Future Icons Awards
Winners 2027

House of Hackney, the B Corp design house best known for its wallpapers and fabrics, has turned its regenerative ethos towards wellbeing with WONDER GARDEN. Developed over three years by founders Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle with the Mother Garden at Trematon Castle in Cornwall – where medicinal herbs are cultivated using biodynamic principles attuned to lunar cycles – and herbal practitioner Harriet Coleman, the collection translates centuries-old herbal knowledge into six everyday ritual products. Its packaging is just as pioneering: the world’s first plastic-free, home-compostable dropper bottle, made from Shellworks’ Vivomer, sits alongside Cradle to Cradle Certified® Silver and FSC-certified cartons, compostable foils and renewable wood-pulp bio-film sachets.  

What the judges said:

‘WONDER GARDEN combines a genuinely thoughtful approach to herbalism and biodynamic growing with impressive material innovation. The world-first plastic-free, home-compostable Vivomer dropper bottle particularly stands out, alongside Cradle to Cradle Certified® Silver and FSC-certified packaging materials.’ – Lucy Johnson

Born on the Borgo Santo Pietro estate in Chiusdino, Seed to Skin Tuscany is a family-run skincare house established by herbalist Jeanette Grøn Thottrup with a collective of botanists and molecular scientists. It controls every stage of production – from regenerative farming and extraction to laboratory formulation – with more than 50 herbs grown on its 300-acre organic estate and moved straight into its in-house Herb House, giving complete traceability from soil to jar. Its latest launch, The Recovery Cream, took five years of research and pairs estate-grown botanicals with green biotechnology to repair the skin barrier. Crucially, the results are independently verified: Mérieux NutriSciences found redness reduced by 23.5 percent and burning sensations by 57.9 percent after 28 days.  

What the judges said:

‘Very impressive. I particularly like the combination of regenerative growing, biotech and rigorous clinical testing. … What I think is critical here is how performance claims are backed by independent clinical testing and dermatologist assessment as it demonstrates that nature-led formulation can be both scientifically rigorous and high-performing.’ – Lucy Johnson

Launched in March 2026 by two families, Bare la Terre is a dermatologist-developed skincare brand for tweens and teens navigating ‘in-between skin’. Co-developed with paediatric dermatologist Dr Mariana Noy, its formulas deliberately exclude adult actives such as retinol, vitamin C and exfoliating acids, and use over 99 percent natural ingredients. Two products come in Shellworks’ home-compostable Vivomer, the rest in recyclable mono-material packaging. The brand grounds its work in evidence: a survey of 213 girls with Nike and Chelsea FC Foundation’s InspireHer programme found 35.7 percent had wanted to skip PE because of skin self-consciousness – findings that now shape its Skin School sessions. With a Creative Council of young people helping steer the brand, 

What the judges said:

‘A very focused young brand that combines dermatology, youth participation and lower-impact design rather than simply bringing adult beauty trends to a younger audience.’ – Carmel Rafaeli

Founded in Edinburgh by geologist and Scotch whisky veteran Imogen Russon-Taylor, Kingdom Scotland is Scotland’s first fragrance house – independent, bootstrapped and run by an all-female team. Its genderless fine fragrances, blended, matured and hand-bottled in Scotland, are a deliberate answer to overproduction: while more than 3,000 fragrances launched globally last year, Kingdom Scotland has created five in seven years, and has discontinued none and destroyed no stock since its 2019 launch. New scent Æthereal uses upcycled ingredients from Robertet’s Cyclescent programme, including cedarwood oil distilled entirely from reclaimed carpentry-industry sawdust, while 5 percent of profit from every Kingdom Botanica sale funds biodiversity research at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.  

