ALISA & LYSANDRA FRASER
AUSTRALIA’S FAVOURITE DESIGNER DUO SHARE THEIR BEAUTY TIPS AND AN EXCITING NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE LAUNCH OF YOUR NEW RANGE OF LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS! CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE BRAND?
L: Thank you! We’re launching a natural hand and body lotion and wash. We’ve designed the bottles from scratch, so we’ve spent the last 18 months designing something bespoke and completely different that’s unique and it blends in to most bathrooms out there … kitchens [and] laundries.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME, AL.IVE?
A: It comes from a few things actually. Initially we wanted to produce a natural range and we were thinking ‘what’s another word for natural?’ And the name ‘alive’ popped up, it was a process … [laughs]. When the word ‘alive’ came up I didn’t think much of it, but one day when I was at the beach I was writing in the sand and just trialling different names and I thought [about]
the play on alive and the fact that it had Lysandra and my first initials.
L: And I think that potentially it was helping us to contribute in some way to helping keep the planet alive.
I LOVE THE PACKAGING. OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE SUCH AN EYE FOR INTERIORS AND AESTHETICS, HOW DID YOU NARROW IT DOWN TO THESE THREE COLOURS?
A: That was a process for sure! L: Well, I think it came a little bit more from keeping nature, and then the earth collection somehow developed and then it came to suiting a colour for the earth collection. L: So the colour palette was something that took a lot of time. We changed our minds a few times, but we also wanted to look at the market and look at what we can bring to disrupt it and no one was offering this colour range.
THEY ARE QUITE BEAUTIFUL AND GENDER-NEUTRAL AS WELL…
A: We were conscious of that as well, trying to appeal to a broader market …
IT’S ALL FORMULATED IN AUSTRALIA, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS IMPORTANT TO YOU BOTH?
L: Absolutely, that was nonnegotiable to us. Why would you ever formulate in China or overseas when we have such great ingredients here? So that was definitely a must for us.
HOW INVOLVED WERE YOU IN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE PRODUCTS?
L: Every step! Initially my gut instinct when Alisa came to me with the idea was ‘no, it’s too saturated a market’, that’s why we have taken such a long process to come up with something completely new and different. We could have launched a year ago …
A: We worked with an industrial designer to perfect the bottle, which is an expensive, drawn out process. We could have easily picked off-the-shelf [packaging] … but we wanted to mix it up.
THERE HAS BEEN A MASSIVE MOVE IN THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY AND THE WORLD TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING AND PRODUCTS, IS THAT SOMETHING YOU BOTH HAVE CONSIDERED?
A: Absolutely, it has been at the forefront of everything we make. Our bottles are recyclable but we are in the middle of offering refill pouches which use about 90 per cent less plastic, so hopefully within the first month of launch, these will be available.
L: We spent such a long time designing these bottles you don’t really want to encourage people to throw them in the bin once you’re done!
A: Also for every product bought online, we plant a tree in Australia … our mission is to plant an al.ive forest.
WHAT’S CHANGED THE MOST SINCE APPEARING ON THE BLOCK?
A: It’s seven years ago now. Can you believe it?
L: Obviously our career [laughs] … we’re not police officers anymore! We have been working on our design business, but for the last 18 months it really has been getting these products up and running it really has been all-consuming [for] us …
YOU HAVE OVER 200K FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM, IS
IT A PLATFORM YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH?
L: Instagram can be the devil but it is also our lifeline. It’s where we get a chance to show Australia [and] our followers our projects and what we’re up to.
A: Absolutely, the support we have received already after just releasing a teaser on these products on Instagram has been so amazing and it certainly gives you that fire to keep going. It’s very humbling.