La Maison Orveda, a Freestanding Spa and Boutique, Springs Up in Paris

PARIS — After Shanghai and New York, luxury skin care brand Orveda has opened its first freestanding spa and store in the French capital.

Called La Maison Orveda, the store is at 6 Place Saint-Sulpice, on Paris’ Left Bank. The two-story, 1,615-square-foot location has traditional oak parquet floors and sweeping mirrors. (Think Versailles’ famed reflective hall.)

“For us, the opening in Paris is a returning to the roots,” said Jean Holtzmann, chief brand officer of Coty Prestige, which owns the French biotech brand that has ingredients and protocols focused on longevity. 

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The executive said the idea is for each store to blend into the surrounding cultural environment. In Shanghai there’s a red gate and in New York, some Art Deco details, for instance. The Paris location was fashioned to project quiet luxury.

“So they are all different,” said Holtzmann. “Each has its own identity.”

But every one is anchored to Orveda’s DNA.

“It’s this idea of bringing cutting-edge science, ultra-premium skin care and also art, which is a strong component in all the maisons,” continued Holtzmann, underlining each location offers an exhibition space as well as a retail experience. “We like to see it as the temple of luxury skin care.”

La Maison Orveda Paris gives a personalized skin diagnosis, after which an adviser opens one of three cabinets — each of which showcases a single product through a circular opening — to reveal the brand’s range of 22 stock keeping units. People are meant to test and learn, using Orveda’s beauty tools.

Before a treatment, they choose a scent made of essential oil for either an energizing, anti-stress or Zen effect.

In the ground-floor treatment room, a discovery protocol may be tried out. And up a sculptural, winding staircase are two treatment rooms that are able to be made into a double. A lounge is here, too.

Each La Maison Orveda has a slab of marble in deep green, the same hue as the brand’s product packaging. 

Orveda was cofounded seven years ago by Sue Nabi, chief executive officer of Coty, and Nicolas Vu, who serves as Orveda’s CEO. Most of the brand’s formulas include the signature Biotech Complex, made with bio-fermentation, enzymatic catalysis and plant cell culture technologies. Orveda treatments mix ancestral skin therapies, longevity science and cutting-edge facial massage, according to the brand. 

The hour-long Glow Is the New Lift or Anti-Fatigue Skin Rehab treatment, for skin weakened by jet lag or cosmetic procedures, go for 250 euros, while the 90-minute Omni Solution global treatment is 330 euros. That is said to lift and tone faces and give relaxation, thanks to stretching movements on the décolleté, shoulders and neck.

For the first time, La Maison Orveda is offering, in Paris, the Youth Glove Protocol, a three-step treatment that takes five minutes and ends with hands wrapped in silicone gloves to help the formula’s penetration.

Orveda’s over-arching aim is to make skin glow anew.

Its new location will host cultural events and art exhibitions, as well. For the opening, there is a focus on skin essence, a theme channeled through pleated, origami-made sculptures resembling molecules and lotus flowers on display. Those were made by Junior Fritz Jacquet. Thomas Vanz’s projected, moving creations nod to fermentation processes used in developing Orveda’s formulas.

On the docket are well-being workshops, scientific conferences on longevity and themed VIP masterclasses. The schedule for those is found and reservations can be made at eu.orveda.com.

Orveda is also sold in select department stores and high-end perfumeries, approximately 100 doors altogether. Most recently, the brand opened a studio in Bangkok and in Singapore. The idea is not to be everywhere, but to build intentionally and globally, according to Holtzmann.

“We define Orveda as being the ultra-premium luxury skin care brand,” said Holtzmann. “It is art meets cutting-edge science and wellness. That is really the universe, so it is about creating and crafting those spaces where we can express this.”