This Summer Deschampsia will be a featured at the 2024 Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show. Since 2005, UCU is the preeminent curated indie maker event in the Pacific Northwest. This is a short interview with Deschampsia Owner, Jonathan Deschamps conducted by UCU.
Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show
July 27 & 28
11a-5pm
Magnuson Park, Hanger 30
Seattle, WA
1) Please introduce yourself to our fans
My name is Jonathan Deschamps, and I am the creator of Deschampsia - Nature Based Self Care. We are a plant-to-bottle apothecary that makes organic and wild-foraged skincare, bath, body, and natural perfumery goods. I combine PNW ecology with traditional American herbalism to create holistic products that are gentle on both the environment and our bodies. Everything is made from the raw plants using pre-industrial methods.
2) We love your products and think it's super cool that you forage for many of your ingredients. What inspired this business in the first place?
I have been foraging for about 20 years now. I studied PNW ecology and wild plants at the University of Washington. I did field work on Mt Rainier and in the puget sound prairies. I have spent the past decade learning about the medicinal qualities of wild plants and how to make different kinds of extractions from them. At first it was just a curiosity. I was very inspired by scent and it's ability to transport us through memory. Nature seemed to hold answers to many of our modern problems. We tend to look far and wide for answers but often ignore what is right in front of us. I created Deschampsia because I wanted to share the abundance I saw in the nature all around me. I wanted to offer an alternative to all the modern commercial self care products that seem so disconnected from natural systems including our own human nature.
3) How often are you releasing new products?
I release a few new products each year. Some of the products I make are very small batch and they come and go with the seasonality of the plants I use. I am currently working on a perfume based upon wild plants found in the Eastern Washington desert -- it has been years in the making. I hope to have it ready in time for the UCU Summer Show.
4) What can people expect to find at your booth for this show?
A wide collection of skincare and rare scents that are as close to nature as it gets. Wether you want something to pamper yourself with or something to help with troubled skin problem, I make over 30 products, so Deschampsia usually has something for everyone.