.svg)
%20copy.jpeg)
As Jennifer Francis gently dabs a rich cherry-colored balm onto her lips, the shade - mischievously called Devil’s Playground - brightens into a soft rose sheen. A nod to the rich history of the red lip, the thoughtfully developed balm reflects Kindred Black’s broader philosophy: slow beauty is beyond labeling a product as ‘clean’—it’s about honoring the details of a beauty routine with the entire lifecycle of a product in mind. “Alice and I just decided that we wanted to do something different,” says Francis, the brand’s co-founder. “Something with history and craft, but without plastics and chemicals.” By considering the origins of ingredients to sustainable packaging, each product carries meaning long beyond its first use.
Kindred Black’s curated collection of slow beauty is housed in small, delicate hand-blown glass jars, a deliberate choice that underscores Kindred Black’s commitment to sustainability. The thoughtfully designed beauty products prove that conscious consumerism can be both beautiful and functional. Kindred Black’s signature glass bottles, crafted in studios worldwide—like those in Oaxaca, Mexico, which generate their own fuel and rely on solar-powered equipment—embody the brand’s deep environmental commitment. She explains, “When something feels special and beautiful and handmade you don’t want to throw it out, you want to re-use it again and again.”
Much like their journey in building Kindred Black, the gifts they choose for each are meant to last. As co-founders and friends for the past 20 years, Wells and Francis often search for friendship jewelry - pieces that come in pairs and symbolize a lasting bond. Francis shares, “if something comes in a pair, we always think about it. There’s something bonding about jewelry because it lasts forever,” Francis reflects. With a shared purpose that spans both their friendship and their sustainable venture, Wells and Francis have an unspoken rhythm—one that guides not only their work at Kindred Black but also the meaningful pieces they choose for each other.
.svg)
photography by Xin Wang
1.
BECKY KIM: I really enjoyed our first conversation, and what stood out to me was your hands-on experience visiting manufacturing sites abroad and witnessing the pollution firsthand. How did this experience change your approach to product development, sourcing and manufacturing?
Jennifer Francis: The experiences that I had manufacturing abroad were amazing and really formative to my career. I feel so lucky to have traveled in Hong Kong and China, at the same time I could see that this relentless manufacturing with very little regulation was destroying the air quality and environment. The air was visibly hazy everyday, this was pre-pandemic and people used to tell me I should wear a mask most days, and the people in the factories were often working in rooms with closed windows with the fumes of very harsh chemicals. And I was likely working with much more reputable factories than most. Alice and I just decided that we wanted to do something different, something with history and craft but that didn’t include a lot of plastics and chemicals. I’m much more mindful of the lifecycle of everything that we make because of these experiences.
2.
BECKY KIM: Kindred Black designs its products with great care, mindful of the role they play in beauty routines. How do you envision the future of beauty packaging in a more sustainable world?
Jennifer Francis: I’m hoping that beauty can focus much more on packaging moving forward. There are plenty of wholesome, natural ingredients now but the packaging has yet to catch up to a world that’s being consumed by plastics and waste. There’s so much plastic and extraneous packaging that could just simply be eliminated and I’m interested to see what happens with products that “disappear” as you use them, the way shampoo and conditioner bars can eliminate big, heavy plastic bottles.
3.
BECKY KIM: I love that you find artisans and makers aligned with the slow beauty vision. What values are essential when selecting collaborators?
Jennifer Francis: We’re looking for people who are truly trying to be stewards of the environment – farmers and herbalists that intimately know the flora and fauna around them and understand what can be taken without destroying the surrounding land or the yield for the next year and the year after that. Glass makers that are not just creating boring beauty packaging but art. When something feels special and beautiful and handmade you don’t want to throw it out, you want to re-use it again and again.
.svg)
4.
BECKY KIM: If you had to design an entirely new product category within beauty, one that hasn’t been fully explored yet, what would it be?
Jennifer Francis: I would love to have the money to invest in this idea of zero waste beauty. Beauty with packaging or outsides that are compostable or disappear in some way as you use them.
Jennifer's Gift Recommendations
Candy Colored Vintage Lalique Fish
$price varies
A little school of them is so beautiful and you can find them in a million colors.
Kindred Black Dauvray Silver Hair Stick
$475
The hairsticks we designed and cast and are hand finished by our bench jeweler. They’re solid silver and have such a nice weight to them.
Ted Muehling Seaweed Salt Spoons + Box of Salt
A hydrating primer and a light everyday face oil for all skin types.
$225
Salt for centuries has been associated with restoration, protection, and good luck so this one is meaningful for a lot of different situations.
.svg)
5.
BECKY KIM: In line with Kindred Black’s brand ethos, are there any new slow-living beauty or fashion brands you’re loving?
Jennifer Francis: There’s a beauty brand out of Sausalito that I love called Botnia. They’re very mindful of packaging, grow a lot of their own ingredients with a small team, and the creams and hydrosols are really effective. We haven’t been able to do anything that contains water because our packaging doesn’t provide an airtight seal so if I need a cream, that’s where I go. I’m also really into what Jaime Haller is doing. Her clothes and shoes are super comfortable and wearable (I wear the loafers 90% of the time) and she’s very authentic in her marketing, if you can even call it that. It feels more like getting an e-mail from a friend about something they designed and are excited about.
6.
BECKY KIM: Your partnership as co-founders with Alice feels like sisters and true collaborators. Over the years, how have you thought about gifting for her—whether for special occasions or just because?
Jennifer Francis: We’re honestly really bad at giving each other gifts! Part of that sisterhood is being able to say “I’m overwhelmed, let’s not get each other Christmas presents.” We do have a couple of traditions though when we gift. Sometimes we’ll put together a little pack of “my current favorite things” for the other one. It could be simple, boring things like socks we’re wearing all the time, a favorite hairbrush, handmade candles. Then we also look for “friendship jewelry”. We don’t often keep jewelry that we find because that’s a slippery slope but if something comes in a pair, we always think about it. There’s something bonding about jewelry because it lasts forever.
7.
BECKY KIM: If you could gift each other one Kindred Black product to symbolize your journey together as co-founders, which one would it be and why?
Jennifer Francis: I go back to jewelry. Our antique and vintage jewelry has history, a past life with other owners, in other places. There’s a story there and because of that, each piece is slightly imperfect but it’s still precious because it’s made of something genuine and rare.
8.
BECKY KIM: What’s the most memorable gift you’ve ever received that made you think differently about beauty or self-care?
Jennifer Francis: I don’t know that there’s one but whenever I used to be gifted beauty or self care I would cringe about all the packaging. I’m sorry to the people who gave those things to me…but I did. When something is made to be used quickly and thrown away it makes me feel guilty and bad, the opposite of how self care is supposed to make you feel.
TERA's
CULTURE SHIFTERS
Discover a curated group of intentional individuals redefining societal norms—get an inside look at their unique gift recommendations and gifting ideas
