Next year, skincare brand Comfort Zone will open its new €25m (US$28.1m, £19.5m) headquarters in Parma, Italy, creating what chair Davide Bolatti calls a “house for sustainable beauty”.
Bolatti is passionate about the ways in which beauty, innovation and architecture intersect – and about creating sustainability in each of those areas.
The Matteo Thun-designed über-green headquarters will cover 11,000sq m (118,400sq ft) and is dubbed Davines Village after Comfort Zone’s parent company. When completed towards the end of 2017, Davines Village will feature a skin bar where visitors can try Comfort Zone’s products, education zones and the company’s development laboratories – all set around a greenhouse and organic gardens, which will provide food for a central organic restaurant, as well as plants for the skincare products.
Traditionally, Parma is an agricultural region and Bolatti says he wanted the architecture to reflect that. But he also wanted to create an even more environmentally-friendly building and to foster quality of life for his employees. “We have a humanistic approach,” he explains. “It’s an approach that puts people at the centre.”
He chose Thun to design Davines Village because of his record of creating buildings with low carbon emissions and integrating buildings into the landscape.
“I learned the hard way that you don’t change a lot when it comes to architects – especially when they’re ‘archi-stars,’” says Bolatti. “It’s better to choose the one that already has your sensibilities and that’s what we did with Matteo.”
The headquarters will house one of the biggest geothermal systems in Italy, says Bolatti, and will also make use of solar energy.
“We’re trying to get as close as possible to decarbonising the factory,” Bolatti explains. He worked with a sustainability engineer to conduct a thorough review, and while it’s difficult to decarbonise a factory completely, Bolatti says: “We’re getting close.”
But Bolatti’s quest for sustainable beauty does not stop there. He’s also created the iSustainBeauty campaign, which is now in its second year and set to double in size. With a simple goal of making the world a more beautiful place, the movement focuses on small social, environmental and artistic ventures that do just that.
“This goes beyond corporate social responsibility; it goes to the core of sustainability,” he says.
This year, Bolatti expects the programme to fund about 100 projects globally, from reworking an abandoned village garden to opening a beauty school in an underprivileged neighbourhood to restoring a heritage church.
“The idea is to make the world a more beautiful place through local projects,” says Bolatti. “Because beauty can make all the difference.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Top team: Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat
The people behind this world-renowned lifestyle retreat share their business insights with Julie Cramer. Plus a focus on co-investor Hugh Jackman
Ask an expert: Visiting practitioners
Done well, visiting practitioner programmes can boost profits by up to 40 per cent. But how can spas get the offer right? Kate Parker investigates
Promotional feature: Esadore - creating a splash
The MD of Esadore International, Theodora Kioussis, explains how the company’s creative, manufacturing and operational skill sets can bring an international managing director
of UAE-based esadore International to life in a short space of time
Next year, skincare brand Comfort Zone will open its new €25m (US$28.1m, £19.5m) headquarters in Parma, Italy, creating what chair Davide Bolatti calls a “house for sustainable beauty”.
Bolatti is passionate about the ways in which beauty, innovation and architecture intersect – and about creating sustainability in each of those areas.
The Matteo Thun-designed über-green headquarters will cover 11,000sq m (118,400sq ft) and is dubbed Davines Village after Comfort Zone’s parent company. When completed towards the end of 2017, Davines Village will feature a skin bar where visitors can try Comfort Zone’s products, education zones and the company’s development laboratories – all set around a greenhouse and organic gardens, which will provide food for a central organic restaurant, as well as plants for the skincare products.
Traditionally, Parma is an agricultural region and Bolatti says he wanted the architecture to reflect that. But he also wanted to create an even more environmentally-friendly building and to foster quality of life for his employees. “We have a humanistic approach,” he explains. “It’s an approach that puts people at the centre.”
He chose Thun to design Davines Village because of his record of creating buildings with low carbon emissions and integrating buildings into the landscape.
“I learned the hard way that you don’t change a lot when it comes to architects – especially when they’re ‘archi-stars,’” says Bolatti. “It’s better to choose the one that already has your sensibilities and that’s what we did with Matteo.”
The headquarters will house one of the biggest geothermal systems in Italy, says Bolatti, and will also make use of solar energy.
“We’re trying to get as close as possible to decarbonising the factory,” Bolatti explains. He worked with a sustainability engineer to conduct a thorough review, and while it’s difficult to decarbonise a factory completely, Bolatti says: “We’re getting close.”
But Bolatti’s quest for sustainable beauty does not stop there. He’s also created the iSustainBeauty campaign, which is now in its second year and set to double in size. With a simple goal of making the world a more beautiful place, the movement focuses on small social, environmental and artistic ventures that do just that.
“This goes beyond corporate social responsibility; it goes to the core of sustainability,” he says.
This year, Bolatti expects the programme to fund about 100 projects globally, from reworking an abandoned village garden to opening a beauty school in an underprivileged neighbourhood to restoring a heritage church.
“The idea is to make the world a more beautiful place through local projects,” says Bolatti. “Because beauty can make all the difference.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Top team: Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat
The people behind this world-renowned lifestyle retreat share their business insights with Julie Cramer. Plus a focus on co-investor Hugh Jackman
Ask an expert: Visiting practitioners
Done well, visiting practitioner programmes can boost profits by up to 40 per cent. But how can spas get the offer right? Kate Parker investigates
Promotional feature: Esadore - creating a splash
The MD of Esadore International, Theodora Kioussis, explains how the company’s creative, manufacturing and operational skill sets can bring an international managing director
of UAE-based esadore International to life in a short space of time
People taking GLP-1 weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound
may be losing weight, but they’re also becoming less physically active, according to new
research presented at the ENDO 2026 annual meeting of the Endocrine Society
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Global retreat trade show, Synergy The Retreat Show, has launched a resource called The
Source, which hosts an open-access online Transformation Series programme.
The Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC) charity has announced its first five-
day Living with Cancer and Beyond retreat, which will be held at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in
Cheshire, UK, between 1 and 5 September.
Patmos Aktis, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, has opened in Greece, with a renovated and
rebranded wellness offering called Ansana Wellness and Spa.
The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, an Autograph Collection property in Hawaii, US, has opened its
22,000 sq ft indoor-outdoor Spa at Mauna Kea as the final step in the property’s overall
renovation, which has cost more than US$180 million (€166 million, £140 mill
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced
it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House
Hotel in St Albans, UK.
Eighty-four per cent of consumers now say wellness is a top priority in their lives, with this
percentage increasing year on year, according to a preview presentation of McKinsey’s Future of
Wellness 2026 research report.
Mass protests have been taking place since Monday 1 June in Albania over the development of
a luxury resort by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
Global Wellness Day (GWD) marked its 15th anniversary on Saturday 13 June 2026, with the
theme: #JoyMagenta – a celebration of the healing qualities of simple gestures and activities
that spark joy.
