Discover Benelux | Made in the Netherlands | Dutch Industry and Innovation
Self-care with a masculine touch TEXT: EMMA WESSELING | PHOTOS: DAMN GOOD SOAP COMPANY
If you have a beard, making sure it looks good, feels soft and smells fresh is a must. But how do you navigate the crowded market of beard-targeted toiletries? You find a Damn Good Soap Company. If you are in need of a specific product, and you are unable to find it, there is really only one solution: you make it yourself. That is what Jasper van Impelen, owner and founder of Damn Good Soap Company, decided to do. “I was in the shower and realised my wife’s soap had a very distinct feminine smell, while men often wash themselves with soap that is very neutral. That’s how I came up with the idea of making soaps that not only smell, but also look very masculine too, to make pampering and self-care not seem so feminine to men,” he said. Starting off with just their trademark black bars of soap, Damn Good Soap Company quickly grew to making all sorts of cosmetics, specifically targeted to men. Five years ago,
when Damn Good Soap Company was founded, this market was still relatively untapped, allowing for a fast expansion of the company. Van Impelen, however, still focuses on the artisanal aspect of his products. Everything his company sells is homemade and home-tested by Van Impelen and his friends. Aside from the bars of soap, they now also offer various products for the maintenance of beards, solid blocks of eau de cologne and a cream to help repair blistered and damaged hands, that is currently being used quite widespread among many crossfitters, for example. Damn Good Soap Company products are available through their website and various resellers internationally.
Web: www.damngoodsoap.com
Scent explosions Perfumer and fragrance engineer, Spyros Drosopoulos, wants to tell novel stories with his perfumes. Named after the Greek word for gunpowder, Baruti perfumes are explosions of scent. The niche, independent perfume brand is conquering the world with unexpected aromatic combinations. Looking at Baruti’s Kaleidoscopic collection, the first thing that stands out is that the perfumes are not labelled for him or for her. “Smells are individual,” says Drosopoulos. “They should suit the occasion, just like clothes, shoes and accessories. Labelling the perfumes beyond their name would not do justice to that individuality.” The kaleidoscopic packaging design seems a perfect metaphor for the individual arrangement of different elements to create beauty. All of Baruti’s formulas are composed by Spyros Drosopoulos in his laboratory in Amsterdam. Spyros is a former neuroscientist who has always had an appreciation for fragrance. After years of working as a 28 | Issue 58 | October 2018
TEXT: KARIN VENEMA | PHOTOS: BARUTI
scientific researcher and lecturer, he left the academic world to pursue his newly found love – perfumery. “I love to tell stories through smells. Each Baruti fragrance is a persona with its own distinctive character and narrative. In my collaborations with other art disciplines, I explore the boundaries of smell even further. I let go of all laws and regularities. Who says a smell always has to be nice? Just like the DJ or video-artist during live performances, I use my ingredients and creativity to make a sequence of smells that tell my story,” Drosopoulos continues.
Kaleidoscopic collection.
All the words in the world cannot describe a smell explosion adequately, so if you find yourself near a store that stocks Baruti perfumes: go and experience it for yourself. Web: www.baruti.eu
Spyros Drosopoulos.