Grant Industries has opened a West Coast Grant Design Gallery in Anaheim, California, mirroring the platform the company first launched in Elmwood Park, New Jersey. The innovation hub provides a space for clients to participate in personal care development, working side-by-side with technical experts.
The gallery comprises a library of skin care, sun care and color cosmetic starter formulas and access to the company's BioComponent Research actives for barrier repair, anti-aging and wrinkle reduction.
In this exclusive interview with Lena McCaffrey, director of sales at Grant Industries, Global Cosmetic Industries and Cosmetics & Toiletries learn more about the project.
"By establishing a working lab in Anaheim, we remove geographic friction and enable more frequent, face to face collaboration," says Lena McCaffrey, director of sales at Grant Industries. "Our coast to coast capabilities allow us to engage earlier in the development process and support faster, more inspired innovation."Grant Industries
What motivated Grant Industries to launch the Grant Design Gallery in Los Angeles, and how does the location position the company closer to emerging beauty brands and innovation partners?
McCaffrey: Due to the huge success of the Grant Design Gallery East Coast located in Elmwood Park, NJ we decided to launch the Grant Design Gallery West Coast to bring our formulation expertise closer to where many of today’s most dynamic beauty brands are located. Southern California is a global hub for indie, prestige, and native beauty brands, as well as creative agencies and innovation partners shaping what’s next. By establishing a working lab in Anaheim, we remove geographic friction and enable more frequent, face to face collaboration. Our coast to coast capabilities allow us to engage earlier in the development process and support faster, more inspired innovation.
How does the Design Gallery’s real-time prototyping model address the industry’s growing demand for faster product development and shorter concept-to-launch timelines?
McCaffrey: The Grant Design Gallery is designed as a live formulation environment rather than a traditional showroom. Customers can touch, test, and modify over 300 stability tested chassis in color cosmetics, skin care and sun care. Working side by side with our technical team to adjust texture, performance, and ingredient selection on the spot helps brands shorten development time by eliminating lengthy back and forth, helping brands move from concept to finished prototype ensuring a quicker time to market.
In what ways does the collaborative, hands-on lab environment change the traditional supplier–brand relationship during the formulation process?
McCaffrey: The Grant Design Gallery shifts the relationship from transactional to truly collaborative. Instead of presenting finished concepts, we co create alongside brand teams—formulators, marketers, product development and founders alike. This hands on approach allows for immediate feedback, shared problem solving, and greater alignment between technical performance and brand vision. The result is a more transparent, strategic partnership where Grant functions as an extension of the brand’s R&D team.
As ingredient literacy continues to rise among consumers, how is the Design Gallery helping brands develop formulations that are both high-performing and transparently communicated?
McCaffrey: As consumers become more educated and ingredient savvy, brands need formulations that deliver real performance and can be clearly explained. The Design Gallery helps bridge science and storytelling by pairing functional ingredient systems with clear technical documentation and claims support. Using our Grant Design Gallery Active Selection Platform, we help brands understand efficacious use levels of active ingredients as well as customer facing claims messaging.
With trends like barrier repair, peptide science and skin longevity driving innovation, how does Grant’s BioComponent Research portfolio support the next wave of performance-driven formulations?
McCaffrey: Both Grant’s peptide based actives and BioComponent Research (BCR) plant extract portfolio is built to support these advanced skin science trends. Our active technologies focus on efficacy, delivery, and compatibility within modern formulation systems—supporting anti-aging, prejuvenation, longevity, barrier repair and skin microbiome function. Within the Design Gallery, brands can explore how these actives perform in real formulations, enabling them to build products that align with claims while maintaining elegant sensory profiles.
In the emerging AI era of beauty—where formulators, marketers and even consumers use AI tools to research ingredients and compare products—how important is structured formulation knowledge and technical documentation?
McCaffrey: Structured formulation knowledge has never been more critical. As more AI tools surface ingredient data, accuracy, consistency, and clarity become essential. Grant places strong emphasis on technically sound INCI usage, performance and documentation that can stand up to both scientific scrutiny and algorithmic analysis. This ensures our partners’ products are represented correctly—whether evaluated by a formulator, a consumer, or an AI driven platform.
Looking ahead, do you see innovation hubs like the Grant Design Gallery becoming a new model for ingredient suppliers to co-create products with brands in real time?
McCaffrey: Grant Industries has always been a leader in co-creation with our stability tested demo formulations. The Grant Design Gallery represent the evolution of our “partner over supplier” mentality. As speed, customization, and collaboration become more important, brands are seeking partners who can think and build alongside them. Real-time co-creation environments allow for faster decision making, stronger partnerships, and more differentiated products. We see this model not as a trend, but as the future of how high performance beauty products will be developed.
