I am a Pharmacist. By luck, after University, in the late ’80s, I started working at the oldest Greek Homeopathic Pharmacy. Through that, I was introduced to the world of herbs.The company started in 1996, as a result of the word of mouth that had been created for the products I was making in the Pharmacy. Living in a country with such a rich flora — the richest and most diverse across Europe — with 1,500 species of plants that are endemic and can only be found in Greece, it felt to me like an insult to my origins not  to devote all my efforts to the Greek Herbs.

What I believe differentiates what we are doing is that, early on, we took the decision to take absolute responsibility for every single step in the process of creating a product. What does that mean? That we are doing in-house all the steps — from choosing the proper seeds for the herbs, choosing the organic farmers to hand them the seeds, to extracting them in our own facilities, isolating through primary research the active ingredients, doing the formulation with our R&D team, doing the production in our facilities, and doing all the branding and all the design in-house with our creative team.

“Why so? Because we are obsessed.
And when you are obsessed, and you are not satisfied with what you get, you end up doing it on your own!”

How did we do it? It was not a linear path. We didn’t just decide one day that we should do everything in-house. At every step, when we were fighting for perfection and we were facing difficulties to persuade others to reach the level of quality, detail, or naturality we wanted, we ended up doing it ourselves. So we created, in the end, what we call the KORRES 6 Labs Sustainability Circle.

First, the Formulation Lab was created, in 1999, because everyone was telling me back then that the avoidance of harsh chemicals was not possible…

Today, our all-women R&D team, with 25 years of experience, is creating almost 100 formulas every year, is avoiding more than 1,500 chemical substances, and is performing more than 500 safety and efficacy tests for each product!! With naturality content up to 99%!

Then we created the Soil Lab. Why? Because in a country like Greece, with 6,500 herbs, we could not find Greek herbs!!! No one was following the proper procedures to secure the quality, the safety and the organic origin of every single herb.We collaborated with the Agricultural University of Athens, we did a mapping of the Greek flora, and then, in the specific areas, we started collaborations with organic farmers — keeping always in mind how we would be able to support local communities. Today we have 40 signed collaborations and we work with almost 4,000 families across the country.

And then, having the perfect quality of herbs — guess what! There were no extraction facilities in Greece… When in countries like Germany or Belgium, with 12 or 20 endemic plants, there were 40 or 60 extraction facilities… So we created, in 2006, the Extraction Lab, to extract and isolate active herbal ingredients with only naturally derived solvents, in a no-waste operation!Today, 22 active proprietary extracts have been developed in-house.

Further than that, in 2007 we started the Molecular Lab — doing primary research on plants, collaborating with global research centers, creating patents, and discovering new ingredients. Seven new ingredients have been introduced in the world INCI directory by us. We have created the KORRES Bioactive Extraction™ technology — pending patent. We have 40 active trademarks, 11 of which refer to active complexes, synergistic blends & technologies. How? By collaborating with 12 academic & scientific institutions across Europe in primary research. Production process was extremely important for us, from day one. Why? Because to be able to create a product with 97% natural content, and with a very delicate preservative system, all the steps should be perfect. From the water quality, from the way you wash the machinery, to the kind of homogenization you are using — all steps must follow a very precise and disciplined path.

Speaking of water quality, we use water with conductivity smaller than 1 μS/cm, when the Pharmacopeia suggests for pharmaceutical-grade water a conductivity of less than 5 μS/cm — and for cosmetics less than 20 μS/cm!! We ended up using water five times purer than in the pharmaceutical industry…From the very beginning, from my pharmacy days, I was personally involved in all the design aspects of the creation of the product. Countless hours working back then with two beloved friends, Giannis Kouroudis and Stavros Papagiannis — in the design, the photographs on the packaging, etc.

For almost 10 years now, the torch has been passed to Alexis Marinis, Manos Babounis, Polina Sarri, Chrysanthi Nikolitsani, Sotiris Boutos, Aliki Zannikou, to mention a few of our talented professionals — creating the KORRES Design Lab and the KORRES Recycle Lab. No kidding, they are responsible for my daily dose of pleasure and excitement, by working with such amazing talents and friends. I truly wish they feel the same working with me though!! I am not sure its always the case!!