Our Story

It Started With a Smell in the Desert.

I'm John Hur — biotech scientist turned founder.

A few years ago, I was on a backpacking trip in Joshua Tree when I crushed a branch of wild juniper between my fingers. The smell hit me first — sharp, clean, alive. But what I found later is what changed everything: juniper has real antimicrobial properties. It doesn't cover up odor. It breaks it down.

That night surrounded by gear that smelled like a week of desert climbing — I started asking a simple question: why is everything we spray on our stuff made of synthetic chemicals? Why are we masking odor with toxins instead of eliminating it with plants?

I couldn't find a good answer. So I built one.

I left my career in biotech developing products at the molecular level — and started Life Cocoon. The idea was simple: use real science and real plants to eliminate odor, not hide it.

CRUX was the first product — a botanical deodorizer for climbing shoes, built for the community I love. It worked. REI noticed. Mad Rock partnered with us. Over a thousand climbers made the switch from synthetic sprays to something they could actually feel good about breathing in.

But odor doesn't stop at climbing shoes.

NO. 2 is our second product — a botanical toilet spray powered by the same philosophy. Most bathroom sprays use synthetic fragrance and petrochemicals in the smallest, least ventilated room in your home. We thought that was a problem worth solving. So we developed our Botanical Complex: plant-derived compounds that trap and neutralize odor on contact, without a single synthetic ingredient.

Every Life Cocoon product starts with the same question I asked in Joshua Tree: what if nature already solved this, and we just weren't listening?