Maison Violet: A Sleeping Beauty Awakens 190 Years On

“We hope Maison Violet can become a moment of poetry. In a world where everything moves fast and so many brands compete to shout the loudest, we want to whisper something meaningful.”
── Anthony Toulemonde, co-founder​

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Essential Information

• Established: 1827, Paris
• Founder: François-Étienne Violet
• Revived: 2017
• Revival founders: Anthony Toulemonde, Paul Richardot, and Victorien Sirot
• Master perfumer: Nathalie Lorson, DSM-Firmenich
• Official website: maisonviolet.com​

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The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

A Soap and Fragrance Workshop Blossoms in Paris, 1827–1850s

Maison Violet’s origins date back to Paris in 1827, when François-Étienne Violet opened a perfume and soap shop in the rue Saint-Denis area. Given that Guerlain was founded in 1828, Violet predates it by one year, making it one of the oldest houses in French perfume history. Distinguished contemporaries included Lubin and Piver, and alongside them Violet embodied “the beauty of Parisian perfumery.”

Early Violet was known not only for perfume but also for high-quality soap. It held numerous patents, and Savon Royal de Thridace, a soap made with lettuce juice and honey, became virtually synonymous with the house. Honey, a natural humectant, kept the skin smooth, while lettuce extract was said to soothe and soften it, making the formula innovative for its time.

The Glory of Royal Patronage, 1850s–1860s

In the mid-nineteenth century, Violet took a major leap forward by receiving the royal “seal of approval.” It became an official supplier to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, and Queen Isabella II of Spain. Special products were also developed for Eugénie, including Eau de Beauté de Sa Majesté, “Her Majesty’s Beauty Water.”

The bee motif still engraved on every bottle symbolizes these royal connections. The bee was an emblem of the French Empire, also used in Napoleon I’s coat of arms, and held special significance for merchants honored with supplying royalty. On March 4, 1858, the trademark “À la Reine des Abeilles,” meaning “At the Queen Bee,” was officially registered with the Paris Chamber of Commerce, and the shop was renamed “Violet, À la Reine des Abeilles.” A manifesto signed by the director at the time, Louis Claye, stated that “any product without this trademark is counterfeit.”

At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, Louis Claye’s work was highly acclaimed, and several of the house’s products won awards. The following year, Jules Chéret designed its packaging and advertising campaign.

Five Arcades at the Grand Hôtel, from 1868

In 1868, Violet opened a magnificent boutique occupying five arcades in the rotunda of the Grand Hôtel at 12 boulevard des Capucines in Paris. The magazine L’Univers illustré reported at the time:

“Who does not know the name Violet? Its products, bearing the Queen Bee trademark, have gained acceptance throughout the world through their incomparable excellence. Monsieur Claye has splendidly opened a sumptuous sales salon to welcome all the beautiful women of Paris.”​

The boutique is said to have contained a fragrant garden called the “flower boudoir” and a “boudoir of surprises,” where customers who entered looking tired could emerge with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes.​

Sadly, this “paradise of fragrance and elegance” was reduced to ashes during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. By 1874, however, the Violet sign once again stood on boulevard des Capucines. At the time of Louis Claye’s death, Violet ranked among France’s ten leading perfume houses.

International Expansion and the Aaron-Marc Rehns Era, 1885–1929

Around 1885, Aaron-Marc Rehns, from Alsace, acquired Maison Violet. He reorganized the business as a partnership limited by shares and listed it on the Paris stock exchange with capital of two million francs. Rehns established a new headquarters at 29 boulevard des Italiens while retaining the rue Saint-Denis and boulevard des Capucines stores. At least 250 workers at the factory in La Plaine Saint-Denis blew glass bottles, filled them, and packed them, as the company shifted strongly toward export markets.

At the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition, the perfume Ambre Royal won a Grand Prix. Rehns signed a franchise agreement with the New York-based Frank M. Prindle Company, making a full-scale entry into the American market. Because Americans associated the name “Violet” solely with the scent of violets, the brand was renamed “Ve-O-Lay” at Prindle’s suggestion.

During this period, Violet, or Ve-O-Lay, also gained renown for the artistry of its containers, including luxurious crystal bottles by Baccarat and René Lalique and Art Nouveau flacons by Lucien Gaillard. At the 1925 Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts, it again won a Grand Prix with creations including Sketch and Pourpre d’Automne.

The Shadow of War, Followed by Silence, 1930s–1953

Violet continued to release new products actively into the 1930s, introducing at least ten new perfumes and skin-care products even in the period immediately before the Second World War.

