Hildegaard
March 16, 2026 / Photo: Courtesy of Ioulex for Hildegaard
Lia Chavez’s line of haute botanicals utilize herbalism and cosmology to channel nature’s therapeutic powers.
As an internationally-renowned artist who uses light, sound, and human consciousness as artistic mediums in her immersive work, Chavez has always held a reverence for the natural world. Her interest in botanicals began as child in her grandmother’s Colorado garden and led her to pursue a wide range of studies including plant-based nutrition, biochemistry, and herbal traditions from civilizations around the globe.
“Herbalism, for me, is not trend wellness. It is restoration at the most fundamental level — a return to humanity’s Edenic consciousness,” she explained. “It is the remembrance that plants are evolutionary partners in humanity’s ascending awareness, and a continuation of our oldest vocation: abiding in the Creator’s sublime presence.”
After becoming a mother, Chavez felt particularly compelled to help mend the dissonance between society and the natural world. So she started luxury creative house Hildegaard as an extension of her artistic practice and a love letter to Mother Nature.
Named after celebrated Christian saint and natural scientist Hildegard von Bingen, the line of naturally-derived creations harness the transformative power of different botanicals. Its facial oils are expertly formulated and combine over 70 plant properties.
The bespoke compounds spotlight different remedial ingredients like orange blossom, Damask Turkish roses, and frankincense resin, which are produced mindfully through permaculture, heirloom agriculture, and contemplative botany. Chavez makes these seasonal fusions by hand with the same admiration of elements as she does in her artwork.
“My artistic work has long engaged light and human consciousness as ceremonial and transformative materials. Hildegaard is the Earth’s tangible expression of that inquiry — consciousness made palpable through botanical composition, she said. “Each creation is structured like a symphony of light — layered, intentional, and harmonious — following ancient alchemical processes of solar extraction, fermentation, maceration, distillation, spagyric work, and aromatic chemistry. Time and contemplative presence are essential ingredients in our devotional process.”
Though Hildegaard’s creations exist within the luxury beauty space, Chavez emphasizes that her work isn’t intent on correcting something flawed or embracing the surface-driven ideals of the industry.
“The Christian tradition of our muse, Hildegard von Bingen, teaches that transformation arises not through accumulation, but through Christ’s kenotic path of unveiling. Beauty is not added — it is revealed. Humanity has been conditioned to believe worth must be acquired, yet our value is inherent…” she explained. “With Hildegaard, we explore this cosmology of belonging — humanity’s true inheritance as image bearers of Divinity — and the profound unfolding that occurs when a human being is honored, loved, and returned home to their essence.
More about Hildegaard can be found here.
