Farina 1709
Founded: 1709, Cologne, Germany
Founder: Giovanni Maria Farina
Famous fragrances: Original Eau de Cologne, Cuir de Russie, Série Extrait de Cologne, Tina Farina
The story of the Farina house began in 1709 in Cologne, where the young Giovanni Maria Farina arrived from the small town of Santa Maria Maggiore in Italian Piedmont. Combining bergamot and other citrus oils with pure alcohol, he created a fragrance that reminded him of a spring morning in Italy after rain and named it after his new home — Eau de Cologne. Thus was born not just a composition but an entire category of perfumery that gave its name to the whole genre.
By the 1730s Farina's cologne had conquered the royal courts of Europe — it was chosen by Emperor Charles VI, the King of Prussia and Clemens August of Bavaria. Later admirers of the brand included Napoleon, who carried a bottle even in his boot, Goethe, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) and Queen Victoria. Despite thousands of imitations that appeared as early as the nineteenth century, the original formula remained a family secret — and it was the fight against imitators that led in 1874 to Germany's first trademark protection law.
Today Farina is the oldest perfume house in the world, which for more than 300 years, now in its eighth and ninth generations, has remained in the family's hands: Giovanni Maria Farina runs the business together with his daughter Christina Maria Luisa Farina — the first woman to become a direct heir of the family line. The house's recognisable symbol is the red tulip that has adorned its bottles since 1924, and the historic Farina-Haus in Cologne, where the first eau de cologne was born in 1709, still houses the world's oldest perfume museum and the brand's boutique.
The heart of the collection is the Original Eau de Cologne with its classic citrus formula of bergamot, lemon, bitter orange and lime, with jasmine and neroli in the heart and a musky-ambery trail; the bergamot for it is still supplied by farmers in Reggio Calabria. Alongside it are the new, richer Série Extrait de Cologne line, the masculine leathery Cuir de Russie and the modern, lighter-spirited Tina Farina line.
Farina bottles are deliberately restrained: no superfluous luxury, just clear glass, a laconic label and that red tulip which for three centuries has served as a guarantee of the original. Farina 1709 is not just perfume. It is the moment in history from which all modern perfumery began.
