New York Elements Show Highlights Design Standouts Across Categories

Elements Showcase’s New York installation brought together fragrance, cosmetics, nail-care and men’s grooming brands, among others, to shine a light on notable craftsmanship and design.

Elements Showcase in New York, held Feb. 4-6, continued to evolve from previous installments, embodying an alchemy theme and grouping exhibitors of products ranging from fragrances and cosmetics to home care and jewelry into categories named after “metals of antiquity.”

Launched in January 2011 as an alternative to traditional fragrance trade shows, Elements has come to celebrate innovative design across product categories in line with the shared vision of founders Frederick Bouchardy of premiere candle and fragrance marketer Joya LLC, Ulrich Lang of Ulrich Lang Fragrances and event producer Jeffrey Lawson.

Open to registrants only, this year’s show retained its sense of exclusivity, housed in a renovated industrial warehouse space in Midtown Manhattan’s Skylight West, hidden from street view by heavy black drapery.

Featured brands were selected from a pool of applicants and organized into Gold, Copper, Silver, Lead, Tin, Iron and Mercury “societies” based on their offerings in the perfume, home, cosmetics, men’s grooming, wellness, accessories and apothecary segments, respectively.

Exhibitors included marketers of small-batch items made by hand as well as companies with global distribution.

“These are not just meant to be niche brands but well-designed brands,” Bouchardy explained.

In curating the show, the organizers considered not only the quality and uniqueness of brands’ product compositions, but packaging appeal and overall aesthetics as well.

Bouchardy noted that the floor plan was carefully planned, with “classic” and new brands placed side by side “to challenge each other and raise each other up.”

The 2014 show featured an expanded nail-care and color-cosmetics presence and added jewelry vendors, he said.

Last year’s Elements New York show marked a rise in natural and organic offerings (Also see "NY Elements Show Comes Down To Earth With Natural Scents" - HBW Insight, 4 Feb, 2013.).

Gold (Perfumery) Society

Paris-based Suleko SARL was on hand to represent the Gold perfumery category. Founded by designer Anastasia Sokolow, a member of the French Society of Perfumers whose career has included a stint in Yves Saint Laurent’s beauty division, Suleko bills its offering as “fragrances created in France, inspired by Russia.”

Named after a Russian folk song in which a young man searches for his lost love and “finds her by following the wonderful scent of a rose,” according to a brochure, Suleko harks back to a golden age in Russian perfumery.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, Russian perfume houses were on par with those in France, said Sokolow, who is of Russian descent and was inspired by her grandmothers’ cooking and recited fairytales.

“These are the memories that inspire my perfumes today,” she says in the brochure.

Suleko’s five fragrances are housed in porcelain bottles sculpted to mirror the essence of the scent.

Albho, Russian for “swan,” plays on a motif in Russian literature and world mythology in which a man or woman transforms into a swan, symbolizing the attainment of inner peace. Accordingly, the fragrance comes in a smooth, white “ornament” of a bottle fashioned to resemble feathery wings, evoking “the duality of this half-animal, half-human, above all a spiritual being,” according to Suleko’s website.

Targeted to women and men, the juice blends invigorating notes of mint and eucalyptus with spiced and woody tones of cedar, guaiac wood, balsam, benzoin, tolu balm and labdanum. “These warm and suave resins portend the presence of a life being created,” the company asserts. “It metamorphoses itself, hidden from all eyes, far away through forests and over mountains, in the most complete tranquility.”

Other offerings include rose-inspired Vy Roza, housed in an airy-looking porcelain bottle with petal design and featuring notes of lilac, rose, lily of the valley and grass.

The scent is named for Tatiana, heroine of “Eugene Onegin,” a novel written by Alexander Pushkin.

Djelem, inspired by a gypsy song, reflects the proud, free and passionate spirit of that culture, Suleko says. Its bottle captures “the body of a dancing gypsy, a shawl in her hands, her long skirts swirling to the sound of the music.” Notes of amber, clove and dry hay contribute to the scent’s mystique, according to the company.

Baba Yaga rounds out the collection, bearing the name of a witch in Russian fairytales. Housed in a bottle shaped like a tornado – an allusion to the storm that announces the witch’s appearance – the scent opens with notes of bergamont, orange, mandarin, warms to a heart of cinnamon, nutmeg, clover, pepper and pink berry and finishes with a base of wood, moss, humid earth, patchouli, leather and cade.

The 1.7-oz. eau de parfums are priced at around $66 (€40), with discounted refill options. Baba Yaga also comes in a black-bottled eau de toilette for men for roughly $38 (€27.50).

Kat Burki Inc., a fragrance and skin-care company founded by its namesake interior designer, was another Gold Society member.

According to Brenda Hong, director of marketing and education for the company, Burki would often develop a scent along with an environment for her clients. As she began receiving repeat requests for such fragrances, she decided to launch her company, which offers facial products and body-care items in addition to perfumes.

