Gentle Activism

Anna Ross, founder of Kester Black, has pioneered a design-led approach to cosmetics, underpinned by ethical ‘common sense’.

Veganism hasn’t always been the gentle, all-embracing, ethical lifestyle movement that it is today. Many curious would-be vegans were put off by the strong rhetoric surrounding veganism, and alienated by the seemingly purist approach to living. You were either all-in, or not.

Today we visit all-vegan restaurants as a matter-of-course, because they feel fashionable and vibe-y, their food is enticing. We wear beautifully crafted vegan apparel and use quality-made vegan cosmetics. And it’s easy to invite a little bit of veganism into our daily lives because it represents a set of lifestyle values that resonates with our inner guru: health conscious, environmentally concerned, worldly.

When Anna Ross launched her nail polish brand, Kester Black, she was looking for a distinct foothold within a highly competitive and saturated international market. “I wondered how I could possibly compete with the likes of OPI,” she says. “But then, as I looked into it, I realised there were no ethical options, and ethical to me is just common sense.”

Anna came to cosmetics through design. She studied design in her home country of New Zealand before moving to Melbourne, Australia, to build her professional experience. In doing this, she also established a jewellery design label, “to keep my portfolio ticking over”.

As is the way with any entrepreneurial venture, your business tends to morph and evolve with shifting market demands. Anna’s jewellery enterprise had peaked, riding the wave of highly marketable New Zealand-designed and made fashion brands. But her relocation to Australia had shifted the goal posts; she was now an Australian-based jeweller heading in a different direction.