NEMOHAMO  
NEMOHAMO is a Kyoto-based brand of organic cosmetic products using extracts of carefully grown organic plants from the roots and leaves to the stalks, flowers, and fruits. Their key material is otane-ninjin or “ginseng,” a staple of Wakan, a fusion of Japanese and Chinese medicine, and they have been rolling out products since December 2019.

 

— I see. So, you use plants as dye materials, and as for NEMOHAMO, they are the ingredients for the organic cosmetic products. How do each of you collect plants?

K: NEMOHAMO, as the name suggests, makes products using the roots, leaves, stocks, flowers, and fruits—in short, the whole plant. (In its literal sense, “nemohamo” roughly means “roots and leaves and all” in English.) Many of the plants we use are grown at our company farm and satoyama (hills/mountains near towns/villages in Japan where agriculture, forestry, etc. are practiced in traditional styles without excessive land development) in Fukuoka Prefecture, and we get fresh extracts at a factory right next to the farm. Our brand’s key plant is otane-ninjin, which has been used in Wakan medicine for a long time. We have a contract with a farm in Tsushima, Nagasaki, and they grow organic otane-ninjin for us. We are very grateful because, without these producers, we wouldn’t be able to stably deliver our one hundred-percent natural cosmetics. Of course, we are also very thankful that more and more people are using our products.

K: It’s a joy to be able to confidently explain to the customers how the producers grow the plants and what extraction methods are used to make the products. The Booster Oil that you, Sarasa, tried was made using our original refinement method that involves multiple stages of processing camellia, rice bran, and ginseng. The resulting oil consists of small molecules, and it conditions the skin to make it easy for the lotion or toner to permeate. It’s an oil to plow the skin, so to speak. How was it?

K: Yes, we use refill pouches to reduce plastic waste, and we use environmentally friendly paper for the boxes. By visiting the satoyama in Fukuoka prefecture, where our factory is located, you can really get the feeling that organic cosmetics are a gift of nature. You can see that the beautiful wilderness that has nurtured plants since time immemorial is the factory of all blessings including our cosmetic products. However, unfavorable weather due to climate change in the recent years is making the promise of stable production precarious. We must work closely with the producers to protect the plants.

S: I agree; it is very important to connect with the producers. I try to disseminate the power of color and the history and background of textile dying, including information I gathered from the producers by visiting the sites of production. Customers who come into our shop sometimes ask the names of the dye matters and the production methods in detail, and I try to satisfy their interest in natural dyes as much as possible. I think it is my task to inform people of the wonderful feature of textile dying that delivers beautiful colors produced by nature.