Kat Burki added three new items to its line this year – Trellis eau de parfum, Silk Noir eau de parfum and a eau de toilette (1 oz. for $42) to its signature range in Tuberose, Freesia & Pink Grapefruit, Lilac & Rosemary and White Orchid & Poppy scents.

Trellis (3.4 oz. for $95) boasts top notes of fresh greens and orange zest, middle notes of jasmine, rose, muguet, violet, sweet herbal and ylang ylang, and a base of musk, orris, amber, rosewood, sandalwood and patchouli.

Silk Noir (3.4 oz. for $120) opens with notes of bergamont zest, followed by crushed violet petals and vetiver, and dries down to a base of agarwood, sandalwood and guaiacwood.

The signature Kat Burki line also includes a 7.7-oz. soap ($15) formulated with shea and cocoa butter plus olive and grapeseed oils, and a 6-oz. body creme ($62) made with jojoba and tamanu oils. Both items can be purchased in Tuberose, Sugar Magnolia, Rosa Baroque and Freesia & Pink Grapefruit varieties.

Tin (Wellness) Society

Skin-care brand Ambujafrom Legart Forschungsatelier was another exhibitor with a retrospective spirit, taking its name from a Sanskrit word referring to the lotus flower.

The company emphasizes its innovative platform as well as its ancient influences, touting its offering as “the perfect amalgamation of nature and molecular science.”

Products in the Ambuja line contain cell lotus water and green coconut water in their bases, providing benefits beyond traditional water bases, according to Ina Dimsky-Legart, executive director of corporate communications.

Lotus water has a calming effect on skin while coconut water nourishes with minerals and amino acids, the company says.

The brand’s simple white and black packaging mimics a lotus flower opening to reveal the product.

Ambuja’s portfolio consists of eight items, retailing for between $70 and $335 online – five for women in the brand’s couture line, and three for men in the empire line.

Couture for women includes nude foam to cleanse and protect, atelier elixir to combat fine lines and other signs of aging, charisma elixir to improve skin tone and address discoloration, dewdrop elixir to moisturize and capsule cream to reduce the appearance of puffiness and increase skin’s radiance.

Empire items include urban foam for cleansing and smoothing skin; wanderlust elixir, designed to combat aging by adding volume and moisture; and overnight eye cream, which improves skin tone and addresses dark circles and puffiness, according to the company.

SoHo-based Let Them Wear Green, also categorized as Tin, launched its first fragrance in 2013, Adalene, named for the founder’s grandmother. Available in a roll-on balm that maintains its scent longer than oil, the product is a top seller for both women and men, according to a representative.

Touted as being able to “promote unconditional love,” the balm is formulated with sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, beeswax, castor oil, an essential oil blend, flower essences, purified water and alcohol.

Mercury (Apothecary) Society

Thymes, LLC was grouped under the Elements show’s Mercury banner for apothecary (skin care, bath and body) items, using the occasion to showcase a six-scent collection slated to ship later this month.

The launch includes fragrances infused into body-care and home items – Aqua Coralline, a bright citrus and wood-based scent; Jade Matcha, featuring tea, cardamom and warm sugar notes; Kimono Rose, a blend of floral, jasmine, vanilla, pink peony and clementine; Lotus Santal, which combines sandalwood and lotus flower; Rosewood Citron, a unisex scent flaunting bright grapefruit, vetiver and rosewood citrus notes; and Tiare Monoi, characterized by coconut milk and monoi butter notes.

Thymes’ Frasier Fir home collection of candles, sachet, fragrance mist and hand lotion, among other items, is the company’s best-selling line, according to a representative.

Lead (Men’s) Society

Men’s grooming brands, constituting the Lead Society, also exhibited at the Elements show. Among them, DomeCare Solutions markets “the first and only line of anti-aging grooming products developed specifically for men who shave their heads,” according to the brand’s website.

Since skin shaved often can become inflamed and additives can contribute to sensitivity, the formulas are free of colorants and added fragrance, making for “gentle products that would not trigger the razor bumps, ingrown hairs and irritation,” the company says. In addition, the brand’s products deliver “a potent dose of antioxidants, cell-communicators and inflammation-reducers” to combat signs of aging.

Products available for purchase on DomeCare’s website include Dome Shave Gel (4 oz. for $16), Dome Relief Calming and Hydrating Splash (4 oz. for $27), Dome Shine Anti-Aging Finishing Serum (1 oz. for $53) and Dome Shine-Absorber Anti-Aging Finishing Serum (1 oz. for $53).

DomeCare faces competition from Bee Bald, another brand focused on meeting the scalp needs of men who are bald by choice or genetics (Also see "New Products In Brief: Bee Bald Adds To Line; AXE For Women; More" - HBW Insight, 12 Aug, 2013.).

Cosmetics outfits, including W3LL PEOPLE and the makers of the kur Nail Treatment System, also displayed their goods at the Elements New York show, organized under the Silver Society (Also see "Elements Showcase In Brief" - HBW Insight, 17 Feb, 2014.).

Elements has a show in Dubai scheduled for May 27-29 and plans for additional shows in London and Tokyo, for which details are not yet available.