Joanna Ryglewicz
“clean beauty has to treat the planet with the same care it treats the skin”
Spotlight On: Oio Lab
Clean Otter: Joanna, welcome! Your transition from practicing law in London and Poznań to founding Oio Lab is one of the most fascinating origin stories in modern beauty. What catalyzed that shift, and how did your legal background shape your approach to formulating skincare?
Joanna Ryglewicz: Thank you for having me! Beauty, design, and science have always been passions of mine. Even while working in law, I was running a side project distributing pharmacy skincare and mixing custom facial oils for my friends. Transitioning to full-time formulation felt natural because law taught me analytical rigor, skepticism, and a obsession with detail. When I looked at the beauty industry, I saw a lot of vague claims. I wanted to create a brand built on strict transparency, in-house laboratory research, and clinically proven, measurable results.
Clean Otter: Oio Lab is renowned for merging advanced green chemistry with potent natural ingredients—like adaptogenic mushrooms, ferments, and cold-pressed botanical oils. How do your extraction methods set your formulas apart?
Joanna Ryglewicz: We don't just use standard plant extracts; we care deeply about how those extracts are obtained. Working alongside chemists in our in-house lab and researchers from leading Polish medical universities, we utilize eco-friendly extraction techniques like supercritical fluid extraction and enzymatic methods. This allows us to capture the purest, most active botanical molecules—like stress-counteracting adaptogens and mitochondrial boosters—without heat damage, synthetic solvents, or cheap filler oils.
Clean Otter: Your commitment to sustainability goes far beyond standard claims, extending into bio-innovative packaging like mycelium mushroom packaging and violet glass flacons. Why was full lifecycle sustainability so critical to the brand’s DNA?
Joanna Ryglewicz: True clean beauty has to treat the planet with the same care it treats the skin. Our violet glass flacons naturally preserve delicate botanical actives against light degradation, reducing the need for harsh preservatives. And by utilizing Super Mushroom Packaging grown from mycelium and agricultural waste, we offer fully home-compostable protection for our products. Beyond packaging, every purchase of products like The Forest Retreat funds the planting of biodiverse forests, ensuring our growth directly restores natural ecosystems.
Clean Otter: With backing from top international facialists and global press acclaim, what makes Oio Lab an ideal partner for high-end beauty stockists looking to expand their clinical-botanical offering?
Joanna Ryglewicz: Modern luxury consumers are increasingly savvy—they want advanced science, clean natural ingredients, and real proof. Oio Lab bridges that gap perfectly by subjecting every formula to independent instrumental and clinical testing. We give retail stockists a highly differentiated, aesthetically stunning European brand that delivers immediate, visible results while setting the highest possible standards for planet-friendly innovation.
