A Gift of Love for Your Skin!
In the heart of Prishtina, at a quiet narrow street just around the corner from the city center, visitors will see a table that leads you right into the world of natural products for personal care — all made in Kosovo! Lots of products made of unique formulas to nourish your skin and hair. This is HUUMë, a company that specializes in products made of 100% natural ingredients, which are harmless to humans and nature alike.
The skin is a person’s largest organ. Did you know that a person’s body absorbs nearly 60% of products that get in touch with the skin within the first 20 seconds?
For this reason, Arbërore Riza, the founder of this unique line of skin products has made it her life mission that every single product of this Kosovo brand be safe and suitable for our skin and health.
The main ingredients of the HUUMë line are coconut, sunflower, jojoba, shea butter or cocoa butter oils, which for 98% are imported from the EU countries and have the relevant certificates proving they are of organic and natural origin. As the name itself tells — humë is the Albanian word for green clay found near the rivers — this is the main active ingredient of every product that bears the stamp of Arbërore’s unique formula.
“We show great dedication, passion, and much love in what we do. We are proud to offer tested quality through our rich list of healthy ingredients that we use in all our products,” says Arbërore.
Everything started in 2018, from the small kitchen in her home but driven by a great vision and powerful mission: to create extraordinary handmade, affordable products. Now, one can find in Arbërore’s shop, both the physical store and online, everything about self-care but also to give as gifts: hair, face and body soaps, lip balms, deodorants, face masks, solid body moisturizing creams, face oils and bath salts. The range of products keep growing.
The formulas of each product are approved by the company’s pharmacist and technologist and are tested at the Health Institute Laboratory in Skopje.
The HUUMë products have a long shelf life and are not tested on animals. It is the mission of the company to take care not only of its clients’ hair and skin but of the environment as well. Apart from 100% natural products, the company is focused on shifting to entirely eco-friendly packaging too. Indeed, “eco-friendly” seems to be the keyword of the identity, vision, and values of this Kosovo brand.
For Arbërore it is of great importance that the product be of high quality not only for the same of health and nature but for another reason too.
“Through our tireless work and our products, we have paved the way to break down the barriers that disadvantage local products,” she says.
Another drive for Arbërore is to influence consumer behavior and make them realize the benefits of using soap more when caring for their hair and skin, just like in the old days. “I remember when at home, I started to make my first soaps. I had special feelings and treated those soaps as something hard to find and expensive. They held such great value to me,” she says.
This is the origin of the company’s name — HUUMë. “Our grandmothers and their grandmothers used clay for maintaining personal hygiene, the type of green clay that is found nearby the rivers. I added an extra “U” to the word because when we pronounce the word, we sort of use an extended “u” sound. The letter “Ë” to me represents the uniqueness of Albanian language and I wanted my company name to be completely original. This is the history of HUUMë brand,” says Arbërore.
This is how the passion, now turned a business and reputable brand, sparked to life.
The Promoting Private Sector Employment, a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, implemented by Swisscontact and Instituti Riinvest, supports increased sustainable gainful employment in Kosovo through small and medium enterprises that operate in well-organized and inclusive economic sectors.
This story was first published in Albanian by Albinfo magazine.
