Symrise: German Fragrance Expertise Rooted in the Pioneering Age of Synthetics

“With fragrant ingredients, I can create something that people wear every day that reflects their moods.”
Alexandra Carlin, then a Symrise perfumer — the company’s feature on fragrances around the world

A new molecule does not make a perfume on its own. In what composition, and at what dosage, will its character come alive? Symrise’s history includes work that has brought the chemistry of making fragrance ingredients closer to the art of composing scents.

Vanillin research in Holzminden, Germany. Perfume bases developed by France’s de Laire. Natural-ingredient expertise rooted in Grasse. These initially separate endeavors passed to Symrise, established in 2003, and continue in today’s ingredient development and perfume creation.

Key Facts and Symrise Today
Milestones
Fragrance Chemistry Begins in Holzminden
1. From Vanillin Research to Haarmann & Reimer
2. The Dragoco Merger and the Technology of Ingredient Supply
de Laire Bases: Expanding the Perfumer’s Tools
1. From Powerful Molecules to Usable Scent Compositions
2. From Archives to Contemporary Bases
Processing Natural Materials and Developing New Molecules
1. Maison Lautier 1795 and the Work of Grasse
2. From Orange By-Products to Lilybelle’s Lily-of-the-Valley Scent
Perfumers’ Experiences Become Compositions
1. Alexandra Carlin and Velvet Tonka
Training Perfumers Within the Company
References

Key Facts and Symrise Today

Official name: Symrise AG
Formation of the present company: 2003, through the merger of Haarmann & Reimer and Dragoco
Headquarters: Holzminden, Germany
Historical origins: Vanillin synthesis research in 1874; the company inherits the histories of its predecessors and later additions including de Laire and Lautier
Official website: Symrise

Symrise supplies scents, flavors, and ingredients to companies making perfumes, everyday products, food, and other goods. Its operations are divided into Scent & Care and Taste, Nutrition & Health. Scent & Care, the division most closely connected with perfume, includes both composing fragrance formulas and developing and manufacturing fragrance molecules.

In January 2026, Care & Wellness began operating within Scent & Care, bringing together expertise in cosmetic ingredients, health-related functional materials, and probiotics. From perfume to beauty and care, and from taste to nutrition, the company has grown around scent and flavor while extending into related materials.

Milestones

1874 — Wilhelm Haarmann and Ferdinand Tiemann synthesize vanillin from coniferin.
1875–1876 — Haarmann starts a business in 1875 and develops it into Haarmann & Reimer with Karl Ludwig Reimer in 1876.
1876 — Fabriques de Laire is founded in France.
1889 — Aimé Guerlain creates Jicky using vanillin and coumarin, bringing new synthetic ingredients into perfume composition.
1891 — Marie-Thérèse de Laire begins making bases that combine new synthetic molecules with other ingredients.
1893 — Research into ionone by Tiemann and colleagues contributes to the development of materials expressing a violet scent.
1919 — Carl-Wilhelm Gerberding and August Bellmer establish Dragoco.
1973–1974 — Haarmann & Reimer advances industrial production of synthetic menthol. In 1974, a patent application is filed for a method of separating pure optical isomers.
1985 — Florasynth acquires the rights to de Laire’s bases.
1995 — Bayer acquires Florasynth. The work of de Laire and Lautier passes through Haarmann & Reimer to the future Symrise.
2003 — Symrise is formed through the merger of Haarmann & Reimer and Dragoco.
2006 — The company lists on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
2007 — Perfumer training restarts in a two-plus-two-year format combining study in Holzminden with international experience.
2016 — A contemporary collection of de Laire bases is presented at the World Perfumery Congress.
2017 — Sales begin for Lilybelle, a lily-of-the-valley ingredient made from a by-product of orange-juice production.
2022 — Maison Lautier 1795 is introduced as a natural-ingredient brand continuing Lautier’s heritage.
2023 — An internal training class translates impressions of Berlin’s forests and city into watercolors, then into scents.
2026 — Care & Wellness launches in January. Contemporary de Laire bases are presented at Paris Perfume Week in April, and a new Lautier 1795 production site in the Grasse region is announced in September.

