Nuria Val worked as a photographer and creative director for years before she felt the entrepreneurial itch. Having done projects for clients such as Vogue, Chanel and Uniqlo, Val craved a longer-term undertaking she could truly call her own. “I felt a need to create something where I could say, ‘I do this’,” the Spanish creative tells the Post.
She spent a year considering her options and looking through her archives – a process that showed her creative work was often related to nature. However, although she decided she wanted her business to have strong ties to the natural world, it took a while for Val to land on beauty. “I didn’t think about beauty at first, because I felt so far [removed] from the beauty industry.
I was working with beauty companies but I didn’t connect with any brands.” It was only when she met her co-founder, now chief executive officer, Gabriela Salord, that she spotted a niche. “We understood that the purest thing you can get from a plant is an oil, so I thought OK, let’s make an oil for the body, and see what happens.
” Five years on, Val and Salord have built a business, Rowse, around not only a deceptively simple ethos – to use seasonal plants to address skincare concerns and enhance self-care – but also Val’s distinctive creative vision. Below, Val recalls her entrepreneurial journey and gives advice to aspiring founders in the beauty space. Take me back: how did you meet your co-founder? We met in fashion week, in Pa.