First and foremost, thanks so much for taking part in my interview series! Tell us a bit more about yourself and your background.
I’m Ceren, founder of ceremonie, a purposeful lifestyle brand centered around circularity, meditation and design. We upcycle over 50 years old handmade Turkish hemp kilims to meditation cushions.
I studied to be a dentist and now I do health & wellness consultancy in London with my brand Spicy Health. I always loved to put smiles into people's faces in every sense, now I’m doing it in a different way.
As an enthusiastic consumer of all sorts of wellness goods I realised that a product should not only do good for your own wellness but to the wellness of our planet too. Only by healing our environment we can heal ourselves, thus came the idea of the brand ceremonie.
What are your thoughts on sustainability and when did you first become aware of it?
Even as a kid I always loved to re-purpose unwanted objects such as using little bottle lids as bowls for my Barbies or using toilet paper rolls to make new toys. But especially while I was living in NY in 2018, I came to the realization of how much waste I produced, how everything is extra packaged. Thus wanted to do my part, by minimizing and cycling my waste as much as I can.
What are you specifically interested in?
Upcycling. I love to honour the old and take it to the future.
Have you seen a noticeable difference in the way people approach spending now and which companies they choose to support?
People are getting more and more aware of what a product costs to the planet now, but still there is lots to be done. As it’s easy to convince the consumer just with a catchy slogan and you’re done.
Tell me about a recent challenge you faced while working on a sustainability project. How did you overcome it?
I considered having cute cards explaining our process or some fancy packaging but they will go to rubbish as soon as the item is purchased, instead there will be reusable canvas bag packaging and rather than postcards and labels, only a little bar code to direct people to our story.
What would you say are your industry’s main downfalls and what are the obstacles to improving them?
I think the industry should give chance to already produced materials and factory waste, rather than always producing more and more. If you give enough attention to the excess or unwanted materials, you can come up with very creative and aesthetic ideas and that fascinates me all the time!
If you were to choose the first and most achievable changes for any small business, what would they be?
I would say the easiest change would be the packaging. It’s great to have a lovely package with cute brand cards but that provides only seconds of joy. Make them reusable and purposefully or not at all.
What kind of impact do you think small & medium businesses can have on the shift to a more sustainable society?
‘Buy me once’ mentality is where we should direct our consumers to. By making sustainable higher quality, durable products we can educate consumers on better buying habits. Also by being transparent and showing why and how we do things we can help them shop more mindful both for their own economic welfare and for our planet’s.
What do you think is the ‘elephant in the room’ with regards to sustainability in business? What do you think we should be speaking about more?
Definitely ‘Greenwashing’, it’s easy to have a conscious slogan then to really take the responsibility and produce sustainably. As companies become more transparent and genuine by showing the process to the consumer they will actually be showing the real value of the product and thus the consumer will be willing to pay for it’s worth and be more grateful too.
What are your predictions for consumer behaviour in 2020? Which trends are you expecting to emerge or continue to grow?
I think the rise in the rental services and offerings will continue to increase. It’s another and a great way to act responsible towards the planet and curb the environmental damage.