Designer Series - Emma Lewisham
Welcome to the sixth edition of our Designer Series, a celebration of the talented creatives behind the beautiful brands we proudly stock at Sisters & Co.
In this instalment, we sit down with Emma Lewisham, founder of her namesake skincare brand. Emma shares the personal moment that inspired her to create the brand, her philosophy of working with the skin’s natural intelligence, and the lessons she’s learned scaling from New Zealand to the world. She reflects on the rituals and practices that keep her creatively inspired and grounded, her approach to leadership, and why staying true to values and community is at the heart of everything she does.
What inspired you to start the brand, and what was the original vision?
It started with a doctor's appointment. I had recently lost my mother to cancer and was in the process of trying to fall pregnant, so my health was very much on my mind. My doctor advised me to stop using a product I had relied on for years to treat hyperpigmentation – it contained hydroquinone, an ingredient that had already been banned in several countries. When I asked her to recommend a natural alternative that would actually work, she couldn't. I went looking and truly came up empty.
I was used to investing in high-performing, luxurious skincare and I wanted the natural equivalent. It simply didn't exist. So I decided to create it. What started as a personal search became three years of intensive research alongside biochemists and physiologists – and then, in 2019, Emma Lewisham was born.
The deeper I went into that research, the more I became fascinated by the skin's own intelligence. Our bodies are extraordinary, the skin has its own complex pathways, its own repair and renewal systems, its own innate wisdom. The insight that shaped everything we do is that the most powerful way to care for skin is to work with that intelligence, not against it. To harness what nature has already perfected, rather than overriding it with synthetics. That became the philosophy behind every formula we have ever made.
The original vision was always two things at once: to create the most effective natural skincare in the world, and to do it without compromising the health of people or the planet. From day one, every product has been refillable and designed for a circular system. That wasn't an afterthought – it was foundational. I could see how staggering the beauty industry's contribution to waste and carbon emissions was, and I knew I couldn't build something that added to that problem.
What has been the biggest lesson in scaling from local to global?
Patience. And trust, trust in the fundamentals, trust in your values, and trust in the people around you. In the early years, there is enormous pressure to move faster than you probably should, to take every retailer who comes knocking, to say yes to every market, to grow at whatever pace the world seems to expect. The biggest lesson has been resisting that pull.
We built the brand in New Zealand first, and those early years of proving ourselves at home, really earning the trust of our customers and our retail partners, gave us something solid to take to the world. When we opened in Australia, then the UK, then the US, we had a story that was genuinely grounded.
The most meaningful things we have built as a brand have come from holding our standard even when it cost us something, from choosing the harder right over the easier option.
How do you stay creatively inspired while running a fast-growing business?
I protect time outside. Even when the calendar is full and the inbox is overflowing, a walk in the morning with my dog does something to my thinking that no meeting can replicate. I grew up in rural New Zealand, and I think that connection to the natural world is genuinely restorative for me.
I read a lot. Poetry, in particular. Mary Oliver has been a constant companion. She writes about attention and presence in a way that I find cuts through the noise of running a business. And the science never stops being fascinating to me, working with our biochemists and physiologists on what is possible with natural ingredients is genuinely exciting, still, every time.
Curiosity is probably the honest answer. I think the day you stop asking 'what if' is the day you stop growing, as a brand or as a person.
What does leadership look like to you in this current season?
We are in a season of expansion, we are about to move our family to London to support the brand's growth in the UK, and that has brought its own particular kind of challenge and opportunity.
It also looks like being honest about where we are. I think founders can sometimes feel pressure to project certainty about everything, and I have found the opposite is usually more powerful – being transparent with your team about the challenges as much as the wins, and asking for their thinking, not just their execution.
And in this season, more than any other, it looks like being present. With my team, with our partners, and with my family. We are building something significant, and that requires showing up fully.
As a founder, how do you prioritise your health and wellbeing?
I learned this the hard way. Before I started the brand, I was working long hours as one of the only female senior executives in a global technology company and I genuinely believed I was bulletproof. I didn't prioritise my health, I didn't slow down, and I paid for it. Losing my mother to cancer in 2016 was the moment that changed my perspective entirely. It made the relationship between what we put into our bodies and our long-term health feel very personal and very urgent.
Now I treat my health as non-negotiable in a way I never did before. Sleep is the foundation, don't compromise on it. I move my body every day, usually through walking rather than anything intense, and I try to eat in a way that feels nourishing rather than restrictive. And I try to be genuinely present with my daughter, Milla and my husband, Andrew. That connection is grounding in a way that nothing else is.
What are your non-negotiable daily rituals?
A morning walk. Ideally before the day gets busy, before the phone takes over. That quiet at the start of the day matters to me enormously.
My skincare routine is also something I genuinely protect. Not as a performance or a brand exercise, but because I believe in the ritual of it. Taking a few minutes to care for your skin with intention is a small but meaningful act of looking after yourself.
And I still personally reply to customers where I can, on email, on Instagram. It keeps me honest. It keeps me connected to the reason we started in the first place.
How do you reset during busy or high-pressure periods?
I go outside. That is genuinely the truest answer. If I have had a difficult week and I can get somewhere green, something shifts. I grew up in the Waikato, surrounded by land and space, and I think it is woven into who I am.
Being with my family is the other great reset. There is something about the way children pull you into the present moment. My daughter Milla doesn't care what quarter we are in or what the inbox looks like, that is a gift, even when it doesn't feel like one in the moment.
The other thing I have learned is to name it when I am running low, rather than pushing through until I crash. That is a more recent lesson, but an important one.
How would you describe your personal style in three words?
Considered. Understated. Intentional.
I am drawn to pieces that feel quality in the hand and that I will still want to wear in ten years. I am not someone who follows trends, I find that exhausting, and it is also at odds with how I think about consumption more broadly. I would rather invest in fewer things that I genuinely love.
What is your go-to outfit formula when travelling for work?
Tailoring that travels well. A great pair of trousers that can go from a flight to a meeting to a dinner without looking like either. A good coat – especially now that we are living between London and New Zealand, which requires something that can handle both. And shoes I actually feel good in, because I have learned that sacrificing comfort for aesthetics when you are doing back-to-back meetings is never worth it.
What makes a piece timeless in your wardrobe?
How you feel in it, more than how it looks. The pieces I have kept the longest are the ones I reach for when I want to feel confident or put together.
Quality of craft matters too. You can feel the difference between something made with care and something that was never intended to last. I think that applies to skincare, to fashion, to almost everything worth investing in.
What does supporting local retailers mean to you?
It means everything, honestly. Local retailers were the first people who believed in us, the first to take a chance on a New Zealand brand with a bold proposition and uncompromising standards. That relationship is built on trust and genuine partnership, and I take that seriously.
I also think local retail is where real community lives. It is where a customer walks in, picks up a product, has a conversation with someone who genuinely knows what they are talking about, and walks out feeling seen. That human dimension of beauty retail is irreplaceable, and the brands that forget that do so at their peril.
Why is the NZ market important to you personally?
New Zealand is home in the deepest sense. I grew up here. The brand was born here. Our first customers were here. The values that underpin everything we do were shaped here.
There is also something that feels like a responsibility. When I see Emma Lewisham in London, sitting on shelves in Harrods or Liberty in London, I want that to mean something for New Zealand, to be a genuine source of pride for the country that gave us our start and our values. New Zealand punches above its weight in so many areas, and I want this brand to be part of that story.
