Interview: Nye Smith
As Weleda celebrates 100 years of its cult natural beauty favourite, Skin Food, new UK MD for Weleda Cosmetic, Nye Smith, tells Ruby Deevoy how a unique Stella McCartney collab and fresh digital approach is helping this health store stalwart embrace the future.
Weleda is a reliable health store favourite: a brand synonymous with natural, sustainable cosmetic and health products that really deliver. But now, more than a century after its founding in 1921, can it cut through to a fresh generation of consumers?
Aneurin Smith (Nye to his friends) believes so. He was appointed managing director for cosmetics in January 2026, just in time for the 100th anniversary of Skin Food – Weleda’s hero product. Already the brand is looking forward to its most successful year, anticipating £20 million-plus in UK sales alone in 2026.
Smith’s first foray into natural brands was working on mergers and acquisitions for Boots, nine years ago. “I noticed this was clearly a big and steadily growing trend,” he says. “But I soon learned that although many products on the shelves contained plant extracts, they were far from as natural as the branding and advertising suggested.”
“It’s far from just appearances here. We grow ingredients in our own gardens in Ilkeston, just up the road from our HQ, and it’s totally biodynamic.”
In contrast, Weleda’s vision of a genuinely natural, sustainable range ignited a passion in Smith, particularly as he entered parenthood. “Weleda is a really exceptional natural brand – something I’ve grown increasingly appreciative of since having kids and becoming more conscious about what we, as a family, consume and put on our skin. It’s far from just appearances here. We grow ingredients in our own gardens in Ilkeston, just up the road from our HQ, and it’s totally biodynamic. We have full-time gardeners and we seriously care about the soil we use – we even create our own fertilizers. Every single aspect is considered, and this results in incredible natural products that don’t harm people or the planet.”
Dedicated brand
Smith is keen to bring awareness of this level of dedication to the public. “The more I learn about Weleda, the more impressed I am, and I believe our customers and retailers deserve to know how much heart is put into our products,” he explains. “Even beyond the products themselves, we’re dedicated to giving back. In Morocco we have a women-only wild rose cooperative, where they grow and pick the roses we use in our popular Wild Rose line. The women working there get paid fairly and they bring their kids to a school that’s being built on the grounds, but until now this hasn’t really been talked about. I want to shout it from the rooftops!”
It’s an exciting time for Smith to join the Weleda team as the brand gears up to celebrate the centenary of Skin Food – a multipurpose product that’s a firm favourite with the likes of Victoria Beckham, alongside legions of health store customers. “I’m looking forward to getting the Weleda name out there in a bigger way and modernizing so this legacy company can stand strong among even the biggest, boldest, flashy brands and stores,” he says. “We’ve started our rebrand, we’re digitalizing, we’ve got a fantastic limited edition Skin Food coming soon and a new product that is very modern – very different from anything we’ve ever done.”
Smith says he’s also excited to be partnering with BBC Glow Up make-up artist and judge, Val Garland, and Stella McCartney, who’s been named as Weleda’s official skincare partner. “We’ll be combining the Skin Food 100th anniversary with Stella’s brand’s 25th birthday. Stella McCartney is the leader in sustainable fashion, while Weleda is the leader in sustainable beauty – it’s an amazing collaboration. We’ll be attending Paris fashion shows, doing treatments backstage and lots of other great events planned around that.”
By Ruby Deevoy, contributor