Intercos SpA, global leader in research and development, production and marketing of cosmetics and skin care and hair and body care. Amarey, founded by the Illy family, an innovative start-up specialized in functional coffee-based products, announces a strategic partnership for research, innovation and development of cosmetic raw materials obtained with respect for the environment and according to the principles of circular economy.
The first result of the partnership is innovative coffee butter, which is obtained from the pericarp covering the beans and which is removed during the roasting process.
Coffee butter
At the Beauty Event 2024, the event that opens the doors to Cosmoprof 2024, the most important international trade fair dedicated to the entire chain of the beauty industry, Intercos and Amarey will present the first product of this collaboration. An innovative multi-use coffee butter with exceptional firming and softening properties, now available on the market.
The collaboration between Intercos and Amarey was established at the end of 2022. After just one year of scientific research with an 'Open Innovation' approach, their respective laboratories created a coffee butter, rich in active ingredients and with exceptional cosmetic properties. The product comes from the 'silverskin', the silvery membrane that covers the coffee beans, a layer that comes off during the roasting process and which has until now been thrown away. The 'silver fleece' retains a small portion of fat, which has great added value for the cosmetics world thanks to its special chemical composition and chemical-physical properties.
This innovative biomimetic cosmetic component was discovered in 2018 during a circular bioeconomy program funded by Fondazione Cariplo and Innovhub, but it was only through the work on the extraction process for a cosmetic use of the pericarp that the Intercos and Amarey laboratories reached the coffee butter .
Illycaffè participated in the project by providing its many years of experience in research and innovation and carrying out the necessary studies and analyzes for the use of the pericarp as a by-product. Through the circular economy model, a product that was usually considered waste is reused as a raw material for cosmetics.
Gabriele Depta, Chief R&D Officer of Intercos Group: “We are excited about the collaboration with Amarey and illycaffè, as it allows us to quickly complete such a revolutionary research project. In fact, it combines attention to the environment through circular economy principles, allowing us to give new life to food waste and create the development of an innovative raw material with multiple applications. The 'Open Innovation' approach immediately put us in touch with Amarey and illycaffè and we immediately embraced the project, from which a strong synergy has begun,”
“To achieve the highest level of innovation and performance, Intercos has long invested in the development of raw materials. We have embraced several lines of research focused on the possibility of using processing by-products in the food chain, with a view to sustainability and to highlight the value of 'Made in Italy'. The coffee butter is just the first example of this philosophy and at Cosmoprof 2024, held in Bologna from March 21 to 24, we presented the first face powders containing coffee butter. We still have many great projects waiting for us in the name of innovation and collaboration.”
Domnique Illy, co-founder & CEO of Amarey: “This partnership with Intercos, together with the collaboration of illycaffè, unites and strengthens the excellence of 'Made in Italy' in the cosmetics and food sectors, forming a true alliance for change. Thanks to the know-how of Intercos, the knowledge of illycaffè and our team of experts in extraction techniques, we have managed to transform the pericarp of coffee beans into a raw material with extraordinary properties: coffee butter. This advancement highlights Amarey's commitment to the research and development of functional products derived from coffee and reinforces our role in exploring the potential of coffee beyond its traditional applications. It is a partnership that strengthens and supports young companies like ours, born with a strong passion for innovation and facilitating synergies and collaborations between different sectors. As my grandfather Ernesto used to say, 'innovation is simply successful disobedience' and it is precisely this disobedience that continues to drive our scientific innovation.”
David Brussa, Director of Total Quality and Sustainability at illycaffè: “Since its inception, illycaffè has focused its strategies on a sustainable business model and this project reflects our values in the best possible way. We have been analyzing the production stages of coffee throughout the supply chain for some time to identify all possible sustainable alternative transformations of this ingredient. We apply the circular economy model to study how we can convert elements that are currently discarded from the production process, such as green coffee powder, broken roasted beans and even the pericarp, into a new by-product. We want to valorize all possible types of waste, because we know that they are still very rich in molecules that can be reused in other production circuits. The collaboration with Amarey, which started with the use of the silver fleece, leads to the development of further projects based on the principles of the circular economy.
Source: sustainable-entrepreneurship.nl
