21 January 2021

Natural cosmetics, health care brand Weleda celebrates 100th anniversary by paying homage to the brand's founder, Austrian Rudolf Steiner and his trendsetting thinking concerning the relationship between humans and nature

100 years ago, Austrian philosopher, publicist, speaker and founder of the philosophical school for a new world view 'Anthroposophy' (a future directed view on things that will happen; keyword intuition), originator of the Waldorf education also known as Steiner education practiced at Waldorf schools, pioneer of 'Demeter' (biodynamic agriculture), Rudolf Steiner teamed up with his friend Dr. Ita Wegman, who was specialized on women's medicine, and the in Vienna born pharmacist, chemist Oskar Schmiedel for the production of health care products. The company was named 'Weleda' after the German seer from the 1st century AD 'Veleda'. Weleda explains the influence of the holistic approach of Anthroposophy (nature - humans) on the development of its natural cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, the production processes inclusively the sourcing of raw material and lists at the press release several awards like the Swiss Ethics Award or the Green Brand Award 2020 as quality reference of the company's successful work.

Image: The picture shows a woman harvesting wild growing arnica in the Romanian Carpathians. It's one of 50 Weleda raw material projects worldwide. Weleda is UEBT Union for Ethical Bio Trade certified. Source of the image: "obs/Weleda AG/Marko Mestrovic". Photo: © Weleda AG / Photographer: Marko Mestrovic.

On occasion of its 100th anniversary, the company invites at opengarden.weleda.de/360/ to the 'Open Garden' 360 degree view with information about topics like biodiversity explained by partnering gardeners, the seed market, or ethical sourcing which closes the circle as it benefits humans and biodiversity.