Raw portraits

Clara Infante

founder of Copito
@clarainfante

After spending most of her adult life in L.A, Clara Infante decided to make her way back to the city where she was born. Now based in the Garraf region, just south of Barcelona, she lives with her three kids and her partner in a house immersed in nature. From there, she runs her sustainable clothing online shop and fills her days with excitement learning from plants and insects, and experimenting with natural colors and pigments.

Town - Garraf

Skin type - Sensitive/Dry

Favorite plant - Rainbow Eucalyptus

1. Hi, Clara, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Barcelona, raised in Miami and spent most of my adult life in L.A. I have three children with my partner, Sohn, and we live in the Garraf region, just south of Barcelona. I am a multi-disciplinary artist and an avid collector of vintage. I love everything to do with nature and if I could spend every day making things with my hands, I would be the happiest person in the world (very nearly there!).

2. We absolutely love your home. It looks like a dream cabin in the woods. Tell us about it. What do you love the most about this place?
Thank you! We basically found our dream Californian home nestled in the hills of the Garraf and when we realized we could afford to buy it we did. Waking up every day completely surrounded by trees, flowers and ochre rich earth, it’s almost like it was written in the stars for me. It was built 15 years ago by Catalan architect, Jordi Galopa i Vilaret and was one of the first off-grid homes built in the area. We love it for its small carbon footprint but we really fell in love with the floor to ceiling windows, the clean lines and the materials used in the build. I would have to say my absolute favorite thing about this house is the 7-meter-tall compacted earth walls on the exterior of the house. 

3. You curate a vintage clothing shop Copito. Is sustainability important to you?
Absolutely, as a mother to three children I often think about the planet they will inherit from us. I’m not perfect but I believe we all have a responsibility to do better. I have found that my consumption of fashion has been the easiest to tackle since I grew up digging through rummage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. I can spend hours on marketplace apps finding clothes for myself and my kids and the shop. I’m making a bigger effort with lowering my consumption of animal products and slowly working towards being zero waste, it’s all about progress, not perfection.

4. You also create unique pieces and experiment with natural pigments, botanical dyes, dried flowers. What’s the best lesson you have learned from plants/nature?
Patience. I have learned that I can’t rush results when you’re coaxing color from a plant or drying earth pigments. So I take everything a little slower now.

5. How would you describe your skin?
My skin has become very dry and sensitive over the last few years. I never experienced winters before moving here and since then, it’s horribly dry in the winter and barely has time to recover in the summer. I’ve had three kids and breastfed them and probably don’t drink enough water!

6. What’s your daily skincare routine like? (In case a routine is an option when you run your own business and you are a mom of three.)
Ha! My routine is very quick but I need to moisturize or I can feel the skin on my face cracking. I wash my face in the morning and night, lately I’ve been using the Charcoal & Centifolia Rose soap for both my face and my body and I love that it doesn’t dry my skin out! In the morning I spray the Rose Water toner on my face, neck and chest and follow it up with Primrose Oil. It’s light on my skin and it doesn’t clog my pores. It makes me feel 10 years younger! At night I use the Regenerate Night Serum.

7. And when you want to give yourself a special treat? Do you have a ritual that always works?
I definitely treat myself to soaking in the bath at least once a week, I light a candle and use a pitcher to pour water over my shoulders and I’m instantly transported to my favorite Korean spa in L.A. Then I take some White Clay and mix it with water to make a paste and sit with it on my face. It’s glorious.

8. What has surprised you the most about ROWSE’s products?
I was really surprised by The Super Volume shampoo. I have a lot of very thick hair and I often struggle with shampoo bars because it never feels like my hair is really clean afterwards; or if it does, it feels like it’s been totally stripped of its healthy oils. I’ve been using the shampoo bar for a couple of weeks now and I’m obsessed with it. And I absolutely love the Summer Body Oil. It transformed my skin overnight. Now it feels incredibly soft and moisturized at all times. I’ll be dousing myself in it every day.

9. Do your kids or husband use your products?
Yes! The whole family is hooked. I’ve been bathing the kids using the Charcoal soap and The Super Volume shampoo bar and I love how gentle it is on their skin. They also don’t complain about the shampoo getting in their eyes. My husband has been using the Regenerate Night Serum on his face and in his beard, I’m going to have to hide it from him so he doesn’t use it all.

10. What’s the most valuable beauty advice you’ve ever received?
Put your oxygen mask on first. Look after yourself so you can look after others properly, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

11. What’s your favorite plant or flower?
I’ve always been completely mesmerized by the rainbow eucalyptus, it looks like something out of a Disney movie and it’s real. A tree with a bark that is so full of vibrant color, it makes me think just how much is hiding under the surface, how much there is to discover.

Clara's ROWSE routine essentials

Aceite corporal de Verano

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