GROUNDED NYC
FOUNDERS Danielle Juliao & Francisco Chapa
Grounded, based in New York City, sources coffee waste from specialty coffee shops and recycles it to create skincare products, extending the life cycle of the quality coffee through a conscious-driven supply chain.
Describe yourself and your designs to us?
I have always been a very curious and design-driven person - my main motivation to do anything I do is my desire to learn from my experiences, whether good or bad! Designing our products is an ever-evolving process, as Francisco and I are both very self-critical and perfectionists. The good thing is, we still enjoy the process of prototyping and starting over to make sure we can improve and deliver quality made with love. One important aspect of our design process is making sure that it is inclusive (hence the neutral packaging) and always minimising the waste of materials - hence our main ingredient, spent coffee grounds from specialty coffee shops in New York. Francisco is very sales-driven and very social, he not only enjoys meeting new people but also explaining the benefits and uses our of our product.
How did it all begin for your brand?
Grounded was founded in February 2019, as a result of two years of extensive research. I (Co-Founder Danielle) was interested in investigating how New Yorkers could potentially adapt their consumer practices to fit a more sustainable lifestyle.
One of the most common daily purchases for the average New Yorker is a coffee cup - producing a constant volume of waste. I explored natural and holistic self care methods such as herbalism, nutrition, and mind-body practices and considering the benefits of coffee on the skin, and how coffee can be re-used for skincare purposes - the concept behind Grounded was born.
I started prototyping different methods of handmade skincare products that were environmentally conscious, using coffee waste from Porto Rico Importing Co, a historical coffee shop that agreed to collect their grounds for pick up. After a lot of trial and error, I came up with the Body Butter - a deep body moisturiser that tones and gives gloss to the skin. Plus, it smells delicious!
After one year of perfecting the product, I met Co-Founder Francisco. We became partners and our business was officially established. Since then, Francisco has been in charge of business development, financial and sales strategy, and I take care of the creative direction, research and development, as well as community engagement.
What is a stand out moment in shaping your brand?
Partnering up with local coffee shops that have such a deep passion for their quality product - getting positive feedback and a welcoming attitude towards our partnership proposals was priceless. Also, expanding our market in our home countries (Colombia and Mexico) has been extremely fulfilling - we recently had a showroom in Barranquilla, Colombia and sold out!
What creative work has you excited right now?
We are currently working on a couple of new product launches including a coffee scrub and our recycled coffee oil (which we use as our base for our body butters and lip butters). Besides product development, we also love to participate in community events to bring awareness to our brand, we like to think that these events bridge the gap between skincare and coffee fanatics and us!
What excites you about the year ahead?
We want to continue introducing our brand to coffee shops all over the place - one of our big targets is Mexico City. The specialty coffee scene is getting bigger and bigger, so stay tuned!
What advice do you have for emerging designers?
We know the design process can get repetitive and frustrating, and sometimes launching a project that you've been working on for so long can even seem pointless, but don’t forget to enjoy the process. Creating Grounded has taught us that if you reach out to like-minded people and even big brands, they will give you advice and potential opportunities that you thought would take you years to get. Especially in New York - everything moves so fast! No kidding. We recently introduced Grounded to the Adidas Runners, which was extremely fulfilling and very fun to execute. It's all about being genuine and communicating an impactful brand - be clear on the purpose of your concept and creation.