Marie-Laure and Vincent Bascoul, happy parents of a creative pre-teen, Namaki

Hello, it’s me, Namaki! For my eleventh birthday, my parents – my creators – Marie-Laure and Vincent Bascoul, agreed to look back on my birth and early years. In the Namaki family, we like to have fun and think outside the box. So we left the question to chance. Past, present and even future, they tell you all about it in this fun and light-hearted interview. Happy reading!

Namaki: from birth to pre-adolescence

What inspired you to launch a brand of natural, organic make-up for children?

ML.B : I remember it very well. We were in a toy store in Valence, a pretty store with a nice, well-sourced, ethical selection that we really liked. We’d really hit it off after doing all the baby gifts there. And now we were going there to make our first daughter’s birth list… As we talked about what we did for a living, we talked about organic make-up, since I was already working in that sector. For his part, he told us that he didn’t have any children’s make-up range, that everything was of poor quality, from China, and that it was a shame. He asked me if we couldn’t do it… It really wasn’t in the target range of the company I was working for. The brand was distributed in beauty salons and organic stores… Between beauty make-up and disguises, we weren’t selling the same products. On leaving the store, Vincent, who was in the process of setting up or taking over a business, said to me: « We’re going to make this brand!

V.B : It’s true that I was in a bit of a limbo at the time. The business takeover project I’d been working on for six months had just fallen through. I was wondering whether to set up my own business or go back to being a salaried employee… And then there was this discussion. It just happened, in the days following the failure of my project. I told myself that it was a sign and that I had to do it. It took nine months, like a baby, but without too many difficulties.

When you created your first product, what was the biggest laugh you didn’t expect?

V.B : When we did the make-up tests! We had to come up with make-up themes and models to add tutorials to our products. We worked with an illustrator in Canada. She sent us models every day, or rather every night. In the morning, we knew there were new ones to try out. I’d do Marie-Laure’s lion make-up, then it was her turn, we’d take photos of each other (laughs) and send them to the illustrator. We didn’t have any other models to hand. It made us laugh, because sometimes it was really…ugly! I’ve never done as much make-up as I did at that time, before the launch of Namaki.

ML.B Our first daughter was still a baby, so we used to do this when she was asleep, and when she’d wake up, we’d just say to ourselves: « It’s not possible, I can’t go and get her like this, she’ll get scared! Since then, we’ve delegated and that’s fine.

What amazed you most about the process of creating your first products?

V.B To imagine things and see them come to fruition is pretty crazy. Now we’re getting a bit used to it, but the whole creative process is still fascinating: imagining products, conceptualizing them, seeing them in mock-up and then making prototypes… And the other thing that amazes me is seeing how the brand manages to express itself through the products. First we think about the messages we want to get across about our values, about educating young consumers, about the place of creative activities in everyday life… Then we think about our products. The brand comes to life through them, and we try to make them say things.

ML.B I’m amazed at the range of colors we can achieve while respecting the constraints of organic production. You can’t go to certain extremes or certain tones. But I’m always amazed at how we can play with that. Sometimes, our partners can come up with things that are even better than the ones we had in mind, by adding their professional touch. I think that’s great.

What role do the environment and health play at Namaki?

V.B As much space as possible… while keeping the economic criterion in mind, and even then, not always. Often, priority is given to health and the environment.

ML.B : If we take the case of toy standards that some of our products have to meet, as long as we’re not good at it, we reformulate.

V.B We make very few compromises. It’s always a question of the cursor. If, for example, we were to push the environmental cursor to the limit, we’d export nothing and only source locally. There are strategic decisions which may go against the principle of environmental protection, but which would not be economically viable otherwise. When the environment doesn’t play a major role in our decision, it’s because we have no other choice or local alternative.

ML.B : The aim is also to offer products that will appeal to a maximum number of people, and therefore to a maximum budget.

V.B Whatever we do, we do it with respect for our values and with red lines that we won’t cross. As soon as a product is certifiable, we certify it. We could very easily dispense with organic certification for some of our products and make do with equivalent non-organic ingredients. The product would be less expensive, we might sell more of it or have more customers. But it’s not in line with our values, so we just don’t do it. Economically speaking, it would make sense. It doesn’t make sense in terms of health or the environment. It goes against our values, it’s not what we want.

Do you have a funny anecdote about feedback from children or parents who have tried your products?

