Process
Hildegaard presents the experience of Haute Botanical, which elevates the pursuit of beauty into an artform and a holistic, spiritual journey of restoration
Our Haute Botanical creations are one hundred percent botanical and between ninety-eight and ninety-nine percent organic in composition. Nature, in her primeval state, offers us incomparably sophisticated insights into aesthetic and philosophical beauty. Unadorned, Nature reveals the wisdom present in the universe by embodying beautiful forms brought down to us from the cosmos. By faithfully presenting Nature, we facilitate transformational encounters with these inner realities.
Hildegaard strives for a heightened level of purity in materials and a passion for artistry, intention, and cultivation
Our creative process is centered on the preservation of the innate molecular integrity and unique energetic signatures of plants, so that you might experience for yourself the regenerative force present in Nature.
Hildegaard’s voluminous selection of rare, heirloom botanicals are personally curated by our founder and cultivated by us at Mama Farm. We grow over one hundred and fifty species of medicinal plants using regenerative agriculture, a holistic system which follows the tenets of organic agriculture, but raises the bar by prioritizing building soil health as a way to restore the earth. Growing plants regeneratively eliminates toxic chemicals which is better for the health of people and the health of earth.
The art of contemplation is central to Haute Botanical
During cultivation, our plants are cared for with daily reverence, intent, and individually tailored attention. With passion and presence, plants are guided to their fullest expression.
Our meticulous cultivation ceremony was designed to honor the sanctity of green life. Our creative process incorporates contemplative botany, a time-honored art form which employs the practice of meditating with plants in order to commune with Nature’s wisdom.
Each cell of the plant contains the wholeness of life itself, and so each plant is respected as a well of life in and of itself. As an expression of this intention, seeds are blessed when planted and seedlings are kissed when transferred from the greenhouse into the earth.
Our rare, heirloom botanicals are nurtured with a regimen of daily meditation and anointed with a delicate infusion of beneficial microorganisms and sea kelp. Plants are harvested, by hand, in accordance with Nature’s rhythms as they reach their highest seasonal vitality to preserve the precious phytonutrients and essences within. Pure and whole plant sources, grown with passion and presence, we believe contain the wholeness of life itself.
Upon harvest, plants are thanked for their generosity, and an offering is made for the plant that is taken. The principle of reciprocity and respecting plants as beings of equal worth guides our process. We aim for a deep intimacy of exchange at all times.
Utmost care is taken to preserve our precious medicinal herbs as close to their natural state as possible using ancient techniques passed down through the herbalist tradition. Our concentrated five-week long solar extraction process painstakingly avoids excessive heat in order to preserve plant dynamism, emotion, and specific energies.
The deep connection between plants and humanity
Plant essences are meticulously curated for each edition to bring our collectors an intimate experience of what we feel to be the most opulent encounter with Nature that season. Renowned leader in haute perfumery and sustainable practice LMR Naturals by IFF is our exclusive partner for sourcing the season’s superlative plant quintessences.
Isabella Rossellini’s Mama Farm is the farming partner for the pure plants which compose our extracts. We cultivate the splendid annual and perennial gardens at Mama Farm, bringing together distinguished approaches to permaculture, heirloom cultivation, and artistic experimentation.
An enlightened exchange between the skin, the earth, and the cosmos
Hildegaard Haute Botanical Facial Oil possesses a distinctively sumptuous texture which derives, in part, from the unrivaled quality of our botanical carrier oils. We incorporate only the finest cold-pressed, virgin, organic botanical carrier oils in the world. These raw materials possess superior nutritive value resulting from a rigorous, time-consuming process by which raw plants are pressed without heat. We source these valuable oils from a carefully chosen community of organic farmers, all of whom have received certifications from Ecocert or the USDA Organic program, as well as Fair For Life and/ or Fair Trade USA.
Each Hildegaard Haute Botanical creation represents 220 hours of artistry
Our reverential creative process, from seed to final creation, culminates in extraordinary Haute Botanical creations which are hand-mixed and hand-poured by artists at our atelier in the beachside hamlet of Brookhaven in Eastern Long Island, New York.
