at the heart of our approach, is an ancient discipline that exploits the therapeutic properties of essential oils to improve physical, mental, and emotional health.
Indeed, the story of Ofa Karri is closely linked to the notion of emotional well-being, and we see holistic cosmetics and natural remedies as powerful tools for fostering emotional healing and supporting mental balance on a daily basis.
Our aromatic rollers, body oils, and multi-purpose scent sprays are designed to meet different daily needs using the power of essential oils: to provide emotional comfort, boost energy, reduce stress and anxiety, promote relaxation for sleep, or even stimulate desire and libido.
Our goal is to offer a holistic and comprehensive experience, understandable and accessible, thus promoting better overall health for everyone. We envision this world of aroma-cosmetics, still little used and known, as a way to easily integrate these precious resources into a modern daily routine or reflex for self-care and managing emotions.
Essential oils have been used for centuries in various cultures for their therapeutic properties. How do you believe they play a role in modern-day wellness and self-care?
The use of the aromatic power of plants in the form of essential oils is indeed an ancestral knowledge whose effectiveness continues to be recognized and proven by science. Yet, despite this recognition, its use remains largely unknown and sometimes misunderstood.
Today, we live in a frenetic world, constantly on the move, racing against time, overstimulated and overconnected, and it’s not getting any better. In my opinion, regardless of your profile type, it is essential to soothe your nervous system naturally on a daily basis.
There are many possibilities, essential oils being one of them, and they are an easy and affordable solution to calm one's mind, internal anxieties, and environmental stress.
The blending of essential oils is both an art and a science. Can you walk us through the intricate process of creating the perfect blend for each product?
Each of our blends is designed to meet a targeted and specific need and is custom-created with our aromatherapist Raquel Costa. A pioneer in Portugal in organic aromatherapy, clinical methodology, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, she has been with us from the beginning in creating our remedies, devising formulas with always natural and organic ingredients meticulously selected and tested on a wide panel of her patients.
For example, BODY TENDERNESS, our relaxing oil for muscle tension, painful joints, and cramps, is her magic formula that she has been using for over 10 years on her patients. It has proven its effectiveness, and for her, as for us, this miracle product undoubtedly had to be included in our range. For each reference created, Raquel offers us different options that she develops in her laboratory in Northern Portugal. We test them for several months within the team but also around us; exchanges and modifications are very frequent because we want a product that is effective therapeutically but also pleasant to use and smells good. It is rare to have the perfect formula on the first try! We have learned to be patient, as working without any white label formulas, developing a product 'from scratch' is costly and can take more than a year.
What challenges have you faced in making these potent botanicals more accessible and understandable to the masses?
The challenge was in creating a brand identity that stands out from the usual norms for this type of product, both in terms of packaging and wording, as well as smells and textures. We aspire to create something unique and aesthetically appealing while maintaining the effectiveness of the formulas through the choice of premium oils and organic certification. Moreover, it was about developing products that combine well-being and effectiveness but also inspire the desire to gift and self-care.
Our ambition was to go beyond the simple product by offering a complete experience. We firmly believe that natural self-care should be a special, beautiful, personalized, almost ritualistic experience. This is what motivates us to promote the understanding and dissemination of the benefits of essential oils!
Another major challenge was to make aromatherapy more accessible by simply explaining its power and how to easily integrate it into our daily lives with ready-to-use and safe products.
Your product range is diverse, from fragrances like "Ofadisia" to wellness boosters like "Seasonal Boost." How do you maintain a cohesive brand narrative across such a varied product line?
To date, we have 15 references spread across 6 distinct ranges: Women, Clean, Well Being, Sensuality, Immunity, and Sleep. Our goal is to highlight the versatility of essential oils, showing that they are suitable for a wide range of needs and accessible to everyone, due to their great diversity! The creation of the ranges happened organically and spontaneously. Product ideas emerged from our desire to meet personal needs.
As always, we wanted everyone to find something for themselves, so we started with ranges that are simple to understand and coexist well together: The CLEAN range with the Energizing hands spray and the Calming hands spray (sprays to disinfect and moisturize hands while balancing our emotions) and the Yoga Mat Purifier (a spray to clean the yoga mat and promote grounding in the present moment), the WELL BEING range with Body Tenderness (a body oil relaxant for muscle pain and body tensions), the Hangover Potion (a refreshing roller for difficult mornings), and the Peaceful Mind (a roller that brings calm and serenity to your daily life), the SENSUALITY range with Ofadisia Women and Ofadisia Men (two sensual massage oils one for women and one for men), the WOMEN range with a Cycle Balance roller (for hormonal and nervous fluctuations in women), the Monthly Release (an oil for menstrual pains) and Growing Mama (a body oil for expectant mothers, our only product without essential oils), the SLEEP range with the Dreamy Pillow (a soothing pillow mist that calms and relaxes before bedtime), the Night Potion women and the Night Potion men (rollers that provide relaxation and promote sleep) and the IMMUNITY range with the Seasonal Boost (a roller that strengthens and boosts immunity during seasonal changes).
The coherence, I believe, lies in how we communicate about these ranges, which are indeed different, but must be able to coexist on the same visual or on our different communication media. I think all subjects can be discussed, but as in life, it's all in the way it's done...
