Courtin-Clarins, Jacques

▪ 2008

Jacques Courtin 

      French business executive

born Aug. 6, 1921 , Paris, France

died March 23, 2007, Paris

founded (1954) the Clarins Institute of Beauty, a Paris skin-care salon that grew into the luxury cosmetics and perfume firm Clarins Group, with sales of more than €900 million (about $1 billion) and subsidiaries in 150 countries. Courtin set his company apart from the competition by insisting that Clarins use only natural, plant-based ingredients rather than the artificial chemicals that were prevalent in other skin-care and beauty products. In 1978 he and his two sons, who took over running the firm when he retired, legally added the company name Clarins to the family name. Courtin published his memoirs, Une réussite en beauté: ou la fabuleuse aventure de Clarins, in 2006.

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