War, however, cast a dark shadow over the house. The Rehns family was Jewish and is said to have been affected by the Vichy regime’s policy of “Aryanisation,” the transfer of Jewish assets into “Aryan” ownership. Records concerning Maison Violet almost entirely cease from this period onward. Years later, Anthony and his fellow revival founders were able to meet a descendant of the Rehns family, a great-great-granddaughter of Marc-Aaron Rehns, before her death. They confirmed that some family members had been deported during the occupation.​

After the war, the Rehns family regained the house but could not restore its former glory. The brand gradually declined. Nuée Bleue, one of its final creations, appeared in 1953, or 1955 according to some sources. Thereafter, Violet fell completely silent and faded from people’s memories.

Discovering the “Sleeping Beauty,” 2015

Around sixty years passed. Three young men who met at the École Supérieure du Parfum, or ESP, the higher school of perfumery in Paris, would change its fate.

Anthony Toulemonde, Paul Richardot, and Victorien Sirot met in their first year at ESP and quickly became close friends. Fascinated by vintage perfumes and historical perfumery, they regularly attended lectures at the Osmothèque, the perfume conservatory, and spent their days hunting for old flacons at flea markets.

“Curiosity was what drove us. The revival of Violet happened very naturally.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

During internships in the summer of their third year, they happened upon the name “Violet.”

“Here was an enormous house that had once employed 250 people and had even been listed on the Paris stock exchange, yet it had vanished completely. Nobody had ever mentioned Violet in our classes or at conferences. That was truly strange to us, and it sparked our curiosity.”
── Anthony Toulemonde, in an interview with PlezuroMag​

The three investigated like “detectives,” gathering every vintage bottle, old newspaper advertisement, postcard, and other trace they could find. They needed money to buy back the rights from the investment company that held the Violet trademark. Although other brands could have been acquired for free, it had to be Violet.​

Meeting Nathalie Lorson and the Revival, 2016–2017

Having acquired the brand rights, the trio still lacked the confidence to compose the fragrances of such a historic house entirely by themselves.​

“Violet was such a great house that we felt we were not at its level, and we were a little afraid.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

The turning point was meeting Nathalie Lorson, who had been invited to ESP as a guest lecturer. A master perfumer at DSM-Firmenich, Nathalie has roots in Grasse in the South of France. After the lecture, the three asked exceptionally specific, technical questions, clearly unlike ordinary student questions. Intrigued, Nathalie asked why, and they hinted at their still-secret project.

“A few weeks later, as we were considering what to do about our first perfumes, we thought of Nathalie. When we told her about the project, she really liked it and said she would join us. That chance meeting at school led to this wonderful collaboration.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

Collaboration with Nathalie began in 2016, and in November 2017 Maison Violet returned with its first three perfumes, 190 years after its founding.

The division of responsibilities is clear. Victorien handles management, finance, and production oversight. Anthony is most closely involved in fragrance creation with Nathalie Lorson and also acts as the brand’s spokesperson. Paul is responsible for storytelling and creative inspiration. Start-up funding came from the trio’s own resources and the support of close friends who believed in the project.

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The Brand’s Commitments

A “Retro-Modern” Aesthetic

Maison Violet describes its style as “retro-modern.” Rather than reproducing old perfumes exactly, it aims to revive their vintage “poetry and depth” through a contemporary sensibility.

“Vintage perfumery has richness, elegance, and complexity. But wearing perfume a hundred years ago was not the same experience as wearing it today. So we want to capture the poetic soul of the past while creating fragrances that are wearable in the present.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

“We felt that the lyricism of that era still had relevance today. At the same time, abstraction is another distinctive quality of Violet, setting it apart from the niche trend of putting ingredient names front and center.”
── Anthony Toulemonde, in an article by the Fragrance Foundation France​

A Signature Material: Iris Pallida

The “red thread,” or fil rouge, running through every Maison Violet creation is Iris pallida, a species of iris used in perfumery. Iris is among the most expensive perfume materials and is distinguished by a powdery, refined texture. Its “violet-colored flowers” also offer a subtle homage to the name Violet.

“Iris is my favorite ingredient. Every time I worked with Nathalie, I would always ask her to add more iris. Eventually, it became a signature.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

Deliberately using an expensive natural material in every creation is both a mark of quality and a defense against imitation. It carries forward the same spirit with which Louis Claye once stamped products with the bee trademark to combat counterfeits.​

The Bee Stamp and Packaging Design

The circular bee stamp on the bottles reproduces the original design discovered in a historical commercial register preserved at Paris’s Musée de la Contrefaçon, the Museum of Counterfeiting. Designer Hadrien de Chaume created the bottle design as part of a comprehensive approach encompassing the logo, packaging, and bottle shape. The result references history while remaining polished and modern.

