This year begins with a new challenge, the creation of the Cosmetotheque®, which is for me the culmination of a process I joined several years ago. Indeed, I was always interested in what my friend Jean Kerléo, with whom I worked at Helena Rubinstein, was doing and who created the Osmothèque. Already in the early 2000s, I was interested in how to create a structure of this type dedicated to cosmetics. To do this, I had even taken technical museology training at the CNAM. Many years later, this project will finally take shape.
Science, technology and research allow the cosmetics industry to constantly evolve. Care, make-up and toiletries products have become true concentrates of technology. Nevertheless, they remain the witnesses of an initial art, that of mixing. This industry is also the seat of an intense search for innovation. However, this must always be based on the best state of the art. But sometimes it's hard to find her.
The Cosmetotheque® aims to enable the conservation of the sciences and techniques underlying the creation of beauty products. By retracing the history of products, ingredients, techniques, the approach of brands, through the testimony of major players in this field, the Cosmetotheque® should actively participate in maintaining crafts, techniques and products in the best state of the art.
The origin of this approach comes from the fact that in all my professional experiences I have measured to what extent the use of the elements of the best state of the art could support a quality innovation approach. Indeed, when you forget what has already been done when you start something new, you take the risk of repetition;This has already been done, and thus greatly diminishes the quality of innovation. As I say quite often, it is already very difficult to know where we are going, especially since we do not know very well where we come from! So, let us record the past, at least we know him, he will serve us to build the future.
This will take the form of several initiatives: an Internet approach from January 2014, which will then be supplemented by other elements, and could for example lead to an exhibition space. The Cosmétothèque® is in discussion with Cosmetic Valley or professional organizations such as Cosmed, CED or SFC that should support this project.
The intention being to start fairly quickly from 2014, my choice was to partner with the Observatoire des Cosmétiques. Starting in January, we will regularly publish articles on the history of products, ingredients, techniques or brands. We will also try to appeal to the great witnesses of our profession, those who in the last 30 or 40 years have laid the foundations of this modern industry.
The first dossier will address the issue of nail polish, with an article on the state of the art of this family of products, and some interviews with important figures. Other subjects will be treated regularly so that, little by little, we can reconstruct all or part of the history of these products. These files will then be used to prepare thematic files.
I wish you a good reading.
Jean-Claude Le Joliff
