When I think of the city of Cologne, the first thing that comes to mind is Cologne Cathedral. But when I came to Cologne and learned about its history, I realised that the church hadn’t even been built when Farina was founded 300 years ago. Cologne Cathedral was not officially completed until 1880, but the city had become famous for its cologne, Oudtclum, long before that.
In 1708, at the age of 23, Farina left her home in northern Italy and travelled north along the Rhine to Cologne. At the time, the city was attracting many people with its prosperity and reputation as the ‘Rome of the North’. Farina joined her brother, who had been living in Cologne for many years, where she invented a unique perfume. In a letter to her brother, Farina described her work: “I have invented a perfume that takes you back to the rainy spring mornings of Italy. The blend of citrus, lemon, grapefruit and Italian flowers was fresh and delightful, and in 1709 the brothers officially founded the company, calling the perfume ‘Eau de Cologne’, meaning ‘water from Cologne’. Eau de Cologne’, meaning ‘water from Cologne’. This perfume became the origin of ‘cologne’. Yesterday I went to the address of the 300-year-old company, which is still open.
What’s it like to get a bottle of a scent that is said to be the same as when it was first invented 300 years ago? The expensive price of the scent was the result of the fact that in the early days we catered for a clientele of royalty and nobility, like in the shop downstairs there is a very detailed client list on one of the walls, and we can find it in there, such as Louis XV, Queen Victoria, Napoleon, Bonaparte, Goethe, Beethoven, Heinrich Heine, Mozart, Princess Sissi, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Princess Diana, President Bill Clinton were all guests of the family. President Bill Clinton have all been guests of the family. It is often said that the same scent has been carried by the same family in the same place for 300 years, and with this perfume in hand, it seems to be a journey through time and class.
Its name is in fact cologne, and in 1709, Mr Farina gave the perfume its French name, Oudricron, in honour of the fact that it was invented in Cologne. o is the meaning of water, d is the meaning of from, and clone is the name of the city, so o to clone together is from the water of Cologne, referred to as Cologne water, defined over the Cologne water, so the name of Cologne water was first taken out of our hands because of this perfume. So why did Mr.Farina, who was Italian, come to Germany and give the perfume he invented a French name? Firstly, at that time, French was a common language used in the diplomatic field in Tongassan, just like English today. Another reason is that 300 years ago, most of the European aristocrats also spoke French when they communicated with each other. Then again, this cologne is not a ‘cologne’ in the modern sense of the word. Today, the name ‘cologne’ has evolved into a specific category of perfume that refers to the type of perfume with the lowest concentration of fragrances, i.e. ‘Eau de Cologne’. In addition to this, perfumes can be categorised according to their fragrance concentration as follows:
- Eau de Cologne: the lowest concentration of fragrances, usually lasting for about an hour.
- Eau de Toilette: a slightly higher concentration of fragrances, generally translated as ‘eau de toilette’.
- Eau de Parfum: with a higher concentration of fragrances, this type is more common and is usually translated as ‘eau de toilette’.
- Parfum: The highest concentration of fragrances, often referred to as ‘strong flavors’, with the longest lasting fragrance. The concentration of fragrance in a perfume has a direct impact on how long it stays on the skin. Throughout the past three hundred years, the meaning of the name ‘cologne’ has changed significantly. For example, although the name of the perfume in our hands is ‘Oudes Cologne’, its fragrance concentration is actually closer to that of ‘Oudes Parfum’, which belongs to the third category in the modern classification of perfumes. Unlike most colognes on the market, which have a lower concentration of fragrances and last for about an hour, this ‘Oud Cologne’ actually lasts for three to four hours. This is what distinguishes Farina cologne from other traditional colognes.
Although Farina’s cologne is now produced in a modern environment, it is still produced in relatively small quantities. This is closely related to its unique formula and the use of natural flavors. The availability of natural flavors is limited by the annual production of flowers and plants, which are not always stable and therefore cannot be produced on a large scale, resulting in a low market share. In fact, Farina’s cologne is only available in this shop in Cologne, and the brand is not visible in airports in any other German city or country. And this shop is the only one in the world owned by the Farina family. The descendants of the family are very low-key, almost no advertising, media interviews are rare. So it’s not hard to understand why many people have never even heard of Farina before coming to Cologne. So why is it that the production of Farina’s cologne has not been able to expand on a large scale? This is directly related to its insistence on using natural flavors. Natural fragrances are in limited supply, unlike synthetic fragrances, whose production can be adjusted to market demand and which factories can mass-produce as needed. Natural flavors, on the other hand, are directly related to the natural yield of the plant, which is not stable from year to year, and therefore the amount of perfume produced cannot be guaranteed. More interestingly, perfumes made with natural fragrances tend to vary in colour. For example, when using lemons as a spice, the harvest may vary from year to year due to climatic or soil differences, which may bring about a difference in colour and scent.
According to the perfumer, each time a new batch of natural scents arrives at the factory, he has to readjust the proportions of the more than 30 scents in the formula according to the new characteristics of the scents to ensure that the perfume tastes the same as it did three hundred years ago. This precise blending process preserves the heritage of the fragrances, but the colors are not perfectly consistent. Sometimes you may notice that the same perfume bottle has a different colour: some are yellowish or greenish, while others are more transparent or white. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with the quality of the perfume, it is simply a natural difference caused by different batches of natural fragrances. However, the aromas offered by Farina remain consistent. Not only are the perfumers sensitive to the characteristics of each batch of natural scents, but they are also constantly adjusting and refining the formulas to maintain the unique flavour of the perfume. This focus on quality and heritage is not only something to learn in the perfumery industry, but also inspires me to pursue mastery and innovation in any field.
The perfume I bought
Last modified on 2021-11-23