WATER IS FOR DRINKING. NOT FOR SKINCARE.

OLIVE TREE PEOPLE has opened its first U.S. flagship at 1335 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, California.

Approximately 45,000 pounds of soil from Spain and Los Angeles were combined through the ancient technique of rammed-earth construction to create architectural elements throughout the flagship, bringing together earth from the mountainous landscape where the OLIVE TREE PEOPLE story began with soil from its new home in California. Founder Thomas Lommel describes the completed space as a cathedral to Waterless Beauty.

Step inside the cathedral and Waterless Beauty reveals itself everywhere. Waterless makeup greets visitors at the entrance; waterless skincare rituals bring the olive tree directly to the skin; and sculptural forms inspired by olive trees carry formulas built around hydroxytyrosol — the bioactive at the heart of the olive leaf. Here, OLIVE TREE PEOPLE's "From Tree to Beauty" philosophy becomes something visitors can see, touch and experience.

At the heart of it all is Olive re:connect, an immersive experience where the living frequency of an olive tree rooted in Spain travels thousands of miles to Venice. Technology connected to the tree translates its changing biofeedback into an evolving soundscape in real time — a moment shaped by the tree itself, bringing the living presence of the Andalusian grove into the heart of the Venice flagship.

All of the extraordinary detail inside the space comes back to one belief about beauty — an idea that has shaped OLIVE TREE PEOPLE for more than two decades:

WHY DOES SKINCARE NEED WATER AT ALL?

Turn around almost any conventional cream and read the ingredient list. Very often, the first word is Aqua.

Twenty-three years ago, Lommel began asking why water needed to be the primary ingredient in skincare when natural bioactives could take its place.

Rather than building OLIVE TREE PEOPLE skincare around a conventional water phase, the company replaces it with an olive-tree elixir derived from olive leaves and rich in olive polyphenols, including hydroxytyrosol. Replacing the water phase allows the company to formulate with a higher concentration of olive-tree actives.

Lommel sees Waterless Beauty as a modern return to ancient Mediterranean beauty traditions — a world of plants, oils, herbs and botanical preparations brought forward through contemporary science and formulation.

"Waterless Beauty didn't come from a trend," says Lommel. "It was born from years of living with these trees, protecting them, learning from them, and trusting that nature already knows better than we do."

BEFORE THERE WAS A BEAUTY COMPANY, THERE WERE THE TREES.

Lommel never set out to build a beauty company.

During one of the most difficult periods of his life, he moved south toward the Mediterranean and immersed himself in the world of the olive tree. He learned from generations of olive farmers, studied the science of the fruit and leaves, meditated among the trees and began experimenting with olive-leaf preparations. He credits the olive trees with helping restore the health, confidence, faith and balance he had lost.

In 2001, Lommel acquired his first mountain olive grove in Andalusia, approximately 120 century-old trees. Too excited to sleep, he went into the grove during a rainy night and began building a Treehouse.

That Treehouse became his experimental laboratory. It was there that he began developing the olive-tree elixirs that would ultimately become the foundation of OLIVE TREE PEOPLE's formulations.

The Treehouse still stands today.

So do the trees.

OLIVE TREE PEOPLE now maintains more than 30,000 organically certified mountain olive trees in Andalusia, many of them century-old. Their leaves provide raw material for the products, while the relationship between the company, the trees and the land continues to shape its approach to beauty.

The olive trees are not simply scenery surrounding the brand story. They are where the brand began.

FROM THE GROVE TO ABBOT KINNEY

That history is now embedded throughout the Venice flagship: Spanish and Los Angeles soil meet in the rammed-earth elements; sculptural olive trees bring the form of the grove indoors; and Olive re:connect creates a live sensory connection to a tree growing thousands of miles away.

The opening also comes during a period of extraordinary North American growth. After entering the market in 2023, OLIVE TREE PEOPLE reported $6.5 million in first-year revenue and $104.5 million in its second year. Its community has grown to more than 70,000 Waterless Beauty Consultants, whom Lommel calls pioneers because education is central to their role: helping people understand what Waterless Beauty is, what replaces water and why skincare can be formulated differently.

The flagship brings together the OLIVE TREE PEOPLE family — including OLIVEDA, LA DOPE, OLIVE ROSE, OLIVE MUSH and IS THAT MATTY? — alongside consultations, product discovery, rituals and programming centered on Waterless Beauty. Designed by New York architect Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox Architecture, the flagship translates OLIVE TREE PEOPLE's "From Tree to Beauty" world into a physical environment.

Lommel first experienced Abbot Kinney in 2014 and was drawn to its individuality, creativity and community energy. Years before OLIVE TREE PEOPLE entered the U.S. market, he knew that if the company ever created a home in Los Angeles, he wanted it here.

Twenty-three years after building a Treehouse among his first mountain olive trees in Andalusia, Lommel now looks at OLIVE TREE PEOPLE's first U.S. flagship and sees something else:

a cathedral to Waterless Beauty.

The Treehouse remains. The groves remain. And the idea that began there now has a home on Abbot Kinney.

WATER IS FOR DRINKING. NOT FOR SKINCARE.