Tortini: «We have built our success on creativity and innovation.»

After more than thirty years at the helm of the stand-out company he founded – Cosmoproject, a symbol of Italian excellence in the cosmetics sector – Primo Tortini, is still able to amaze in his mid seventies.
The occasion was the awarding of the University of Ferrara’s Master’s Degree in Cosmetics Technology Programme’s Cosmast 2024 certificate of excellence for “the constant commitment to promoting Italian innovation around the world and for the continuous commitment to the cosmetics sector”.
Presenting the award, and running through the reasons behind it, was the president of the Italian national association of cosmetics companies, alongside Benedetto Lavino and Giovanni D’Agostinis from the Master’s Degree programme, the latter also serving as scientific director of the Kosmetica magazine.

Since founding Cosmoproject S.p.A. in 1993, Tortini has built the company into a benchmark for the main Italian and foreign brands in the sector. The formulas involve skincare and hair care products, make-up and fragrances for the pharmacy, large-scale retail, perfume retailers and professional aesthetics channels. “We have always focused on our actual skills and expertise,” the CEO explains in other words the ability to design innovative formulas through a good dose of creativity, and to identify targeted, effective but also original active ingredients. Our RD lab enjoys an excellent reputation, and is a reason for pride for the company.».

It is in this laboratory that our ideas take shape, and where we constantly experiment with innovation. Cosmoproject indeed boasts an impressive capital of formulas (more than 400 developed in just the last year), as well as an exclusive patent: ozonised sunflower oil combined with alpha bisabolol. “Ozone is our habitat,” Tortini continues, and it has seen significant investment in terms of research and studies. It has been evaluated by Italian universities and institutes, as well as by international organisations. The results are excellent for both its regenerative and sanitising properties. The investments have provided the expected results ». Not only: they have also led to the launch of medical devices, and expanded the company’s international customer base.

With over 300 employees, production exceeding 76 million units per year, and a strong focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, Cosmoproject is a virtuous model of Italian business excellence.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is a collaboration which began over 20 years ago, when the Beringei beringei species of mountain gorillas numbered just 390 worldwide.

Cosmoproject wished to make its own contribution by supporting the initiatives to combat poaching, monitor the species and educate the local populations. We purchased equipment for the rangers and responded to requests for help to protect this wonderful species of gorilla, which shares 98% of its DNA with humans.

The work of Dr Dian Fossey, author of “Gorillas in the Mist”, began in 1967 and today, thanks to the shared efforts, the population of Beringei beringei, once at risk of extinction, has reached 1,000 individuals and still seems to be growing.

It is a great and unexpected success which Cosmoproject is proud to be part of. The company will continue to support the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and its precious conservation policies.

On the occasion of Parma Capitale della Cultura 2020+2021, Cosmoproject highlighted the area’s chemical/pharmaceutical identity by sponsoring Florilegium, the first personal exhibition in Italy of British artist Rebecca Louise Law.

Curated by OTTN Projects within the scope of the Pharmacopea project and supported, in addition to Cosmoproject, by Davines and Chiesi Farmaceutici, Florilegium is an immersive and ethereal floral installation which evolves during the exhibition period, following the path dictated by time and nature.

The themes of the exhibition are environmental sustainability, fragility and the relationship between humans and nature, aspects to which Cosmoproject is dedicating resources and investments.

Held from 4 June to 20 July, and from 2 October to 19 December 2020, the exhibition route consisted of a ceiling of 200,000 flowers which melded into a chromatic continuum with the frescoes of San Tiburzio Church. Here it was possible to observe the various changes of the botanical species on display throughout the entire duration of the artistic exhibition.

Law’s art, which focuses on the organic evolution of her works, is one of the actions of the Pharmacopea project, founded to create new tourist itineraries connecting some of the symbolic locations of the city of Parma’s historic cosmetic/pharmaceutical identity, with the goal of renovating or modernising them, rediscovering them and increasing the attractiveness of the local region.

In 2020, the “Osservatorio delle Eccellenze Italiane” named Cosmoproject as a company of excellence due to its contribution to Italian socio-economic development.

After the observatory’s mapping of the sectors and categories of an economic fabric full of representative companies, the Parma-based company was named one of the “100 eccellenze italiane”, or Italian companies of excellence.

Receiving the “Storie di eccellenza” award confirms Cosmoproject’s constant commitment to innovation and quality in the Italian cosmetics sector. A commitment which fully reflects the company mission to supply products able to anticipate and satisfy the needs and requirements of customers and the broader market, at the same time celebrating the best of Italian creativity and savoir-faire.

Employee welfare and sustainability are part of Cosmoproject’s make-up and policies. That’s why the company has financed the renovation and expansion of the Tosi Pardini infant and nursery school in Mezzano Inferiore, in partnership with Fepa and thanks to the Sorbolo Mezzani municipal administration.

Companies, the school, the administration and the community (numerous volunteers took part in the project) worked together to deliver modernised spaces to the school’s children: the main room with new tables and chairs, a science lab, and two nursery school classes. This has doubled the available spaces from 25 to 50.

The initiative not only represents a support pathway for the community, but also a further welfare and support measure for workers and their families, as the school has also been identified for the creation of a subsidised company crèche.

It is a way for Cosmoproject to put its employees ever more at the centre of its sustainable growth, and to enhance the local area through concrete actions.