Nestled in the heart of Cottesloe lies Heartwood, which feels less like a store and more like a sanctuary.
The grounding scent of sandalwood hits you before you’ve taken your second step inside — what a welcoming.
That’s exactly what founder Alex Wilson set out to create when she launched the space in late 2019: a wellbeing and natural beauty retailer dedicated to Indian sandalwood, the rare tree that takes 20 years to mature and has played a central part of her life since childhood.
But it’s more than just ambience: “When you inhale the scent of sandalwood, those compounds enter the bloodstream and have the ability to calm the nervous system,” Wilson says.
The businesswoman’s father established one of the first sustainable Indian sandalwood plantations in the world, in the remote Kimberley town of Kununurra in the mid-1990s, long before sustainability became a wellness industry buzzword.
“Indian sandalwood is considered the jewel in the crown of all of the sandalwood varieties . . . It’s almost extinct in India, where it grows natively,” she says.
“(During childhood) we’d always have these amazing people drifting in and out of our house, who would be coming to meet with Dad to talk about sandalwood.”
And if anyone understands how vital a role wellness plays during life’s toughest moments, it’s Wilson.
Diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer, pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), just as she was preparing to launch Heartwood, Wilson faced a brutal blindsiding detour — major surgery, months of recovery, and a complete reset.
But she emerged more determined than ever.
“I basically had to put into practice all of the things I was starting to preach with Heartwood,” she says.
The business takes its name from the rich, aromatic centre of the sandalwood tree, packed with therapeutic oils long prized in Ayurvedic and traditional medicine.
“If you look at a cross section of sandalwood, there’s a dark part in the middle, and that’s the heartwood,” Wilson explains. “That’s what goes into all of our products.”
While the store only began with five products in 2019, it has since grown to offer a wide range formulated using heartwood sourced from Wilson’s family farm, as well as stocking other natural brands including WA favourites Sodashi and Mother SPF.
The treatment menu has an emphasis on hands-on massages and facials, and among the most popular options is the 30-minute facial massage which targets pressure points many people never realise they hold tension in.
“People consistently crave the ability to come in and just take a load off,” she says. “We’ve responded to that.”