Established in 1959 by founder, President and Scientific Director professor Giorgio Rialdi, Vevy Europe has been focusing throughout the years on the dermo-pharmaceutical and functional cosmetics business, also thanks to the ever-increasing budgets addressed to research and innovation. Vevy Europe has been on the market for some 55 years, having it been established in 1959 by President and Scientific Director professor Giorgio Rialdi, a medical doctor, researcher and pharmacologist. Headquartered in Genoa, the company has always kept a strong focus on such activities as research, development and, in one word, innovation. Research, development and production of raw materials, intermediates and active ingredients for the dermo-pharmaceutical, cosmetics and personal care industry are indeed the company’s major fields of activity. Committed to an unceasing technological progress, which imposes a constant updating of equipment and systems in the research and industrial areas, Vevy Europe is nowadays subdivided in six different units, sharing their respective activities with the sole purpose of rationalizing and synergizing facilities and structures, so to address the global markets with a complete top-notch solutions portfolio. With a common mission: «That of providing our customers with quality, originality, effectiveness and safety together with a correct, transparent information». This is what Vevy Europe’s Managing Direcor and Technical Director Vincenzo Paolo Maria Rialdi told KosWorld, adding that a constantly updated know how is among the firm’s points of strength. A senior cosmetologist, an academic and a researcher himself, Vincenzo Paolo Maria Rialdi has a Bachelor of Business Science and was appointed as vice-president of the European industry association EFfCI (aka European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients) and as past-president and vice-president of Mapic-Federchimica, whilst serving his family’s own company for nearly thirty years.
How would You describe, mister Rialdi, the key-points of Vevy Europe’s business?
Substantially we are aimed at producing anything our laboratories manage to invent. Every research project we are committed to, respectful of rigorous procedures of investigation and development, springs up from the need to find answers to specific requests. All the time we take into account a series of issues such as an ingredient’s application and the end products it is destined to, considering their overall lifecycle, from the early phases of design to their scale-up. All of our products must be biologically safe, compliant and effective and that brought Vevy Europe to ideate the so-called Skin Sustainability concept, which translates as well into a robust effort for promoting knowledge and culture about the most correct cutaneous interventions in the arena of cosmetology.
Could You give us a more precise description of what You called the Skin Sustainability idea?
The concept of Skin Sustainability deals with the respect for the bio-chemical complexity of the cutaneous apparatus, whatever the intervention or operation one is carrying on. And that requests an in-depth and accurate knowledge of its functioning and of the whole number of related disciplines and subjects: anatomy, histology, biochemistry, physiology and epigenetics too. Skin treatments should always appear respectful of specific criteria that we dubbed as Best Skin Practices which also translate into the usage of specialized ingredients whose utilization is suggested for a precise kind of interventions, or personalized treatments our skin is in need of in order to return to its normal condition, aware that any kind of excipient should also respect these above-mentioned guidelines.
Does this strategy fulfill Your customers’ requests and the new trends in cosmetology?
It is not just a matter of market targets, nor of compliance to the frequently changing international regulations. As a provider of special ingredients our aim is that of designing and producing reliable ingredients, characterized by maximum safety and effectiveness, whatever their origin is, compliant with certain expected functionalities and features, leaving it up to the cosmetics producer to create a valuable correspondence between a given product and the consumers’ expectations. Our articles come with a broad technical-scientific documentation that can ensure a producer’s marketing and sales force a series of precious information. Vevy Europe also provides its clients with services aimed at speeding up their new formulations’ production processes leveraging our best of breed solutions and formulae. We would rather not talk of new products: our solutions must be up to date.
So what will the new up to date Vevy Europe’s forthcoming products look like, mister Rialdi?
To introduce a new product on the market we first of all have to follow and observe a rigorous process addressed to validation but passing through the preliminary phases of invention, design, prototyping, and the following steps of the verification of its compliance to international regulations and the definition of such issues as analytical identification, toxicological profile, stability protocol and studies of effectiveness. Recently we brought the market an interesting number of solutions among which I would only like to mention a solubilizing for oily rinse-off products, a vegetal-based anti-oxidant and, as a spin-off from a previous release, both a skin-feel improver and a dispersant for non-solubilizing substances; last but not least a safe and performing neutralizer. Whilst working on more new projects, we focused on the make-up scenario bringing up ingredients for functional cosmetics and for the improvement and optimization of the so-called intermediate processes, utilizing both organic and non-organic pigments. In addition, we have many new projects in progress, which results we trust will be very much appreciated as their positioning is in empty spaces of the present ingredients offer.
Could You briefly explain what the expression quality means to You and Your company?
Any of the Quality-related aspects of our activity represents our top priority too and Vevy Europe’s commitment to the effectiveness of its processes and to flexibility becomes stronger with time. We also granted ourselves a form of self-certification, common and well known in our industry, that we dubbed with the DCG label, an acronym which stands for Dermo and Cosmetic Grade. By this mean we mean to provide our ingredients’ anywhere with an additional warranty. The DCG brand witnesses that all of our ingredients were designed and developed for specific cutaneous applications; and that all of them were verified on the basis of a series of rigorous protocols, covering the aspects of toxicology and crypto-toxicology, together with those of the enzyme-kinetics and dermatological activities. Vevy Europe can then assure these ingredients will not affect the cutaneous apparatus’ biochemistry and that they entirely respond and comply with all of the international and national regulations in the cosmetics field. Our action is also inspired to the so-called Industrial Ecology principles, which suggest a complete preliminary evaluation on any possible product or process-related risk, during the various steps of research, development and production, finally. Only those processes that manage to guarantee the maximum safety and reliability of our portfolio are finally validated. But if Vevy Europe can be proud of the results it has achieved, especially in terms of quality, that’s mainly because the company is a strong, young and motivated team, able to rapidly turn the management’s ideas and strategies into reality, thanks to our employees’ efforts and passion. It is with great enthusiasm we now do call on formulators with a range of ingredients that can offer him a valuable support in developing new performing end products, with the aim of reducing production costs, save energy and, thus, save money as well.
VEVY EUROPE IN FIGURES
As Vincenzo Rialdi stated, last year Vevy Europe invested 4,3% of its overall revenues in research and development, largely above the Italian and European national average, and for the second time in a row the company managed to provide its employees with more than 1,000 hours of training in less than 12 months. Its export share is 60% and the dermo-pharmaceutical industry represents today 40% of its income. Some 14,000 industrial developments were so far completed thanks to Vevy Europe’s ingredients whilst the firm’s production processes are ISO-9001 certified since 2001 and EFfCI GMP certified since 2006, witnessing Vevy Europe’s attention to the good manufacturing practices.
SPECIALIZATION: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Asked by KosWorld of an opinion and a forecast about Vevy Europe’s future strategies, company’s Managing Director and Technical Director Vincenzo Paolo Maria Rialdi showed no hesitation: «Specialization», Rialdi stated, «is our strongest belief. We study, ideate, create our products with passion and unceasing enthusiasm and our goal is to spread these values and share them with our partners and customers in the cosmetics and dermo-pharmaceutical arena in Italy and worldwide».
by R.Carminati