In the heart of downtown Toronto, where
the industrial buildings of the Liberty
Village neighborhood have found new life as lofts, condos,
gyms, restaurants, and co-working spaces, a two-story
structure is mid-renovation. “I think it was briefly a porn
studio,” Nicola Kilner says, describing the 70,000-square-
foot space that also moonlighted as a suit factory
before urban manufacturing declined. Kilner, the CEO
of Deciem—which launched in 2013 as a multi-brand
personal-care concept and now produces eight different
skin-care, grooming, beauty, and supplement brands,
all in-house, all befitting its tagline: “the abnormal
beauty company”—is leading me on a tour of her new
BEAUTY
Going Clear
After a tumultuous year, Deciem
is back—with new leadership,
a newly constructed HQ,
and a renewed commitment to
making better skin care for all.
headquarters. An office and split-level lab will soon
open at the top of a massive staircase, she explains as we
look out onto the ground floor—a hangar-like space that
will multitask as a production facility, and a flagship
store stocked with its full product lineup, including best
sellers from popular skin-care lines The Ordinary and
NIOD (Non-Invasive Options in Dermal Science).
There are as many workers in hard hats and safety vests
as Deciem employees, who
are clustered in a temporary
open-floor-plan work area.
Deciem’s founder, Brandon
Truaxe—an Oscar
WINNING FORMULA
DISRUPTION IS IN THE
DNA OF THE CANADIAN
COMPANY, WHICH OFFERS
POTENT INGREDIENTS
AT AFFORDABLE PRICES. BEAUTY>66
64 NOVEMBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
FLORIAN SOMMET/TRUNK ARCHIVE
VLIFE
