Benamôr
92 years old of a well kept secret
Benamôr is considered one of the most cherished cosmetic brands in Portugal and probably one of the most well kept secrets. It opened her first store last November. It’s a space that goes beyond products selling, there we find exclusive partnerships, we tryout the soaps and went deep into the 92 years old of Benamôr’s history.
Their beauty recipes were prepared with natural ingredients and their Art Déco tubes were an immediate success among the society beauties from Lisbon, including the Queen D. Amélia who kept her allegiance to the brand throughout her whole life.
Pierre Stark, the new partner tells us how he met the brand and which future the brand will take.
1. Pierre already had a long experience in this field.
Which was your professional path before Benamôr?
I’ve always worked in the cosmetic field. 20 years in L’Oreal, France, Portugal and many other countries.
In total, before Benamôr, I worked for the development of 17 different brands, among them, Lancôme, Biotherm, Yves Saint Laurent, rmani, Maybelline, Kerastase, etc…
2. Who did Pierre get to know Benamôr? What did fascinate you?
I’ve met Benamôr by chance, by a friend of mine, Catarina Portas, who told me about the existence of a Portuguese cosmentic company which had tremendous success on their “A Vida Portuguesa” stores. I went looking for the brand, found it and it was love at the first sight! I was impressed by the brand which had a great emotional strength great presentation, very attractive and also was very functional the products are very high end and that retains costumers to the brand.
3. And when did you decide to buy it?
Righ away! I went for the company that holds the brand, but then it took 3 long years of negotiations. 3 years dating the previous owners and convince them that we were the right people to take control of Benamôr and revitalize it.
4. Which was the goal for this brand?
Being Benamôr na unique brand, our goal was to give the brand a new life a develop her presence in Portugal and around the worl. Two years later the results surpassed by far our expectations. Our line product went from three products to twenty seven and we are already present in 10 countries.
5. We can see that you wanted to preserv the brand’s image, her history. Is there a great strength on that history?
Bring to life again a historical brand as Benamôr that creates a lot of responsibilities. You need to look very careful to the past and understand which are the paths, the spirit, the values, the expression that are fundamental to the brand.
You have to analyse, and the first thing to success is to have in mind and respect the past, that’s the key to success for building the future of any brand.
And when you have a history with 92 years old, even more!
The past and longevity of Benamôr come from a set of several things: the maintenance of a unique production on our factory, the tradition and the care of a very artisanal production, the choice of materials and ingredients of great quality and the creativity and versatility of the developed products…
6. You felt the need of open a store. It was it deliberated? The proximity to the public, new space for experiments…
The opening of Benamôr’s store is a natural step from a brand with ambition either in national development or international development. It’s a privileged space where the brand can express thei values and her unique aesthetics.
But our Store is way more than just a store, it goes beyond the product sale, here you find new partnerships with other successful Portuguese companies (Fine&Candy, etc…), we try the soap cut, and embrace Benamôr’s history…
Address:
Rua dos Bacalhoeiros, 20A, Lisboa
From: 10:00 am to 08:00 pm
Close on Sundays