Building MANTLE: A Conversation with Josefin Landgård
credit : Mantle
Before co-founding the boundary-pushing skincare brand MANTLE, Josefin Landgård developed resilience on Nordic slopes and precision in the fast-paced world of healthtech. Her journey from elite skier to KRY's founding team and now to leading one of Scandinavia's most thoughtful beauty brands embodies powerful contrasts: speed versus stillness, science versus sensuality, and data versus intuition.
At MANTLE, these tensions serve as catalysts rather than obstacles. Josefin Landgård and co-founder Stina Lönnkvist identified a clear division in skincare: natural products lacking scientific depth, and clinical solutions that felt cold and exclusive. MANTLE bridges this gap, a brand built on rigorous science, informed by lived experience, and delivered with genuine joy.
Josefin Landgård openly discusses her rejection of ageist beauty standards, her commitment to developing products for real skin in harsh -15°C winters, and her refusal to compromise on ingredient quality, even when it means higher costs and longer development cycles. She reframes Scandinavian minimalism as intentional rather than austere, and views "longevity" beyond skincare terminology as a philosophy of strength and personal agency.
This conversation explores why slowing down, listening carefully, and creating with both intuition and intellect might be the most revolutionary approach to innovation.
If this article resonated, come inside the Future of Skincare newsletter on Substack. Beauty Signals is the deeper layer within it, weekly patterns where skincare meets culture, for skin intellectuals, beauty anthropologists, and the cosmetics curious. Read the opening free, full access at latte with me level.
credit : Mantle
From elite skiing in the Nordic cold to co-founding a healthtech unicorn, what through line discipline, mindset, or resilience, most tangibly shaped how you build MANTLE today?
Skiing taught me that resilience is built in the small daily decisions, getting up in the cold, showing up for training, even when it’s uncomfortable. At KRY, scaling a company demanded the same discipline but in a very different arena. With MANTLE, I’ve combined both lessons: you can’t shortcut consistency, but you also need the courage to adapt and trust your instinct when conditions change.
Which lesson from KRY’s scale-up years still shapes your leadership at MANTLE, and which instinct from tech you had to consciously unlearn in beauty?
From KRY, I carry the belief that scalability and data are powerful when paired with the empathy of listening to users deeply before acting. What I had to unlearn from tech is the obsession with speed at all costs. In beauty, product development takes time; skin biology doesn’t bend to quarterly growth cycles. Slowing down has been a discipline of its own.
credit : Mantle
You’ve described rejecting judgment and ageism in beauty. Was there a personal moment that crystallized that conviction for you?
It wasn’t one dramatic comment but the accumulation of countless small ones, friends, colleagues, even strangers pointing out “fine lines” or joking about looking older at 30, as if it were a flaw. I realized how early and unconsciously we are conditioned to view natural change as decline. That was the moment I knew MANTLE had to help rewrite the narrative to make skin health about strength and vitality, not erasing life lived.
What gap in the beauty landscape felt most urgent when you and Stina Lönnkvist began building MANTLE?
We saw two extremes: natural brands that lacked clinical rigor, and clinical brands that felt cold, judgmental, or inaccessible. We wanted to create something that embodied science and sensuality - serious about results, but also joyful, unapologetic, and human.
credit : Mantle
The name “MANTLE” speaks to both skin science and resilience. Can you share a moment when that identity guided a difficult product or branding decision?
When we developed The Dream Mask, there was debate about whether such a rich, transformative formula would resonate in an industry dominated by lightweight textures. Coming back to the idea of the “mantle”, the skin’s shield, its resilience, gave us clarity. We realized our role wasn’t to follow convention but to design what the skin truly needs to repair and thrive. That conviction helped us stand by the product, which has since become a cult favorite.
Scandinavian minimalism is often mistaken for “less.” How do you define it in the context of skincare routines so that it conveys strength, not deprivation?
For me, Scandinavian minimalism is about precision. It’s not about stripping things away but choosing only what truly matters and ensuring each step is effective. A four-step MANTLE routine is strong, protective, and indulgent, minimal in clutter, maximal in efficacy.
credit : Mantle
What does your own daily skincare routine look like, and how has it evolved since founding MANTLE? Which products do you always return to, and why?
These days my routine is anchored by The Organ Essence, it’s the step I never skip because it truly transforms how my skin responds to everything that follows. I layer The Hydra Serum for deep hydration and finish with The Rich Cream to lock it all in and keep my skin resilient, especially through travel and Nordic winters. Since founding MANTLE, I’ve become much less experimental. I’ve learned that skin thrives on consistency, and I always return to these products because they keep my skin balanced, calm, and strong over time.
If you had to reduce your personal skincare ritual to just three steps, what would remain - and what does that reveal about your philosophy of skin health?
Cleanse, moisturize, protect. It’s simple, but it reflects our philosophy: skin health is about defense and recovery, not endless complexity. Everything else can be layered in, but those three are non-negotiable.
credit : Mantle
Your lab in Northern Sweden is central to MANTLE’s story. How has testing in such a harsh climate shaped what your products can do?
If a product can survive and protect skin in -15°C Nordic winds and dry indoor heating, it can work anywhere. The climate forces us to push formulas further, to balance protection and absorption so the skin feels cocooned but never suffocated.
Community-driven testing mirrors tech beta testing. Can you recall one time feedback overturned your hypothesis and led to a better formula?
Honestly, we haven’t had a case where feedback completely overturned our hypothesis, and I say that with humility, because it’s less about us being “right” from the start and more about the way we build. Our formulas go through such a long and rigorous development process with our lab and early testing with our team that by the time they reach a wider audience, the big questions are already resolved. What our community does shape, though, are the refinements: the textures people love most, the packaging details, etc. Their input is invaluable in making sure the products don’t just perform in the lab, but feel intuitive and joyful in real life.
credit : Mantle
Merging natural and clinical is often seen as contradictory. What’s an example where combining botanicals with biomimetic actives achieved something neither could alone?
The Glow Serum blends niacinamide with bakuchiol and antioxidant botanicals. The clinical ingredient evens tone and texture, while the botanicals calm and brighten. Alone, each would deliver partial results. Together, they created balance and efficacy without harshness.
The Longevity Serum reframes well aging from repair to regeneration. What scientific insight convinced you to take that leap, and what compromises did you refuse to make?
The research on EGF and cell signaling convinced us: skin can be coached into regeneration rather than just patched up. The compromise we refused to make was diluting the concentration. It meant higher costs and longer testing, but we wanted efficacy that consumers could truly feel and see.
credit : Mantle
The Longevity Range introduces plant EGF, orchid stem cells, and micro spheres. Which of these innovations proved most challenging to bring from lab concept to consumer ready product?
The orchid stem cells. Translating that delicate extract into a stable, consumer ready formula took years. They’re incredibly potent but also fragile, so stability testing was intense. It was worth it, the payoff in skin resilience is real.
What does the term “longevity” mean to you beyond skincare - is it about resilience, overall healthspan, or redefining how we age?
To me, longevity is about agency. It’s not just living longer but living stronger.