ML.B : I’m thinking of something very recent, but not directly related to the product, in fact. To ship our products, we add dunnage particles to the cartons. It’s made of corn starch. One of our customers told us she gave them to her chickens and they loved them! Nothing goes to waste. We already said you could compost them, now we can add that you can feed them to your chickens.

What’s it like to run a company as a couple?

Describe your collaboration as co-directors in a scene from a cult film or TV series.

V.B : Spontaneously, I think of the series « Friends » with its six characters. They may interact in very different ways, but it all adds up to a coherent whole. Our collaboration with Marie-Laure is multifaceted. We’re both friends or roommates, like Joey and Chandler, and couples, like Ross and Rachel. This evolves throughout the day, as we move from one relationship to another. Work spills over into private life, and even though we wanted to split the two at the start, it’s impossible.

What song would be the perfect soundtrack to a typical day working together?

ML.B You’d have to be able to do a medley! There are quiet moments, well harmonized like a choir, and others that are more… animated.
When it’s lively, it’s not necessarily chaos or even lively between us. It’s often Vincent who calms me down when I get angry. I think I’m much more reactive than he is, and he helps me to stand back and take a step back.

V.B : Yes, it sounds like Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, actually!

If you had to invent a trophy to reward your most difficult moment since the launch of the brand, what would it look like?

ML.B What’s the most difficult moment you’ve ever had? We forget… fortunately.

V.B It’s not very original for a company director, but the most difficult thing about running a company is either financing the business or human resources. And we alternate. Over the last 11 years, I think we’ve regularly gone through complicated times on both counts. So I don’t know whether the trophy would be in the shape of a banknote or represent several people. It’s also everything that makes a company rich: what makes it viable and the people who make it up.

ML.B : During the COVID epidemic, it was a complicated time. We had the kids at home, and we had to run the business. We’d go to our warehouse in Romans to prepare the parcels. Then we’d take the parcels back home, since there was no carrier… So, for the trophy, a human carrying a virus wouldn’t be bad.

With a little imagination

If you were to recount the birth of your brand like a children’s story, what would the title of the story be?

V.B Cap ou pas cap?

If you could give a cartoon character a product from your brand, which product would you choose, who would you give it to and why?

ML.B : I’ll give Grumpy the magic golden brush to put some glitter in his life.

Let’s imagine your brand is a person. How would you describe its character in 3 words?

ML.B Joyful, rigorous, creative. And, if I may add… daring!

If you had to come up with a totally eccentric product for your range that respected your values, what would it be?

V.B : We’re already pretty into wacky products (laughs)… We don’t have too many limits when it comes to creating our products….

ML.B Ah yes… A spray that gets kids excited about creating again. You know when they say: « I’m bored, I don’t know what to do… »? Just spritz, spritz and go!

On the road to adventure with Namaki

What superpower would you like to have to make your mission even more impactful?

ML.B It would be really great to make our products accessible to children all over the world, so that they can experience them in simple but joyful ways. I think that the older we get, the more complicated it becomes to have creative moments. I say to myself that if, even as children, we got into the habit of exercising our creativity and understanding how important it is, the world would be a much better place today.

If you had a magic wand to speed up one of your projects or dreams for the brand, which one would you choose?

V.B : We’d like to change our place of work, to have a Namaki building with more green spaces, closer to nature. This would also enable us to bring together our different activities in the same place.

Bonus questions

Is there a question you’d like to ask each other?

Vincent to Marie-Laure : Do you regret it?

ML.B Ah, that’s what I was going to ask you, that’s crazy! So, no, no, I don’t regret it. In fact, when you start out, I don’t think you have any idea what you’re getting into. In fact, that’s why we do it…

V.B : It’s like having children… You have no idea what’s in store for you, but in the end, you never regret it. Even if it’s not always easy, there are so many great moments in life! We often draw a parallel with the birth of a child. For us, the symbolism is even stronger. It took us nine months, and we created it together. We have fun, we laugh, we invent stories with her…

In 10 years’ time, if your brand could talk, what would it say to its creators?

ML.B / V.B Thank you, thank you (heartfelt cries that speak for themselves).

So, how did you like our interview? I don’t know about you, but I learned a lot about my parents and about myself: where I come from, why I’m here and how I’m going to grow up… I feel like I know them better and myself too. And what have you learned?