Cats riding on whaleback and snakes lifting weights are part of the whimsical world of Meow Meow Tweet. This New York-based artisanal skincare company offers vegan, organic, multi-purpose products in glass or cardboard packaging, adorned with playful and sometimes punny animal drawings (the security seal on their packages features an actual seal lounging nonchalantly in an innertube). Bucking the trend to create different products for every imaginable need, they encourage their customers to adopt a minimalist approach: “Pretend you’re on a deserted island and you can only have one product.” We spoke with them about environmental stewardship, multi-purpose skincare, and the origins of those animals on their packages.
Parvati Magazine: One of your pinnacle philosophies for MMT is environmental stewardship. You offer a zero waste hair care series, and thoughtful and minimal packaging throughout your entire product line. Why is it important for beauty brands to do their part in taking care of the planet?
Meow Meow Tweet: As makers and purveyors, we hope to encourage small changes in the lives of our customers through the physical, emotional and ecological healthfulness of completely natural goods for the face and body. A firm belief in taking care of the planet—as well as our skin and ourselves—means we’re committed to using the least amount of plastic packaging.
Parvati Magazine: The multipurpose approach to your products is inspiring. How do you ensure these products do their jobs well?
Meow Meow Tweet: Seasonal marketing tropes can make us feel like we have to overhaul our bathroom cabinets the minute the weather changes. But, here’s the truth: what really matters is our skin’s relationship to our environment and lifestyle. Sure, this can include weather and the seasons, but more crucially, it’s about listening to your skin and body and what’s happening in your day-to-day. Our skin naturally adjusts to shifts in the weather and in our lives, but sometimes it needs a little help.
Every product we carry has more than one use, but a couple of our favourites for multipurpose skin care are our Repair Balm and Geranium Frankincense Body Oil. You can always consult our “Cheat Sheet on Tailoring Our Facial Care for Your Face” to find different ways to use our products depending on how your skin is feeling right now. We’re not into pushing unnecessary products. We want to help you get the most use out of the products you already have.
Parvati Magazine: Is there a special story behind the playful art on your packaging?
Meow Meow Tweet: One of our co-founders, Jeff [Kurosaki], says, “For me the illustrations are whimsical renderings of random ideas that just popped into my head. When I think about representing an idea, I see it through animals. Like people who can see sound with synaesthesia, it’s like that with animals for me—that’s how I see things.”
Parvati Magazine: How would you like to see businesses of your category, size and scale increase their ecological mindfulness?
Meow Meow Tweet: Shopping with local producers or hardware stores instead of heading to big box chains means that your money is going directly into the hands of another human, not a big corporation. That money ends up getting circulated back into your local community, strengthening the people and other businesses who share your neighbourhood.
Searching for fair trade (whether they are certified or are simply committed to paying fair wages to their workers) is one way of ensuring that your purchases are not contributing to the harm of humans in the supply chain.
Whether you are shopping with a big corporation or a small business, you can always seek out components that are made in an environmentally friendly way. Everything, from the materials used and the processes required to create a product, to the way the product is packaged and shipped, has an environmental impact.
Parvati Magazine: You have donated to, or partnered with, an extensive list of organizations. How do you decide which to support?
Meow Meow Tweet: From the very beginning when we were hanging out with our cats, making soaps in our kitchen, and stamping every label by hand, we knew we wanted to be a different kind of company. To us, that has always meant treading with care on the planet, being vegan and selling only vegan products, being cruelty and palm free, and minimizing (or eliminating) packaging waste and plastic .
It also means standing up for the things we care about and putting our dollars behind organizations that don’t spread hate. We want to uplift, bring peace, be a voice to spur change. So we created the monthly give. One percent or more of sales go to the causes that are important to us—every single month. We rotate them so we can be nimble enough to react to recent attacks by the current administration and urgent human or animal need.
Meow Meow Tweet is a small-batch natural vegan apothecary founded by Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki, based in Brooklyn, New York. All products are carefully mixed by hand to produce the perfect aroma and healthful benefits, resulting in uniquely therapeutic products.