Horst Rechelbacher

Is your family going to get back into business with you?

My daughter has three kids, the youngest is three, the oldest is eight and she's getting itchy to get back into it. I'm slowly bringing her back. My son isn't as much interested in it. It's not always easy working with family. They're sensitive so I don't go after them. I wait until they come after me to work together.

Back to green, let's talk. It’s trendier than ever. Are there easy earth-friendly things people can do?

If it's eco-chic, as I call it, that's going to stick. To me, it's like this. Plants are superior chemists. If we use organically grown food, that's brilliant chemistry. I'm such a purist now in product making. We're testing even certified grown materials for insecticides and pesticides, I'll reject a raw material supplier if they use insecticides or pesticides. As for what you can do, first, take care of yourself. Buy organically grown foods and look for organic certification, especially on cosmetics.

What is your hope for Intelligent Nutrients?

I stayed with Lauder for almost seven years after the Aveda sale and, once my non-compete ended, I went back to Intelligent Nutrients, a food supplement company my son and I started in the '90s. I've always believed the external and internal is a practice of oneness. You can't treat the skin outside without really feeding the insides with intelligence. My son didn't want to run the company anymore so I bought it back from him. I kept on studying and, for example, I always thought one wonderful way to deliver nutrition is through inhalation delivered through sprays. I realized that Intelligent Nutrients will be my vehicle to really have an organic discipline.

So were you disappointed that Aveda wasn't ultimately an 'organic' company?

I couldn't make Aveda organic because we had gone too deep in 'natural source ingredients' and getting ingredients 'certified organic' is extremely difficult. But I'm doing it with Intelligent Nutrients. I've already launched the aromatics line and I'm going back to hair care products. We have to reinvent science and it's all based on food, not cosmetic, science. We're going to be the first company with certified organic haircare and body products.

What does green mean to you?

It's all about the carbon footprint. For example, I want Intelligent Nutrients to be a non-polluting company and I want to be a non-polluting individual, both at home and at work. That's my mission. That's why solar and wind power is becoming important to me personally. I'm putting it on the roof at the company and in Osceola [Wisconsin] where we have our farm. By using wind and solar power, we're becoming self-sustainable. I'm also buying electric cars now. I made a down payment on the Zap, a four-wheel drive electric sports car.

How did you shape the corporate culture at Aveda?

When I started Aveda, there was a huge room in the office, which the former company used as a basketball court. I turned it into a daily education center. I started realizing that during the first hour of work, people were drinking coffee, socializing, how was yesterday, dah dah dah, I realized it was unproductive so I decided we'd meet every day at 8:30 every morning in that room. We talked about organic coffee and the importance of it and why we had a daycare center and we discussed the daycare center. Everyone got together, from the R and D team to operations, manufacturing, marketing and sales. It became a mantra.

Do you have any eco-sins—a guilty pleasure or enjoyable indulgence that isn't green but you must have in your life?

I don't believe in sins. I'm a Catholic. I learned to go to confession and I consider crisis an opportunity. If I have ice cream once in a while, I let it go. I forgive myself and start over. Everyday rebirth is a practice I'm really interested in. I believe in forgiving and starting over. I do laugh a lot. It's better than crying.

Are you excited about this?

I'm totally excited about this. I'm lucky because I don't need the money. I'm doing this for non-profit purposes. I'm inspired by Paul Newman with his organic potato chips and all that. It's like a rebirth. It's reinvention and I think life is about reinvention. The minute we know something then that in which we know it becomes obsolete. Knowledge is here for one reason—to go further into it.

Are there ways of being green that aren't getting enough attention?

Yes. I don't think enough attention is being given to solar energy. Look at Germany. Germany is already at 20 percent-plus solar energy. They have it everywhere. Traveling through Germany, you see a huge number of wind generators. They're beautiful. What's beautiful to me is that people are being motivated and rewarded by participating. It's a practice. Here in the U.S., we're behind. If America is going to be important as a global entity, we have to lead in the technology of restoring the planet. It's getting better. To get things done, it's a daily practice, a daily inventory, a daily bringing the team together.

Is there a product or service that you wish were green but isn't?

Computers and cell phones, for sure. Right now, I'm using the new Apple iPhone. It's beautiful but it's overpackaged. The packaging isn't environmental at all. Great companies like Apple aren't thinking about the environment. They're thinking about technology.