Brightland is the Oprah-loved olive oil brand you should know about

After moving to California and visiting a few olive farms during a weekend wine-tasting trip, Aishwarya Iyer knew she wanted to create a product centered around Californian-grown olives. In 2018, that vision became a reality when she founded and launched Brightland, her sustainably minded olive oil brand. Since its launch, the brand has quickly become a favorite among editors and celebrities, like Oprah, thanks to its selection of cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oils, vinegars, honey and kitchen accessories.

A defining feature of the brand is its bright and cheery packaging, which is something Iyer says she spent a lot of time thinking about. The brand’s Artist Capsule, which includes four of Brightland’s cold-pressed, infused oils, also features the artwork of four different artists on the bottle labels. For those unfamiliar with the olive oil brand, Iyer says there are a couple of things they should know about Brightland. “I want them to know that we pride ourselves on exceptional quality,” she says, as well as its “direct sourcing relationships with American family-run farms.” Iyer also wants people to know that her brand’s products make great gifts for any occasion. “We’re also a phenomenal gift to yourself,” she says. “It’s the perfect, everyday indulgence.”

To learn more about the brand and its products, we spoke with Iyer one-on-one.

When you first launched your brand, what products did you launch with and why?

Aishwarya Iyer: Two extra-virgin olive oils — sort of the flagship olive oils. One was an olive oil called Awake, and the other one was called Alive, and each [one] was made with different olive varietals, which meant they tasted different, had different tasting notes and were meant for different use occasions. One was more of a finishing oil, and the other was more of a dipping and baking olive oil. Then we heard from some customers, ‘Hey, you should come out with a lemon-infused [oil] or a basil-flavored [oil],’ and I [had] never really thought about that before, and so we looked into it and then decided to come out with our first one, [which] was a lemon-flavored olive oil. Now we have chili, lemon, garlic, basil, rosemary and this pizza oil, so it’s been a lot of fun.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment since starting your brand?

AI: I think delighting and inspiring our hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of customers to maybe be more jazzed about what they’re eating because of us. [To] maybe put their phone away for five minutes because they’re cooking and listening to some music, and they’re just in a good mood and not staring at their phones. That was really why I started the company too, to help inspire people to put their phones away via joyful cooking products.

What are some of Brightland’s bestsellers?

AI: One of our bestsellers is our Essential Capsule. It’s our two flagship olive oils and two vinegars — we have a blackberry balsamic vinegar and a citrus champagne vinegar — and it’s a favorite because it’s everything you need. It has the two types of vinegar you need for salad dressings or if you’re roasting veggies and want to put a splash of vinegar. And then you’ve got the two types of olive oil — the exact olive oils that you want too — so it’s the perfect companion. 

Our pizza oil is a huge bestseller. And I think that has to do with people loving pizza. The notes of the pizza oil are jalapeño, basil, rosemary, garlic, oregano, so it’s just jazzy and zesty, and you feel like you’re at an old-school pizza shop, and it makes people happy. Another one of our bestsellers is something called the Luminous Capsule, and it features one of our olive oils, one of our vinegars and a honey. I really do think that’s an amazing salad dressing sort of kit too, unofficially. And I think that people just adore it for that reason.

Why did you decide to add vinegar and honey to the lineup?

AI: We introduced vinegar and honey over the last three years, and for us, it was really because our customers kept asking us, ‘Hey, what kind of vinegar should I buy? What kind of honey should I buy? I’m making a salad dressing. I have your olive oil. What else should I do?’ I just happened to meet the most wonderful husband-and-wife couple at a food show selling small-batch vinegar. They make it themselves, and I was just so blown away, and we decided to partner with them. We’re just so happy to have partnered with them, and [it’s] kind of similar for the honey too.

In the long run, what’s next for Brightland?

AI: Delighting and inspiring people with delicious, beautiful products; making sure that Brightland is available in more places around the country and eventually around the world; and building the most passionate, amazing team in the process.