Interview with Nadine Artemis of Living Libations
A few days ago I had the pleasure of getting to sit with Nadine Artemis in her Venice Beach store, such an amazing moment. Today I would like to share with you a few things we were discussing then and an interview I was able to do with Nadine after that meeting. If you are unfamiliar with Nadine Artemis and her products please check out Living Libations!
photos and cover of avajane.com by Nadine Artemis
Your work revolves around plants and their medicinal essence for beauty and living. What first drew you to this journey of bringing high-quality plant based living libations to the world? Is it an inner calling?
Nadine Artemis: My fascination with plants started when I was a child. I would play for hours in the woods with plants. This joy was further developed in 9th grade when a book just fell off the library shelf into my hands as I was researching for the science fair. The book was full of ancient Egyptian perfume recipes using essential oils. My mom and I drove to the city to the health food store and bought a bunch of essential oils to recreate L’Air Du Temps by Nina Ricci. It was so much fun and my first success in the world of botanical science.
When I was in university, I was shocked to discover that some of my favorite skin care products that claimed to be full of botanicals were only bottles of synthetic chemicals! I knew that there was a pure and real botanical world out there, so I started making perfume and some skincare items for myself and my friends. My friends loved my potions and wanted more, and a business was born.
Plants called to me when I was a child, and they call to me still today. The deeper I explore, the more fascinated I am by them. ~Nadine Artemis
If you lived in Southern California what might we see in your garden, or what would be the top 3 plants you would like to grow in our southern climate?
Nadine Artemis: Gardening in the temperate climate of Southern California would be so much fun. I love growing beautiful edibles, so I would plant a fruit forest of fig trees, edible cacti, and what we call “poemgranates.” Pomegranates are the most poetic fruit.
In your travels where have you felt the strongest connection to our Earth? Can you sense that an ecosystem is thriving there?
Nadine Artemis: Home, Sweet Home! I live in the lake country of Ontario, Canada and feel deeply connected to the planet here. In my youth, I canoed, camped, and cottaged here and fell in love. It took the work of my twenties and following the focus of my passion to get back to these forests and lakes, and now we have built the foundation of our lives here.
The forests and lakes around us are ancient and pristine; much of this area has never been developed or interfered with. The ecosystem here is flourishing: clear spring-fed lakes, rich soil, native flora, and well-balanced populations of animals. We tread lightly here, in our little part of nature, out of deep appreciation for it and to protect it for the future.
Are you connected to any charities in the world, or how do you make a positive impact on the world through your business?
Nadine Artemis: We like to help and encourage our local community, the people that we live with and see every day. This includes empowering our employees, encouraging their personal and professional goals and development.
Education is very important to me. Myths about skin, health and oral care abound, so we invest a lot of time and care in researching and writing informational newsletters, articles, lectures, and even books, to help people decipher what’s real and how botanicals can bless their bodies and homes.
Also, global responsibility is a key ethic for us. Living Libations’ rigorous standard of purity honors the health and preservation of forests, lakes and rivers, farms, the people who cultivate and distill for us, our families, our neighbors, and our clients. For more than 20 years we have nurtured personal relationships with artisan distillers and family farmers around the globe so that we may secure authentic oils and extracts that are purely and fairly produced. Many of the highest quality plants and flowers used in plant oils are indigenous to the developing world, and the people native to those regions learned from their families the ancient craft of distillation. It is our pleasure to observe fair trade practices so that our skilled farmers, harvesters, and distillers are safe and earn a fair wage for their labor and goods.