The Spa at The Setai has a new name. It is now called The Spa at The Setai by THÉMAÉ. THÉMAÉ is an amazing new tea-based product line from France that they are going to use at the exclusion of all others. The line includes everything from eye cream to massage oils and is made with extracts of four different kinds of teas. Fittingly, the line is named after a Japanese tea preparation ceremony, making it a perfect fit for the Asian-inspired hotel.
Haute Living sat down with the line’s CEO and Co-Founder, Bertrand Thiery to discuss his fabulous line and the synergy with the Setai, which is the first THÉMAÉ-branded spa in the U.S.
Haute Living: How did you come to create a line using tea?
Bertrand Thiery: I am a pharmacist with a PHD in botanical and cosmetology. I worked with plants for five years at Pierre Fabre and René Furterer in Paris and realized plants were very, very effective.
During my study, I learned about a group of rats that were treated for melanoma and were 100 percent cured after 3 months of a solution of 10 percent of green tea on their skin. That was a revelation.
HL: Only 10 percent? That’s amazing.
BT: The tea is the plant most concentrated with antioxidents. 30 percent is polyphenol, so 10 is still very concentrated. So, I wanted to discover more tea so I learned a lot about tea and I realize there are four very interesting teas: the white, the black, the green and the red so we put them together and we patented a complex of 4 tea extract and we decided to only mix this with natural spring water.
HL: What do the different extracts do?
BT: Red, or Rooibos tea is a soothing anti-inflammatory, black tea is stimulating, white tea is regenerative and green tea is a very strong anti-oxidant that fights free-radicals.
HL: So it’s very natural, but effective on different fronts.
BT: Yes, we don’t want to use strong chemicals like retinol. Especially in a hotel setting, we don’t want to give people side effects of redness while they are on vacation or tell them they can’t go in the sun.
HL: Tea isn’t the only Asian component of THÉMAÉ’s treatments.
BT: No, it’s not. We use the Ridoki, an ancient Japanese tool that punctures your skin lightly to make it generate more collagen and elastin. We also use the Nouat-Na from Thailand. It uses tiger-eye quartz stone which sooths the skin and as an antibacterial effect.
HL: I know, they feel unlike anything else!
BT: Yes, and you can only get them at The Spa at The Setai.
Haute Living’s Picks for treatments?
Try the Rejuvenating and Moisturizing Ceremony, a 60 minute facial using a series of Ridokis massage tools, cleansing and exfoliating before enjoying a THÉMAÉ shiatsu massage. Beginning in September, guests of The Setai hotel will enjoy and en suite spa kit amenity, called The Spa Bar by THÉMAÉ, which is a play on the traditional mini-bar, retailing for $100. The kit features the Gommage Thé au Népal (body scrub), Infusion O’Furo (tea bag for bath), Cérémonie Jeunesse (anti-aging cream), Brume de Thé (body splash) and more.
