How Gunjan Agnihotri and Raghav Bhatia Are Building Herbaria, a Research-Led Botanical Brand

Herbaria-Modern Botanicals, born from the shared vision of Gunjan Agnihotri and Raghav Bhatia, has made a mark in a short span. At the core, their brand believes that beauty should never come at the cost of the planet. Herbaria is a vegan, cruelty-free, plastic-neutral skincare label guided by years of research and deep respect for nature.

With over 15 years of experience in marketing, Agnihotri leads the brand's creative and product vision. Whereas, Bhatia shapes the business architecture, drawing from a career spanning aviation, management consulting, and global procurement leadership.

The label blossomed in Gurugram with a quest for conscious skincare and found its way, debuting at the New York Fashion Week in 2025. During an exclusive conversation with Robb Report India, the two share insights on apothecary, slow-beauty, and ritual-led formulations.

Robb Report India(RR): Herbaria positions itself as a House of Modern Apothecary. What does the idea of an apothecary mean to today’s beauty consumer?

Raghav Bhatia(RB): For today’s beauty consumer, the idea of an apothecary represents a return to intention. In a world of fast launches, algorithm-led trends, and overwhelming choice, the apothecary evokes care that is considered, personal, and rooted in knowledge.  

When we describe Herbaria as a House of Modern Apothecary, we’re speaking to a contemporary desire for rituals that feel grounded yet refined. Today’s consumer is increasingly drawn to products where formulation, texture, fragrance, and packaging are designed with coherence. 

An apothecary, in modern terms, is about care that feels curated. It suggests credibility without clinical coldness, and indulgence without excess. For us, it is a way of expressing that beauty can be both sensorial and intelligent. 

RRI: You launched the brand during the COVID years, when people were rethinking wellness and self-care. How did that moment influence your approach to slow beauty and ritual-led formulations?

Gunjan Agnihotri(GA): We conceived Herbaria during the COVID years and officially launched in 2023. That period was less about reacting to a moment and more about observing a shift in how people were experiencing care. 

In isolation, routines became rituals, and people began noticing the warmth of water, the texture of a cream, the comfort of fragrance in a more intimate way.  

For us, slow beauty means creating formulations that invite pause and rituals that feel emotionally grounding. It also shaped our idea of Herbaria as a House of Modern Apothecary, a space where care is thoughtful, formulated with purpose and designed to be returned to.

RRI: We’re seeing a renewed interest in ingredients, provenance, and transparency across beauty. What do you think is driving this shift? 

RB: Today’s beauty consumer is far more informed, not just about what is in a product, but about where it comes from, how it is made, and what happens after it is used. After years of rapid launches and trend-led marketing, there’s a natural recalibration happening. People are asking more considered questions: Who formulated this? Why these ingredients? What is the long-term impact? 

At Herbaria, being plastic-neutral and designing refill-led systems is part of that broader definition of transparency. If we speak about botanical intention but ignore material impact, the philosophy becomes incomplete. Circularity, for us, is not a marketing angle; it’s a structural commitment to ensuring care can continue without constant waste. 

RRI: There is also a broader move away from fast consumption towards fewer, more considered products. How is this changing the way people engage with beauty?

GA: The move away from fast consumption is less about reduction and more about recalibration. 

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware that abundance does not always equal satisfaction. After years of overconsumption, including multiple steps, constant launches, and seasonal trends, there is a growing desire for coherence. People are choosing fewer products, but expecting them to feel more meaningful, more sensorial, and more aligned with their values. 

This shift is also reshaping how we understand self-love. It’s moving away from indulgence as excess and toward indulgence as intention. 

RRI: Sustainability has become an important conversation across industries. How do you see this shaping the future of beauty in general?

RB: Sustainability is no longer a peripheral conversation in beauty. It is becoming structural.

In the early years, sustainability was often framed around single attributes: clean ingredients, recyclable packaging, and fewer toxins. Today, the conversation is expanding into systems thinking. Consumers are asking broader questions about sourcing, material choice, life cycle impact, and long-term responsibility. 

I believe the future of beauty will be shaped by coherence. It will not be enough for a brand to highlight a hero ingredient if the packaging is disposable, or to speak about wellness without considering material waste. 

At the same time, sustainability must evolve beyond austerity. The future of beauty cannot feel joyless or punitive. It has to prove that conscious design can coexist with sensorial pleasure, colour, and fragrance. 

RRI: Do you think conscious beauty will remain a niche or become the new standard for the category?

GA: We believe conscious beauty will move from being a niche category to becoming an expectation, but it will look different from how we define it today. 

Over time, I don’t think customers will actively seek out “conscious” brands in the way they once did. Instead, they will assume a certain level of transparency, material responsibility, and ethical sourcing as standard. The brands that endure will be those where sustainability is embedded structurally. 

At the same time, conscious beauty must mature. It cannot rely solely on moral positioning. The future standard will be brands that balance integrity with sensorial experience, design, and emotional resonance.