Luscious success

Handmade cosmetics company Lush, which Wellington-born Andrew Gerrie helped found in the UK in 1995, will release chewable toothpaste tablets to help reduce the amount of tubes thrown into landfills every year around the world. Lush focuses on minimal packaging to reduce waste and products that do not harm the environment when released into waterways through waste water. London-based Gerrie, who now oversees 68 Lush stores worldwide, told The New Zealand Herald that despite the shop’s colourful and playful image, a lot of people worked very hard to design and make sustainable products from sustainable sources. “I hope when people look behind the hippy facade of the business, they see a professional [operation],” Gerrie said. “We work really hard to get it right. I think that’s what most businesses want. They are genuinely interested in creating a vision. I never thought Lush would become this big.” Last year, Lush brought in £27 million ($595 million) globally from selling fragrance-infused soaps, glitter covered bath bombs and shampoo bars. There are eight Lush stores operating in New Zealand.