Ofa Karri's products seem to tell a story, from their names to their formulations. How do you envision these stories impacting the daily rituals of those who use them?
Each formula has its story and was designed to meet specific and often personal needs. We were convinced that these practical daily rituals could also resonate with a wide audience, as they concern everyone! Our brand offers different universes that everyone interprets in their own way. Some of our customers are more inclined to appreciate certain products than others, while others are attracted to references we did not expect as much... It’s fascinating to see how olfactory preferences and color choices differ so much from one person to another. We strive to present a diversity of ranges in terms of style, texture, and smell. In my opinion, everyone can find their happiness. Sometimes, people buy a product simply because they like its design and it makes them feel good! All we hope is to be able to accompany our customers daily by helping them balance their emotions through simple routines or well-being rituals easy to implement.
The beauty of the packaging is evident in each Ofa Karri product. How important is the aesthetic appeal in conveying the brand's message and enticing customers?
The interest in aromatherapy is growing, but very few people know how to use it. By creating Ofa Karri, we wanted to make access to essential oils easier but also, and above all, more modern. In the spirit of this approach, it was important for us to have the best formulations in effective packaging (ultra-violet glass, the most resistant on the market) but also attractive and distinctive. We wanted to move away from the apothecary and minimalist look towards something more solar, lively, and aesthetic: practical, effective, cute, and good-smelling remedies! It was important to me that the products are beautiful, becoming objects that easily blend into our daily lives, that we want to have close by, in our bag, in our car, on our desk, in our bathroom...
As the founder, what has been your most rewarding moment since the inception of Ofa Karri?
When you create a brand relying a lot on your instinct, you don't ask yourself many questions until you encounter the first obstacles... That's when you realize that you're going to launch a concrete product on a market that may not be receptive at all. At first, our family, friends, and acquaintances buy them and we think it's started and it will happen on its own! And then when the first wave of euphoria has passed, we realize that no one was waiting for us and that we will have to fight to promote our brand. After 2 years of intense development, we need to put energy into marketing and it's probably the most challenging when the adventure is just beginning...
I think the most rewarding moments happened in two stages: First, when we got the first orders from “real” customers. To think that people buy products because they like them is the greatest satisfaction one can have when launching a new project. Then, I would say what is even more encouraging are the repurchases and numerous positive comments on the products.
Being based in Lisbon, a city known for its rich history and vibrant culture, how has this influenced the ethos and formulations of Ofa Karri?
Lisbon is a colorful, sunny, and vibrant city, the beauty of the sunsets and the song of the swallows still touch me after so many years! Ofa Karri draws a lot of inspiration from nature, Latin music, and the local warmth. Raquel, our aromatherapist, tries to add as much of a Portuguese touch as possible to the formulations. Our photo shoots take place in Lisbon with local talents, while the musical choices on our social networks are heavily inspired by Brazil. A great cross-cultural mix! For us, it's important to convey this rich diversity through communication and to find the balance through these different universes. We consider it essential to combine French expertise and quality for product manufacturing with the aesthetic inspiration of the warm Portuguese lifestyle.
Can you share a bit about your personal beauty and wellness regimen? Are there any Ofa Karri products you particularly swear by?
I am a big fan of Ayurvedic medicine! I apply some of its principles such as dry brushing, tongue scraping, and oil pulling in the morning. As for cosmetics, I have extremely sensitive skin, so I only buy organic, 100% natural, and as pure as possible products. I love the idea of applying to your skin only what you can ingest. It makes a lot of sense to me! I have a few Ofa Karri favorites... you will never see me without one and/or several disinfectant and moisturizing sprays for hands, Lavender or Citrus.
I love yoga, so I use our Yoga Mat Purifier a lot, to clean the mat but also and especially to spray on my clothes before a session. The smell is super comforting while being energizing!
In the evening, I really like to apply the relaxing oil Body Tenderness to my shoulders. It soothes the tension and stress that accumulate in the upper back during the day. After application, I bring the palm of my hands to my nose and take long breaths. The calming properties of essential oils have an immediate effect and I love that smell so much!
Every evening before going to sleep, I use the Dreamy Pillow, our pillow mist to calm the mind for a restorative sleep.
And finally, with the arrival of cold weather, I can't do without the Seasonal Boost roller to strengthen my immunity all winter long.
Lastly, looking ahead, what can we expect from Ofa Karri in the coming years? Are there any new product launches or collaborations on the horizon?
We want to continue our mission, which is to make the use of essential oils accessible to everyone through new products and new ranges. As for collaborations, we have partnered with KOBA Skincare, a young French cosmetics brand, to offer a relaxation ritual that nourishes the body and balances the mind before going to sleep. The idea is to transform your evening routine into a well-being and regenerative experience for peaceful and restorative sleep. The collaboration was initially planned only for the Holidays, but due to its success, we decided to keep it active on our respective websites!
Then, we are currently working on the development of three room sprays with various therapeutic virtues... We love the result and are very eager to be able to offer them to our customers. The launch is planned for the spring.
Finally, we want to grow and develop our presence on the European market and, hopefully, open to the American market in the near future!
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INTERVIEW: JALILA LEVESQUE
PHOTOS CREDITS: OFA KARRI