What Is The Craft Series?

After ten years practicing emergency medicine, I thought my creative fire had been extinguished. In fact, after four years of college, four years of medical school, and four years of specialty training, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever been creative. Then, in 2009, I took a soap-making class, and the long-dormant creative embers inside me suddenly burst into flame. 

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Fast forward to 2017. Osmia was a growing natural skincare brand, and my creative flame had been burning like a wildfire for eight years. The brand, which launched in 2012, was struggling to keep all of our 40+ products in stock, and I still had ideas. I needed to keep creating, but knew we couldn't keep adding permanent products to the line. So my clever team suggested The Craft Series as a way to contain my creative fire, while sparking it at the same time. I started with Craft Series body oils, and later expanded the series to Body Soaps and Body Mousses. 

Emerald was my first Craft Series creation—a gorgeous blend of wild mint, geranium, and frankincense. Here's an excerpt from a post I wrote about Emerald, as it was coming to life:

"Perched on a throne, as close as I will ever be to ruling a kingdom. That’s how it feels when I’m seated at my perfume table, the rest of the world becoming blurry and slightly irrelevant. Each vial I open carries me across centuries, over oceans, underground, through busy marketplaces, and back again to my seat in the mountains of Colorado. Isn't it incredible how, with a single sniff, you can become instantly lost? Places you’ve never been, languages you’ve never heard, wars you’ve never fought, flowers you’ve never even imagined, and countless passionate embraces, both condoned and forbidden. One day, as I lingered with a vial of neroli, I found myself wondering what Cleopatra might have worn on her skin after one of her milk baths. As I imagined the life of the Egyptian queen, I was impelled to create a line of body oils inspired by ancient royalty, comprising oils that have long been the olfactory equivalent of draping oneself in precious gems. In a world inundated with cheap alternatives and manufactured scents, I wanted to create a series of oils made with the most luxurious components nature has offered for thousands of years: simply put, the most expensive, most opulent, most sensuous stuff you could possibly put on your skin, natural or otherwise. I chose organic sunflower and avocado oils for their excellent skin penetration, and their high levels of vitamins A and E, both of which are critical for skin function and healing. Organic camellia oil (made from tea leaves) and borage seed oil (made from starflowers) provide potent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits. What does this mean to you? It means that your skin, which gets damaged by UV rays and pollution and the simple yet inevitable passage of time, has an increased chance to repair and protect itself as these oils scavenge for free radicals, decrease inflammation, and strengthen skin cells. The final additions to the blend are the organic oils made from hand-harvested shea nuts in West Africa and hand-cracked argan nuts from Morocco, both of which are widely used in skin care and have extraordinary emollient properties."

Now, six years later, the Osmia Craft Series serves as a celebration of the seasons, with scents inspired by changes in the weather, travel, and moments spent in nature. Our Craft Series Soaps come out four times a year, with aromas to usher the new seasons into your home. Our Craft Series Body Oils and Mousses launch roughly every other month, taking your senses on a journey, even when you’re too busy to travel. We hand-craft, hand-label, and hand-box every product with love and intention, because we want our Craft Series to make you feel as special as you are. They’re all limited-edition, and usually sell out in minutes to weeks—make sure you’re on our mailing list so you don’t miss a launch! 

Got any Craft Series ideas you’d like to see brought to life? Do tell—I’m all ears. 

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OUR WELLNESS + SKINCARE EXPERT

Sarah Villafranco, MD

Dr. Sarah Villafranco attended Georgetown University Medical School, and went on to complete her residency in emergency medicine at George Washington University. She moved to Colorado, where she practiced as a board-certified emergency medicine physician at Aspen Valley Hospital, Snowmass Clinic, and Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, CO. After losing her mother to pancreatic cancer, she took a local soap making class, and fell in love with the chemistry and artistry of making soap. Sarah went into research mode and was alarmed to learn how many potentially harmful ingredients were in most skincare products on the market. She knew she could make better, safer products that were as effective (if not more so) than conventional products. After a few years of research and development, Sarah stepped away from the emergency room to launch Osmia Skincare in April of 2012. She remains a licensed physician in Colorado, and now helps people find healthier, happier skin as CEO of the brand.