What the judges said:

‘I’m particularly impressed by Kingdom Scotland’s approach to circularity and its willingness to challenge the fragrance industry’s culture of overproduction. This is a thoughtful example of circular principles being built into both the product and business model.’ – Lucy Johnson

Founded in 2021 by Rebecca Jaquest, independent luxury scent house NYITA is shaped by what it calls the ‘beautiful constraints’ of its ethics. Its Organic Extrait de Parfum range is, as far as the brand can find, the only 100 percent organic extrait de parfum in the world – free from synthetics and from any oils extracted with the petrochemical solvent hexane, relying instead on steam distillation, CO2 extraction, cold pressing and enfleurage. It refuses ingredients that require killing entire plants or trees, and lists every ingredient rather than hiding behind ‘parfum’. Its sourcing supports artisanal communities, from a Rwandan patchouli farm providing income for 200 rural farmers to the remote Japanese island growers behind YUZU NOIR.  

What the judges said:

‘These self-imposed restraints have necessitated some excellent innovations that mean NYITA stands out as a leader in this sector.’ – Lucy Johnson

British B Corp beauty brand delilah has spent more than a decade proving that high-performance make-up need not come with compromise. Guided by its mission of ‘Creating Better Beauty’, its formulas are 100 percent vegan and PETA-certified cruelty-free, while its packaging is steering the prestige sector away from virgin plastic – integrating post-consumer recycled plastics into its Wake Up collection and eco-friendly brushes, using FSC-certified outer cardboard and introducing a recyclable zamac applicator for Lip Saviour. Its In Bloom Radiant Liquid Blush won Best Packaging Using Recycled Materials at the Global Green Beauty Awards, and the brand has re-engineered the display stands for its more than 500 stockists from acrylic into lighter, modular units made from recycled materials.  

What the judges said:

‘From their industry leading packaging initiatives to their 100% vegan formulas, delilah is leading the way with their commitment to Creating Better Beauty.’ – Jenn McGarrigle

Founded by an aromatherapist and herbalist in 1974, Faith In Nature makes natural products for skin, hair and home in Manchester – and made history as the first company in the world to put Nature on the board, embedding the Rights of Nature into its governance. That model is now spreading: it has been taught as a case study at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and inspired the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales to pilot its own Nature Guardian. Closer to home, 77 percent of the plastic it used last year came from recycled sources, scope 1 and 2 emissions are down 80 percent since 2021, and a four-day week has raised factory productivity by 23 percent.  

What the judges said:

‘The first company in the world to put Nature on the board and embed the Rights of Nature into their business is truly inspirational.’ – Lucy Cleland

Female-founded and independent, Evolve Organic Beauty has spent more than 15 years proving that natural skincare can deliver clinical results. Every product is formulated and made in small batches at its wind-powered Hertfordshire eco studio, giving full control over quality, traceability and waste. Formulas are over 99 percent natural, with 93 percent of the range COSMOS certified, and Evolve is one of only two beauty brands globally to publish scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions at product level. Packaging draws on recycled ocean plastic, sugarcane-derived tubes and recyclable glass, while its professional refill programme prevented around 90,000 bottles from entering circulation in 2025. With 21,533 mangrove trees planted besides, its ‘Pure. Proven. Purposeful’ is evidenced in action.

What the judges said:

‘Evolve keeps pushing what clean skincare can do. It’s impressive that the formulations are over 99 percent natural, with 93 percent of the range COSMOS certified, while still putting real emphasis on clinical results. A brand that keeps setting the bar higher.’ – Lucy Johnson

A pioneer of natural skincare since 1921, Weleda – maker of the iconic Skin Food – operates in more than 50 countries with over 2,200 employees, yet keeps its sustainability rooted in the soil. Biodynamic calendula is grown at its own Demeter-certified herb farm in Germany, while in Moldova its funding, training and plant nursery have helped more than 200 farms move to organic and biodynamic lavender cultivation. Its recent B Corp recertification delivered a score of 120.66, 97 percent of the electricity in its own buildings worldwide comes from renewable sources, and primary packaging now contains 77 percent recycled content, with Skin Food tubes made from recycled aluminium.  

What the judges said:

‘What impresses me most about Weleda is the scale at which they are doing this. It is much harder to embed sustainability across a large, international business, yet they continue to push forward, from a B Corp score of 120.66 to 97% renewable electricity and 77% recycled content across primary packaging.’ – Lucy Johnson