Berrichi (Furcella): the secret benefits of algae in natural cosmetics

The company

Berrichi brand is manufactured by Furcella LLC that is located in Tallinn (Estonia). The clean and ecological products of Berrichi, such as the facial moisturizers for women and men, are developed and have been researched by the scientists Rando Tuvikene and Marju Robal from the Tallinn University. Berrichi cooperates as well with Tartu Biotechnology Park, Baltic Blue Biotechnology Alliance and Enterprise Estonia.

The first main key component of the products is furcellaran that comes from Estonian local company Est-Agar. The supplier is located on the biggest island of Estonia named Saaremaa. The company is well known all over Estonia for producing furcellaran from Baltic Sea and red algae. In the 1960s the most known candy factory Kalev in Estonia started to produce marmelade candies form the furcellaran that was produced from Est-Agar. The second key component of the Berrichi products is astaxanthine that comes from Asia. It is the strongest natural antioxidant in the world that has also very strong natural red pigment which gives red colour to salmon, trout, shrimps and flamingos. The astaxanthine that is used in the products of Berrichi comes from micro algae Haematococcus pluvialis. Berrichi uses the vegetable version of the algae for moisturizes to assure that products are sustainable for vegans.

The idea

The idea for Berrichi originates from the founder Berit Joosep and her struggle with her own skin problems with dry and allergic skin. The main idea of Berrichi is the believe that clean and natural ingredients are the best for skin. Algae is known as a cleaner, nourisher and protector of the marine life. Algae-based products have been in the heart of Asian beauty traditions for centuries. Even better for Estonians - the algae from the Baltic Sea is rare, clean and doesn't contain any toxic heavy metals. One of the main key ingredients - astaxanthin - is known as a natural doping for the skin. It is 500 times more powerful than vitamin E and 800 times more effective than CoQ10. Furcellaran is a strong antioxidant extracted from the red algae of Baltic Sea that protects skin against free radicals, UV radiation and stressors. Retinol in one of the ingredients applied in the night moisturizer of Berrichi. It is a powerful fat-soluble vitamin which penetrates into the cell wall and deepest layers of skin. Besides, Berrichi products contain five organic super oils: cacay, kukui nut, avocado, apricot kernel and jojoba oil.

The Berrichi products were developed in a close collaboration with the ALLIANCE. The mentors provided contacts to important raw material suppliers and support us further with possibilities of packaging based on algae as the main resource.”-

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  Janno Joosep

  Furcella LLC

The allies

Berrichi products were developed with cooperation of the ALLIANCE partners, such as Tartu Biotechnology Park (TBP), who is the primary mentor of Furcella and Coastal Research and Management (CRM) acting as the secondary mentor. Furthermore, Furcella collaborates with domestic and foreign companies for buying the algae-based products and natural oils. The brand Berrichi is advised by the ALLIANCE mentor Levent Piker, who has given Berrichi good contacts for further raw material suppliers. The retinol from the night moisturizer of Berrichi comes from the German supplier Chem2Market and the natural and organic oils come from All Organic Treasures GmbH (AOT). Berrichi is also applying for the certificate from the NaTrue certification company that is known all over the Europe. In cooperation and support on business development with CRM (Levent Piker) Berrichi is working towards the possibility to pack the products in algae-based tubes or packages.

Official website

Photo credit: Terje Atonen ©