FROM SAFFRON TO COSMETICS: THE BIRTH OF TEMPLAREA
FROM SAFFRON TO COSMETICS: THE BIRTH OF TEMPLAREA
NATURE, WELLNESS, COSMETICS: FROM EARTH TO SAFFRON COSMETICS
NATURE, WELLNESS, COSMETICS: FROM EARTH TO SAFFRON COSMETICS
From the reflections of two young Perugian students at the University of Perugia’s Faculty of Agriculture, the idea of romantically cultivating saffron was born. Why not create a cosmetic product? Said and done! In no time at all, Edward and Matthias found a lost magnanimous soul completely unaware of the enlightened planning of the two ascetic students, who gave them some forgotten bulbs in an abandoned, sun-kissed patch of land in green Umbria. The knowledge came to them through the good practices of passionate Perugian farmer Mario Finocchi of the “Terre D’Arna” association, which adopted an experimental method indicated by the University of Perugia’s Faculty of Agriculture.
Making this valuable knowledge their own, the two young entrepreneurs decided to start their adventure with the intention of producing a saffron to be used outside the established food and culinary context, also projecting it into the cosmetological sphere and transferring its properties from the well-being of the palate to that of the person. Meditating and refining even more the project intentions, a collaboration began with scholars and researchers inclined to rediscover and enhance this product, coming to highlight its enormous potential with original characteristics related to the Perugian and Umbrian territory.
SAFFRON COSMETICS: SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL COMPONENTS
SAFFRON COSMETICS: SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL COMPONENTS
Yes. They support Edward and Matthias. As we delved deeper into the cultural knowledge of this ancient spice, we sensed that saffron for personal care also possesses the spirituality of its land, a breath of genuineness and philosophical mysticism that recalls a human reading of divine perfection depository of the golden rule, also adopted by the Knights Templar who made the cultivation and application of saffron’s benefits their own in those very places. There is more. The philosophical value of this cultivation is aimed at the search for natural beauty to be osmotized into the inner beauty of one’s self.
A plea not to internalize everything that is today’s consumerist society foists on us, offering instead a wellness ethic aimed at the pursuit of thoughtful and ennobled beauty in harmony with nature. The very creation of the logo recalls an image in nature of petals and pistils, a balanced expression of an axiom that is in tune with the historical legacy of the Templars themselves, who left their art and monastic value in this very land, cultivating and using saffron even for the cure of the plague.
SAFFRON COSMETICS: SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL COMPONENTS
SAFFRON COSMETICS: SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL COMPONENTS
SAFFRON COSMETICS: RESEARCH AND CULTIVATION
SAFFRON COSMETICS: RESEARCH AND CULTIVATION
Another indispensable contribution to optimizing the benefits of saffron is the practice of cultivation. Small details that make a difference. Edoardo and Mattia have perfected the method of soil selection by improving its preparation, quality and finally harvesting. They have found that the best time to harvest saffron flowers is in the morning before sunrise, when the petals begin to open without yet being invaded by full sunlight. Immediately after that follows drying, with intermittent ventilation that maintains all the properties of the pistil. Upon completion of the cycle, the samples were run by a professional biochemist who conducted experimental tests later adopted in beauty salons, by massage therapists and naturopaths, who provided the necessary guidance to enable the final formula to be arrived at.
By Pier Paolo Vicarelli
TEMPLAREA CURIOSITY:
- Saffron has always been considered vegetable gold: both for its color, the value of its organoleptic characteristics, and the difficulties involved in its cultivation, harvesting and handling.
- Saffron stigmas contain more than 150 volatile aromatic substances, components of its essential oil, Carotenoids (crocetin, α-crocin, picrocrocin and safranal) that give the typical yellow-gold color, and vitamins A, B1 (thiamine) and B2 (riboflavin).
- Saffron belongs to the Iridaceae Family and its scientific name is Crocus sativus.