Tata Harper on Building Beauty from the Ground Up

What first led you to create Tata Harper Skincare?

The catalyst was my stepfather’s cancer diagnosis. His doctors advised him to reduce his exposure to unnecessary chemicals, which prompted me to examine the products throughout our home, including the beauty products I was using myself. I was surprised by how often products marketed as natural still relied on petrochemical ingredients, while many of the formulas I tried did not deliver the results I wanted. I began to see a clear gap: women deserved skincare that was effective, pleasurable to use, and made with ingredients they could feel confident about. That realization led me to build the kind of line I had been searching for.

You did not begin with a ready-made formula or an existing laboratory. What did the early development process involve?

I wanted to create the formulas from the beginning rather than adapt a standard base. I brought together chemists, botanists, herbalists, aromatherapists, homeopathic chemists, and other specialists in natural chemistry. Their different areas of knowledge allowed us to approach the work from several directions at once. We spent years developing the collection, testing ingredients, studying natural technologies, and refining the textures and sensory experience. It was important to me that the products were not defined only by what they excluded. They also had to offer a sophisticated formulation, a satisfying ritual, and meaningful performance.

Your background is in industrial engineering. How does that training influence the way you formulate?

Engineering taught me to look at a problem as a system. That perspective is useful in skincare because a formula is not simply a list of ingredients. It is a relationship between sourcing, extraction, concentration, stability, texture, delivery, and the way the product fits into a person’s routine. I am interested in understanding how all those parts work together. At Tata Harper, we develop multi-benefit formulas intended to address several concerns at once, using a high number of natural-origin ingredients selected for specific functions. The process is precise and highly technical, even though the finished experience is meant to feel intuitive.

What does farm-to-skin mean in practical terms at Tata Harper?

It means maintaining a close connection with the ingredients, from cultivation through formulation. We grow some of the herbs used in our products on our farm in Vermont, including plants such as calendula, borage, alfalfa, meadowsweet, and arnica. Other ingredients come from a network of growers and suppliers around the world. The farm gives us an opportunity to work directly with the land and our gardening team, while also helping us understand the qualities of the plants we are using. We formulate, batch, fill, and ship from the farm, so the process remains unusually close and visible.

How has your childhood in Barranquilla, Colombia, shaped your approach to beauty?

Beauty was part of everyday life in my family. I grew up surrounded by women who cared about skincare and treated it as a form of self-care and connection. My grandmother hosted gatherings where she shared homemade masks and body scrubs, often using ingredients such as turmeric, oatmeal, honey, milk, lemon, flour, and rosewater. Those experiences gave me an early appreciation for the pleasure of preparing something by hand and using it with intention. They also showed me that beauty rituals can be generous and communal. That sensibility continues to influence the way I think about texture, scent, and the emotional experience of skincare.

Regenerative farming has become an important part of the brand’s identity. What does that practice require from your team?

Regenerative farming begins with the health of the soil. Our approach avoids synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and it requires careful, hands-on work from our gardening team. We pay attention to the organisms in the soil, the condition of the plants, water use, and the wider ecosystem around the farm. It is more labor-intensive than relying heavily on machinery, but that care is central to the way we want to operate. Rain barrels help us conserve water, and the gardens provide a habitat for pollinators, including honeybees. We see the farm as a living system that needs to remain healthy over time.

How do you balance the purity associated with natural ingredients with the demands of high-performance skincare?

I have never seen natural formulation and performance as opposing ideas. The challenge is to identify ingredients with real potential, process them carefully, and combine them in a way that allows the formula to work as a whole. We use methods such as biofermentation, maceration, and enzymatic hydrolysis to preserve and concentrate useful compounds. We also look for ingredients from different regions because each plant brings its own properties and history of use. Natural origin is a starting point, not the entire formulation philosophy. The work still requires research, testing, precision, and a willingness to keep refining the formula until every part feels considered.

The brand has always treated the skincare ritual as part of the product. Why is the sensory experience so important to you?

Skincare is something people return to every day, so the experience matters. A product can be technically impressive, but if the texture is unpleasant or the scent makes you reluctant to use it, it will not become part of your life. I wanted our formulas to feel generous and enjoyable, with textures that invite touch and scents that make the routine feel restorative. That does not mean choosing sensation over performance. The two should support each other. When a product feels beautiful to use, people are more likely to make space for the ritual and use it consistently.

What does responsible growth look like for Tata Harper as the brand reaches a larger audience?

Responsible growth means protecting the standards that shaped the brand while continuing to improve the way we work. Our partnership with Amorepacific gives us access to advanced research, technology, and manufacturing expertise, while Tata Harper continues to be guided by its commitment to natural-origin ingredients, high-performance formulas, and thoughtful sourcing. I am interested in expanding the possibilities for the brand without losing the attention to detail that has always been important to us. Growth should help us serve more people and strengthen the work, not require us to abandon the principles that made the company worth building.

After more than a decade of developing the brand, what continues to guide your decisions?

I return to the same questions we asked at the beginning. Is the formula effective? Are the ingredients carefully selected and responsibly sourced? Is the product enjoyable to use? Does it meet the standards we have set for ourselves? Those questions apply whether we are discussing a new product, packaging, farming, or a manufacturing decision. I also remain curious about what nature and science can do together. There is always more to learn, and there are always better ways to understand an ingredient or improve a process. That combination of high standards and curiosity continues to move the brand forward.