Montreal-based Sid Lee has just entered a beautiful new business. The agency announced this week that is has taken a minority ownership stake in Functionalab, a company specializing in “nutri-cosmetics.”

Founded by Erick Geoffrion and Francis Maheu, Functionalab offers about 100 products that combine beauty and nutrition. The range of products, developed by Geoffrion and Maheu, includes anti-aging and skin supplements, as well as various other natural health products. Sid Lee signed on as a partner in the project about six months ago.

“Sid Lee believes that products and services can be embedded with more storytelling power to stimulate word-of-mouth,” said Sid Lee senior partner Bertrand Cesvet, in a release.

“To achieve that inherent marketing potency, it seems more and more logical to get involved right at the inception of new business endeavors.”

“This project’s focus is not about the equity we have in the company,” added Jean-Francois Bouchard, Sid Lee president. “It is about proving the power of our unique multi-disciplinary team of in-house architects, industrial designers, interior designers, art directors, writers, branding and packaging designers, strategists, market analysts, etc... This multi-disciplinary approach to tackling business challenges is what we call commercial creativity.”

Until September, the products are available exclusively at the prestigious Henri Bendel boutique on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

“We are using the boutique and the New York market to create a new trend in beauty-nutrition products,” explained Geoffrion. “New York is the ideal place to launch health products, even more so than Los Angeles.” The products will also be available in some gyms and spas in Manhattan.

For the 2009-2010 period, Functionalab plans on focusing its efforts on the Eastern United States.