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Welcome do Best of Portugal. On Today's program
we will look at different successful business areas.
Some newly born, other that have been around for over a century.
Since 1902, the secret of the Canavezes soaps
has been carefully kept by the family.
Handmade from hot springs, they are now the starting point
for the relaunch of the brand that enters the market
with the first line of high perfumery using the wealth of Portuguese Spas.
And the company has already expanded overseas.
Our Spa has a very curious aspect the city and county is named after.
The spring know as Canaviae gave rise to the county
today know as Marco de Canaveses.
The waters are said to be miraculous.
The Romans knew them well and the first queen of Portugal
found in them a cure to her skin problems.
There are many sulphurous water spas in Portugal.
This one has a particularity:
besides the other chemical compounds, the water contains traces of arsenic.
Arsenic is poisonous,
but traces of arsenic
have therapeutic indications in some situations.
The unique properties of the thermal waters of Canavezes
gave rise to soaps whose birth is lost in time.
They were established at least 150 years ago.
Their production was interrupted for a while in the last century,
before Patricia de Canavezes decided to start producing them again.
As from 2004 we began the research process again.
In May this year, we produced the first soap
made of 30% water,
fully monitored by Infarmed,
with a very serious hidro-research project,
dermatologically tested, with efficacy testing.
Normally these issues aren't present in soap manufacture.
The aim of common soaps is to clean.
The Canavezes soaps promise to go further.
Skin care is their mission and in order to comply with it,
the company has four complementary products on the market.
White soap for very sensitive skin,
pink soap that is anti-scarring and anti-wrinkle,
blue soap with the Canavezes aroma,
and green soap indicated for acne care.
The manufacturing method used for this soap is very simple,
old, artisanal…
In other words,
we mix 30% water with essential oils,
the best olive oil
and powder to transform the liquid soap
into solid soap in a period of 48 hours.
The production process remain a secret to ensure the success
of a unique product in Portugal.
They are the first Portuguese soaps produced from thermal water.
They have very beneficial effects for the skin:
they reduce skin reactivity,
so for very sensitive skin
they have a calming and anti-oxidant effect, preventing skin from aging.
They also have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory effects.
They stimulate collagen synthesis
and therefore are anti-aging
and are also good for healing wounds and for scarring.
On sale in pharmacies since they are more than a cleaning product,
they are skin care products, the Canavezes soaps
are directed at a market niche that has recognized them
and which has been growing since their launch.
Their performance on the market has been very good.
People weren't expecting it. They're excited about the product,
the image, the packaging.
Pharmacists love it
and the public love the products.
Customer loyalty is normally achieved after customers buy our soap
for the first time and i think that says it all.
Building on the success achieved in the Portuguese market
as well as in Brazil, Angola, United Kingdom, Russia and Cuba,
the company from Marco de Canaveses,
launched a new product line of high perfumery.
Muzas de Canavezes is a slightly different line
from Canavezes Água Termal,
because it does not concern itself with skin problems.
People with skin problems
can't use perfumed products because of allergies.
The concern of high perfumery and high cosmetics
is different from the concern of pharmacies.
The composition with thermal water with unique characteristics,
is however the main differentiation factor of the Canavezes products.
Working in an industry that didn't exist in Portugal,
has proved to be a challenge.
We're starting down a new path and it's very complicated.
We've finally managed to gather a team of 17 researchers,
wish include geologists,
hydrologists, hydrogeologists,
galenic pharmacists and dermatologists.
There's no point in making a beautiful soap in a beautiful soap box.
the soap has to be really good for the skin. It's very complicated.
Every victory of the company has been achieved at a cost.
With a detailed retro image,
inspired by life in the Canavezes spa,
once frequented by European royal families,
the company's soaps also aim to conquer consumers by their image.
We have a very careful retro image.
We didn't just make a bar of soap and wrapped it in a piece of paper.
We did a design project, for a box,
taking care to preserve the history and origin,
and then we put in the bar of soap.
Our goal is to reach a higher-class target audience.
The same higher class that the company hopes will stay at the hotel,
that they are currently renovating alongside the spring of waters,
and that once welcomed distinguished guests.
My idea is to take that same spirit that existed in those golden years
of the Grande Hotel das Caldas.
To give it back its former name Canavezes Palace,
which was the first name by which it was know.
Rebuild a genuine five-star hotel dating back to 1920,
recover the old soap factory,
with its funny old machines,
and simultaneously set up a true clinic.
The soaps are and should continue to be the gateway for customers
to enter the world of Canavezes its products based on thermal water,
the hotel and the clinic.
A project that Patricia Canavezes intends to continue growing.
My dream is to have my laboratory
with all these areas and be a world reference,
for exemple, Canavezes Laboratory,
with the only hydrological research center in the world.
It's possible.
Activity: Thermal Water dermo-cosmétics
Location: Marco de Canaveses