Aſter meeting in the spa city of Budapest, Stephen and Margaret de Heinrich Omorovicza went on to create a global skincare brand that draws on the powerful mineral benefits of Hungary’s thermal waters
the Omoroviczas I
JULIE CRAMER » JOURNALIST » SPA BUSINESS
n a little over five years, husband and wife team Stephen and Margaret de Heinrich Omorovicza have estab- lished a global skincare brand, with a growing number of upmarket retail
stores, hotels and spas – think Four Seasons, St Regis and Oberoi – stocking their products and offering their treatments worldwide. Harnessing the natural mineral powers of
Budapest’s thermal waters, the Omorovicza brand turns over a healthy £5m (us$7.7m, €5.9m). And the couple want to grow the business in the US and Asia, while also chip- ping away at the UK market. Te story behind Omorovicza is a very
personal – not least because it grew from the fortuitous meeting of a female US diplomat on a posting to Budapest, and a descend- ant of a noble Hungarian family who had returned to the capital to explore his roots. Te then American diplomat Margaret
Dickerson was introduced to Stephen, a Lon- don-trained lawyer turned businessman, by the US ambassador in 2001. It was a meeting that the pair later realised was ‘a set-up’. Margaret recalls: “Stephen started telling
me the history of the thermal waters and how Romans used them to heal soldiers’ wounds. He also told of how his great, great grandfather had commissioned one of the first and largest thermal baths in the city – the Rácz in Buda in the 19th century. “As an American, thermal baths were a
new concept to me and I naturally found all these stories completely charming.”
SKIN BENEFITS
But what really sparked her curiosity was when Stephen first took her to experience the thermal waters and she found it had a profound effect on her skin. She says: “Aſter
Budapest’s Rácz Hotel & Thermal Spa will use Omorovicza products when it reopens in 2012
just a few visits the difference to the quality of my skin was amazing.” With Margaret’s discovery, Stephen’s desire
to explore his heritage and an instant attrac- tion, not only were the seeds of romance sown (the pair married in 2005), but also the beginnings of an exciting new business. Stephen says: “Surprisingly, no one in
Hungary was using the mineral properties of the water in skincare products. Trough her diplomatic work, Margaret
came into contact with leaders in Hungary’s medical and health fields, so when the pair started researching the possibility of a skin- care range she knew exactly where to turn. Te Nobel prize-winning Laboratory of Der-
matology and Allergology at the city’s Albert St George University discovered vitamin C in the 1930s. Working with scientists there, the couple trademarked a technique called Min- eral Cosmetology, which Margaret says makes the thermal minerals more bio-available and readily absorbed by the skin (see p48).
46 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital MINERAL-RICH
All Omorovicza products are made up of 60 per cent thermal water, she says, and in Budapest the waters are said to be even more potent because the earth’s crust is thinner there, allowing more minerals to enter. Tese waters are not only very healing
(some potent spa waters in Hungary even require a doctor’s prescription), but are believed to help strengthen the skin’s elas- ticity and stimulate collagen production. Margaret describes her husband as
“extremely knowledgeable” about the prod- uct formulation part of the business. For his part, Stephen confesses to being fascinated by the chemistry side of their skincare range.
“It was incredibly difficult to stabilise the nat- ural minerals and it took about a year before we perfected our first product,” he says. Te couple say that their products con-
tain no inert substances, which makes them richer. Margaret says: “Many high-end skin- care products usually contain 30 per cent
SPA BUSINESS 4 2011 ©Cybertrek 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84