Q&A: Wild Olive’s Marioara De La Tara

A chat with Wild Olive’s Marioara De La Tara on the brand, the products and their mission as a company.

What is Wild Olive’s mission?

Our core mission is to demonstrate that Africa can compete at the highest standard on a global level. We also want to give our team access to education and skills development.

How do you work?

We insist in selecting only natural local ingredients, bought in many cases, directly from the farmers. We always support local, as much as possible.

We develop all our formulae in house and manufacture everything by hand in our own laboratory and factory in Cape Town’s CBD. We understand that a true luxury item can only be made by hand. We spend most of our energy and resources on skills development, ensuring that our artisans benefit from the best education with free access to exceptional materials and technologies.

What do you manufacture?

We manufacture bath, body, home and perfumery products, mostly inspired by African cultures and traditional African medicine. We are proud to be located in Cape Town, where art, creativity and beauty rituals form a part of the area’s history.

How do you think in terms of product development and designing of your products?

I work very closely with my colleagues from the Transkei. They are an infinite source of inspiration. I love nature, so living and working in Cape Town is extremely good for me, as the Cape flora is something I am very passionate about.

What is the reason for Wild Olive’s success so far?

Our success so far is the result of a clear mission, tenacious structure, planning, resilience and the ability to listen extremely carefully to our customers’ suggestions and needs. We never knocked on anyone’s door in order to sell our products. We believe in the philosophy that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. The right people always find each other. We just wanted to make sure we have a reliable product and a presence in exceptional people’s lives.

To view Wild Olive’s products, visit wildolive.eu.