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Formulated by Dr. Jo Jaric
I’m Jorji. A PhD-qualified formulation chemist with experience across pharmaceutical, vaccine, and cosmetic manufacturing in FDA- and TGA-regulated environments.
I was trained in one of the most tightly regulated industries in the world. In these environments, formulation decisions carry consequence. Systems are controlled, documentation is exhaustive, and failure is not abstract. When mistakes happen, people are harmed.
The systems worked. The products passed. The standards were met.
What I could not reconcile was what those standards allowed. I was formulating skincare with ingredients clearly flagged in safety data as hazardous, then watching those products move through manufacturing, marketing, and onto the market without question.
They were compliant. They were profitable. They were not something I would ever choose to put on my own skin. I chose not to be part of that.
Botanik by Jorji exists to close that gap. Every formulation is designed intentionally, with discipline, restraint, and respect for the skin barrier. Ingredients are selected not only because they are permitted, but because they are justified. Nothing speculative. Nothing complacent. Nothing I would not use on my own skin.
That's why I built Botanik. And that's why I'd stake my name on every tin.
An Unusual Relationship with Manufacturing.
Most people encounter skincare at the surface, texture, scent, packaging, claims. My relationship with it began much earlier.
I’ve worked inside FDA and TGA-regulated manufacturing environments where formulations are expected to behave predictably, batch after batch, long after launch. These are settings where stability is assumed, processes are questioned, and shortcuts are not theoretical. They show up later, somewhere else.
That’s where you learn that good formulation isn’t expressive. It’s disciplined. And once you’ve worked at that level, you don’t unsee it.
Treating Natural Ingredients Seriously
Botanical ingredients are often assumed to be gentle by default. In practice, they are chemically active, oxidation-prone, and highly sensitive to how they are handled. When processed casually, their benefits degrade quickly, no matter how clean the label looks.
At this level, those risks are not abstract. Ingredients are selected deliberately, processed with temperature control, and incorporated only where they support the structure of the formulation as a whole.
Nature provides the raw materials. Chemistry determines whether they are respected or wasted.
How I Think About Formulation
I approach skincare as a functional system, by understanding what it needs to do, and what it does not.
Skin is an active barrier. Its comfort, resilience, and appearance depend on lipid organisation and stability. When formulations ignore that, even well-intentioned products can interfere more than they support.
Botanik by Jorji is built around lipid-first, deliberately anhydrous systems designed to sit comfortably within the stratum corneum rather than override it. Removing water simplifies the architecture of the formulation and avoids the cascade of stabilisers, preservatives, and penetration enhancers required to hold conventional products together.
This is not minimalism as an aesthetic choice. It is restraint as a design principle.