Fragrance Chemistry Begins in Holzminden

From Vanillin Research to Haarmann & Reimer

In 1874, Haarmann and Tiemann synthesized vanillin using coniferin derived from coniferous trees. They produced a vanilla-smelling component from a raw material other than the vanilla pod itself. This created a new supply route for scents and flavors that had depended on expensive vanilla.

While Tiemann continued university research, Haarmann established a company in 1875 and founded Haarmann & Reimer with Reimer the following year. Alongside successful laboratory reactions, systems developed for sourcing raw materials, manufacturing, and delivering products to customers.

In Guerlain‘s Jicky of 1889, Aimé Guerlain used vanillin and coumarin. Ingredients born from research were combined with natural materials and put to work within a perfume. Through perfumers’ choices, ingredient research thus reached the expressive language of fragrance.

In 1893, Tiemann and colleagues advanced their research into ionone. Ionones made it possible to build a violet-like perfume theme without relying on extraction from the flowers. Studying a natural flower opened a different route to creating a similar scent.

The Dragoco Merger and the Technology of Ingredient Supply

The other predecessor, Dragoco, was also born in Holzminden. Founded in 1919 by barber Gerberding and Bellmer, it composed scents for perfumes and soaps, later expanding into fragrance and cosmetic ingredients. One company grew from ingredient chemistry, the other from fragrance formulation. They merged in 2003 to become Symrise.

Reliable ingredient-supply technologies were important even in the predecessor companies’ era. In the 1970s, Jürgen Fleischer, Kurt Bauer, Rudolf Hopp, and colleagues at Haarmann & Reimer advanced industrial production of synthetic menthol. Their 1974 patent application concerned separating isomers that share a molecular formula but are mirror images, obtaining L-menthol associated with cooling sensation.

Menthol is also used in toothpaste and chewing gum. Fragrance companies’ work is shaped not only by glamorous perfumes, but also by ingredients supporting the scents and sensations of everyday products.

de Laire Bases: Expanding the Perfumer’s Tools

From Powerful Molecules to Usable Scent Compositions

Founded in 1876, Fabriques de Laire handled ingredients including vanillin, coumarin, and isobutyl quinoline. Some new synthetic molecules had strengths and handling characteristics unfamiliar to perfumers accustomed to natural materials. Rather than supplying isolated molecules alone, Marie-Thérèse de Laire combined them into forms that harmonized with other ingredients. These were the de Laire bases she began making in 1891.

A base here does not mean a base note describing when a scent emerges. It is a precomposed olfactory unit that a perfumer can incorporate into a formula. It connects a new molecule with other materials while retaining its character.

This work left its mark on perfume history. The base Iriséine was involved in Guerlain’s L’Heure Bleue and Mitsouko, while Ambré 83 was used in Chanel’s Bois des Îles. During the 1930s and 1940s, Edmond Roudnitska also created bases at de Laire. Combinations of ingredients themselves became a means of transmitting perfumery expertise.

From Archives to Contemporary Bases

Florasynth acquired the rights to de Laire’s bases in 1985, and Bayer acquired Florasynth in 1995. This work passed through Bayer’s Haarmann & Reimer to Symrise.

Symrise’s David Apel and colleagues examined an archive of around 700 bases, transferring its knowledge into new ones. Pascal Sillon also studied the history, and a contemporary de Laire collection was introduced in 2016. Beyond recreating old formulas, the work creates tools for future compositions from today’s ingredients.

“The new de Laire bases adhere to the same philosophy as the historical bases,”
Aliénor Massenet — Nez, May 26, 2026, discussing bases presented at Paris Perfume Week

Where Ambré 83 centers on vanillin, Sillon’s Ambré 84 expresses a contemporary sweetness through ethyl maltol, reminiscent of caramelized sugar. Massenet’s Rouge Groseille focuses on fruit, and Poivre Piqué on cool spice. The new bases combine captive ingredients used by the company’s own perfumers with Lautier’s natural materials.

Processing Natural Materials and Developing New Molecules

Maison Lautier 1795 and the Work of Grasse

While de Laire transmitted knowledge of scent combinations, Lautier developed techniques for extracting aromas from plants. Today’s Maison Lautier 1795 is a natural-ingredient brand inheriting the Rancé family’s fragrance business, begun in Grasse in 1795, and the history of the Lautier family that later became connected with it.