Vegan Formulas, Sustainability, and Social Contributions

Co-founder Anthony is himself vegan, and all the perfumes have vegan formulas. Environmental care extends to the smallest details, including cushioning made from 100% natural, biodegradable cornstarch, shipping boxes containing at least 75% recycled materials, and kraft-paper tape.

As part of its social contributions, an average of 16.5% of the profits from Tanagra is donated to the Solidarité Femmes federation, which supports women affected by domestic violence. Donations from sales of Cycle 001 also go to the bee-protection organization Bee Fund.​

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The Fragrance Lineup

Maison Violet’s perfumes are currently organized into three main collections. Creation is carried out through DSM-Firmenich, with creative work in Paris and production in Switzerland.​

Héritage Collection

The main collection inherits the names and olfactory families of celebrated creations from the former Violet house, reinterpreting them in a “retro-modern” style. All are composed by Nathalie Lorson. Since none of the old formulas has been found, the fragrances were developed by smelling the remnants in surviving vintage bottles and expanding on the imagery suggested by their names.​

Fragrance	Original / Revival Year	Main Notes	Characteristics
Un Air d’Apogée	1932 / 2017	Leather, mimosa, tobacco	Originally Apogée. An anecdote says headspace analysis of a Jaguar car’s leather seats served as a reference​
Pourpre d’Automne	1924 / 2017	Iris, violet, rose, plum	A chypre evoking morning dew in an autumn forest​
Sketch	1900 / 2017	Patchouli, tuberose, nutmeg, tonka bean	Originally Ambre Royal. Renamed Sketch in 1924
Nuée Bleue	1953 / Around 2017	Bergamot, iris, sandalwood, musk	Violet’s final creation. Its name, “blue mist,” inspired the calm before a storm
Tanagra	1903 / 2018	Peony, iris, jasmine, musk	Inspired by ancient Greek figurines. Part of sales is donated to an organization supporting women affected by domestic violence
Compliment	1939 / 2021	Tuberose, jasmine, orange blossom	In a remarkable coincidence, an old flacon found after the new release also turned out to contain a white floral fragrance​
Abîme	1930 / Date unknown	Incense, palo santo, pepper, labdanum	A meditative, mysterious woody fragrance true to its name, “abyss”​
Pour Rêver	1926 / 2024	Hazelnut, marron glacé, cacao, iris	The house’s tenth creation, composed by Nathalie Lorson

The story behind Compliment is intriguing. Anthony recalls:

“We did not know what this perfume had smelled like, so we decided to work on a bouquet of white flowers with Nathalie. After its release, we acquired an old flacon, and, remarkably, it really had been built around a white-flower accord.”
── Anthony Toulemonde​

Cycle Collection

A limited-edition series expressing a more contemporary vision beyond Héritage’s framework of returning to vintage perfumery.

• Cycle 001: An extrait de parfum built around angelica seeds, the seeds of a plant in the Apiaceae family, with iris, pepper, Ambroxan, incense, and white musk. It was composed by Patrice Revillard and is the only creation involving a perfumer other than Nathalie Lorson. Released in a limited edition of 1,000 refillable bottles, it achieved 110% of its Kickstarter goal. Eco-friendly aluminum refill cans are also available.

Les Expressions Collection

The latest collection, unveiled in 2025. Whereas Héritage is rooted in the house’s history, this line begins with the personal scent memories of the three men who revived it.

• California Blossom: A citrus-floral fragrance based on Anthony’s childhood memories of fresh breezes playing through Californian orange groves and an endless summer.
• Rivage: A marine-aromatic fragrance recreating Paul’s memories of rough waves and cold morning air in Brittany’s Quiberon Bay in winter.
• Musc Angélique: A reissue of Cycle 001. After the limited edition sold out, the creation was brought into the permanent line in response to customers’ requests.

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By the Way…

• Violet and the Moulin Rouge: When an art student commissioned by the Moulin Rouge contacted Violet, the founders reportedly learned that the brand had once provided fragrance for the cabaret’s shows.​
• Lipstick found in a Polish forest: Someone discovered a Violet lipstick while walking in a forest in Poland.​
• Eau de cologne at the bottom of a well: Someone also unearthed a Violet eau de cologne flacon from the bottom of a well and contacted the trio to have it dated.​​
• At least 108 items in the catalogue: According to French Wikipedia, Violet’s historical catalogue listed at least 108 products.​

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