Ethical cosmetics brand The Body Shop with British roots inspires changemakers and supplies them with products in a new shop with a sustainable concept in Viru Keskus.

There are innumerable suppliers of beauty products, but how many of those will encourage you to be active and become a part of positive change? The new Changemakers shop concept of The Body Shop shows in practical terms how you can turn your beauty rituals more sustainable through package recycling, while getting new knowledge through positive experience.

Opening the shop with the new concept in Viru Keskus on May 4 was an interactive and utterly joyful beauty experience. The guests had a chance to find out about products and refilling station, share ideas and discover ways to speak up and confront injustice, also the special art project created for the store was introduced. This is not just a shop, but a sensory place where you can discover products and inspiring stories about people and places behind them.

Changemaker’s Workshops of The Body Shop are all over the world designed to reflect the local communities that they serve. Some shops feature murals, installations and sculptures by local artists, others are full of literature or calls to support local charity organisations. In each location the aim of The Body Shop is to highlight the stories and issues of the local communities and that is why the theme of each shop is current, original and linked to the community. This is how the unique mural was created for The Body Shop in Viru Keskus by young Estonian graphic artist Moona Saul.

Moona Saul describes the mural created on the wall of the Changemakers’ shop of The Body Shop: “This mural with tufted woollen elements symbolises the Estonian breath-taking and precious communion with nature that perfectly matches the values and mission of The Body Shop in its daily work with natural components. The Body Shop uses in its products many plant products found in Estonia, like camomile, hemp and birch sap. In this case the Estonian contribution is represented on the mural by a camomile flower. The tufted woollen clouds were inspired by the angular designs of Estonian traditional patterns. The elements made of homespun wool are characteristic to me as an artist, but in this rather summery mural they also represent the cold and rough side of our country and what helps us to get warm here — Estonian natural homespun wool.

“For many people this world changing principle might feel a bit vague. The mission of starting our workshops is highly practical — to change consumer behaviour. We wish to bring people together, so that they would become aware of how any small changes in their daily lives could have a positive effect on their community and the whole planet. We opened the Changemakers’ shop concept in Viru Keskus in order to bring pivotal discussions and attitudes to people. The Body Shop filling station in the shop in Viru Keskus has taken off very successfully, our customers of the younger generation have embraced it extremely quickly. From the start of using refills The Body Shop has saved more than 120 tons of plastics that would have been used for producing single-use packaging,” says Estonian regional manager Margot Kihulane of The Body Shop. “We wish to involve and inspire people and make them active in their environment. We want our customers to have fun testing our products and at the same time talk about things that matter to them, thus helping to boost progress toward equality.”

The Body Shop was born in 1976 out of passion for environmental and social fairness that goes hand-in-hand with love for beauty. The brand offers more than 700 cruelty-free products focused on natural components like edelweiss that is a tough plant with a highly antioxidant effect. Through the pioneering Fair Trade programme The Body Shop sources its shea butter from a women’s cooperative in Ghana and the beloved tea tree oil from Kenya. Activism is built into the DNA of The Body Shop and social fairness goes hand-in-hand with that in every corner of the world. The brand is known for its amazingly long history of running social campaigns and has gained the support of its employees and customers who share those values. The shops and products of The Body Shop have always been and always will be a way of joining people with environmental and human rights challenges.

The values of the brand are reflected in the design of the shops and their daily operations. Recycled materials and 100 % reprocessed worktops made of plastics saved from going to the landfill — circular economy is at the heart of this shop. The shop uses various recycled and reused materials, like recycled wood and display boxes made of partially reprocessed plastics. Central to the Changemakers idea is to offer solutions that enable customers to reuse packaging. Take an aluminium bottle of 300ml and fill it with any of the 12 most popular shower gels, shampoos, conditioners and hand wash gels. And return to the shop once you have used it all.

In the central area with a wash basin you can smell, test and apply the most highly valued products of The Body Shop. The shop features also a new makeup table with a mirror for you to try makeup looks that would empower you.

Change starts from small loving actions for our planet. This is no trick or just a slogan. The harsh truth is that it is impossible to change the way people buy beauty products without the support of the global community. With refills The Body Shop wants to encourage people to keep the reusable aluminium bottles as a sign that the power to bring about empowering change is literally in their hands.