“My husband and I had been living between Australia and Ireland, and we were up in a place called Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland.

I wanted to create something that could speak to the history and the layers of language and the culture of IrelandCatherine Logue

“To describe it in a romantic, wonderful, fantastic way, it is utterly desolate – damp, cold, grey, windy and deserted, void of any human habitation.

“I fell in love with this amazing land. Weirdly, it reminded me of Australia; but like a colour negative, it was the absolute, extreme opposite.

“Then I had an epiphany, ‘Wow, I think I know what I want to do.’

“I wanted to create something that could speak to the history and the layers of language and the culture of Ireland, beyond the four-leaf clovers and leprechauns.

Why is seaweed the focus for Hibernicis?

“The history of Ireland is steeped in seaweed. People would forage on the beaches for small seashells and creatures to eat, and then they would gather the seaweed to dry it out, although you can also eat it fresh.

“It was an integral part of the Irish diet, but it was also an integral part of medicine and beauty. People bathed in it as it helped with aches and pains.

Vintage Cartier, market buys: fashion’s Simone Rocha on her favourite finds

How did you come up with the name Hibernicis?

“It means ‘of or from Ireland’ in Latin.

“There’s a far more ancient [Irish] language called Ogham, written on sticks and trees and inscribed on standing stones. With help from a language professor at Oxford University, I worked out the spelling of ‘Hibernicis’ in Ogham and added it to the branding.

What I wanted to do was to represent Ireland in a very sophisticated wayCatherine Logue

“As you can see, we now have three languages on the packaging. We have Ogham, the original, and English, but there’s one in-between, too: Irish, or Gaelic.

“I wanted to do more of a story. Instead of calling something ‘replenish’ or ‘relaxing’ – all the things that have been done to death, I thought, ‘Let’s give everything an Irish name.’ We spell out the pronunciation and try to make it as easy as possible.

“What I wanted to do was to represent Ireland in a very sophisticated way.”

Tell us about your brand being unisex and inclusive.

“It wasn’t even a thought; it was just something I arrived at naturally and immediately. I mean, we all have skin, and we all want to look after ourselves as much as we can.

“This world needs to pause just a little bit more. We’ve got this frenetic lifestyle around us, and we need to stop and smell the roses – or in this case, Hibernicis.

“I started working on Hibernicis in my mid-50s. My body was going through a huge amount of change, and the needs of my skin were so much greater. Hibernicis came from a place of need and experience, but also a place of inclusiveness.”

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuqKzwLOgp52jZL2wv9NmpJqfka%2B2r7GOn5isoJmku3Ct0a2gnKSVZIBzfZNra3Fno6m8sXnAp5tmq52aua150aiqnqtdanqutc2uq56rXZiutbTEq6CnnV2hvKjBxGadqK2embKzec2ermaakam1bq3NnWSbp5SueqSt0Z5km6qRo7FutMibnKummZi2tA%3D%3D