Lautier Fils joined Florasynth in 1981 and was integrated into Haarmann & Reimer after Bayer’s 1995 acquisition. Introduced in 2022, Maison Lautier 1795 connects materials from their places of origin, artisanal processing, and new technology within one palette of natural ingredients.

Securing raw materials begins before processing. In Madagascar, involvement in upstream operations from cultivation to manufacture has helped build reliable supply and relationships with farmers. Natural-ingredient quality is not determined by distillation and extraction equipment alone. Growers, harvesters, and processors are connected in producing the materials perfumers use.

In September 2026, Symrise announced a new Lautier 1795 production site in the Grasse region. With Floral Concept’s natural-material expertise also contributing, the organization brings sourcing, processing, research, and perfumery closer together. As when Lautier ingredients enter new de Laire bases, the work of materials and formulas intersects here too.

From Orange By-Products to Lilybelle’s Lily-of-the-Valley Scent

Fragrance technology also appears in the choice of starting material for a molecule. D-limonene, the raw material for lily-of-the-valley ingredient Lilybelle, is obtained from peel left by orange-juice production. Rather than simply adding an orange smell, the process uses one of its components to make a molecule with a different scent.

While searching for alternative materials from 2009, Symrise returned to its long-established molecular database. A previously tested material had required five synthetic steps unsuitable for large-scale manufacture; the company reconsidered both the process and raw materials. The sourcing infrastructure gained through acquiring Renessenz also supported development.

Lilybelle went on sale in 2017. A 2021 announcement stated that 83 percent of its raw materials came from renewable resources. Its floral, lily-of-the-valley character has a green and watery transparency. Searching for new scents and devising processes that can sustain their production meet in a single material.

Perfumers’ Experiences Become Compositions

Alexandra Carlin and Velvet Tonka

Around the age of eighteen, Alexandra Carlin studied literature, hoping to become a writer or journalist. Hearing a perfumer on the radio prompted her to return to science, study at ISIPCA, and enter fragrance work. Later, working with Maurice Roucel at Symrise, she discovered that the voice that had moved her on the radio was his.

Her creations during her time at Symrise include BDK Parfums‘ Velvet Tonka. With founder David Benedek, she explored the scent of Moroccan pastries his grandmother used to make.

“The scent of tonka bean has always been reminiscent of Proust’s madeleines for me.”
Alexandra Carlin — BDK Parfums’ official presentation of Velvet Tonka

The soft powderiness and woody facets of tonka bean combine with almond and orange blossom, opening into an accord reminiscent of vanilla and honey. An accord is a coherent scent composed of several materials. Here, the names of plants and molecules become tools for expressing remembered pastries. Both a base and a finished perfume involve designing relationships between materials.

Training Perfumers Within the Company

Symrise’s Perfumery School is an internal program for training the company’s perfumers. Entry is through company recruitment. Vacancies appear on the official careers page, while educational and career pathways are described under Graduates. It differs from a school admitting the public in exchange for tuition fees.

Training formats have changed with time and recruitment region. In 2007, the program restarted with two years in Holzminden followed by two years abroad. A 2021 recruitment announcement for university graduates in North and Latin America described a five-year course starting in April 2022: three years in Holzminden followed by two years at creative centers worldwide.

Training goes beyond learning materials and formulas. In 2023, trainees walked through Berlin’s forests and city, translating their impressions into watercolors and then into scents. Forest plants, city sounds, and people’s movements became exercises in turning experiences received through different senses into olfactory compositions.

“Our training program combines science, craftsmanship, and inspiration.”
Marc vom Ende, head of perfumer training — Symrise’s announcement of its final examinations, June 27, 2025

The 2025 examinations addressed topics including ingredient regulations, fragrance performance in detergents, and the creative possibilities of the South African plant buchu. Trainees learn not only about perfume, but also how materials work in different products and conditions. The perfumer and junior-perfumer designations awarded at completion belong within the company’s training and professional framework.

Routes into fragrance education include recruitment-based company training and specialist courses open to general applicants. The differences are also explained in the guide to perfume and perfumer qualifications and education.

Tracing Symrise’s history reveals connections between new molecules, scents extracted from plants, knowledge of composing bases, and time invested in training perfumers. Alongside an expanding range of materials, knowledge of how to use them is passed on. Together, they support the next possibilities in perfume.