In 1916, Shiseido spun off its cosmetics department as a separate business and opened a cosmetics shop. The shop was on the first floor of a three-story brick building, with the other floors occupied by a design department to handle the company’s graphic and other design activities, as well as laboratories dedicated to product quality and safety and conducting product development and improvement efforts.
It was here that the company began Reorients from pharmaceuticals to cosmeticscreating high-quality, modern, elegant cosmetics in which it could take real pride.
Shiseido’s cosmetics business had truly begun.