The Sandalwood Shop is the Australian home of sandalwood. Our beauty, health and lifestyle products are inspired by sandalwood oil, the natural wellness ingredient with a warm, woody fragrance and remarkable functional properties that make it appropriate for skin and aroma-based applications.When did it all begin?Established in 1997, the Albany Distillery was known as Mt Romance and created the distillation and use of Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) in the fragrance industry. Recognising its wide range of applications, Mt Romance introduced Australian sandalwood oil to the cosmetics, aromatherapy, fragrance and therapeutic markets around the world, carving out a niche position for Australian sandalwood oil as natural, sustainable and healing ingredient.In 2008, Mt Romance has become a part of Quintis, the world’s largest producer of natural sandalwood products. It was at this moment that Mt Romance began distilling oil from Sandalwood Album, the most premium sandalwood species. Quintis first sourced the seeds from Mysore in India in 1997 and started growing plantations of Sandalwood Album in Kununurra, Western Australia. Today, the oil is used to produce the Quintis range of products available at The Sandalwood Shop and Quintis exports oil and wood to over 70 markets worldwide.In 2020, Mt Romance became The Sandalwood Shop, across two Western Australian retail locations and online store. The production of the well-loved existing Australian and Indian sandalwood products remains in-house and the Mt Romance brand lives on as the brand of the Australian Sandalwood products.The Sandalwood Shop and Quintis are committed to sharing the beauty of sandalwood and to being a quality, sustainable and ethical business.SustainabilityIn the middle of The Sandalwood Shop’s ethos, and led by parent company Quintis, is a desire to engage in sustainable practices and support the environment that supports us.In 2010, the installation of a water recycling system at the Albany distillation facility, has since saved over 40 million litres of water, reducing the Company’s water scheme use by 80 per cent.The process of steam distillation on site is powered using waste wood from local Albany plantations. Our computer-controlled biomass boiler optimises combustion to obtain maximum energy with minimum waste, annually getting rid of 65 per cent of emissions from alternative fossil fuel powered steam generation. The resulting potash is also repurposed as soil-rebalancing mulch.In the northern Australian Sandalwood Album plantations, the Company has partnered with comparative conservation groups to limit environmental effect on native fauna which has seen the plantations become home to more than 100 species of birds and wildlife.We look forward to broadening on these eco-friendly initiatives with a further sensitive approach to our retail product packaging in the near future. For more info on sustainable initiatives, visit the Quintis website.
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