J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin: Germany’s Only Historic Perfume Brand, Capturing Berlin’s Memories in Scent

“France, Italy, and Britain have perfume brands with long traditions. Why was there nothing like that in the German-speaking world? That had always puzzled me. And it was what led me down this path.”
— Lutz Herrmann, Creative Director

Essential Information

Established: 1856
Founder: Joachim Friedrich Schwarzlose
Current creative director: Lutz Herrmann
Perfumer: Véronique Nyberg
Official website: schwarzloseberlin.com

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

From Piano Maker to Apothecary: Near Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt in 1856

Originally a piano maker, Joachim Friedrich Schwarzlose opened “J.F. Schwarzlose Söhne,” an apothecary and colonial-goods shop, at 29 Markgrafenstraße in central Berlin in 1856. He embarked on this business venture with the single-minded wish to support his family and give his children secure occupations and a future.

Not long after opening, Schwarzlose acquired the perfume manufacturer “Treu & Nuglisch,” shifting its focus decisively toward perfumery. The prestigious company had supplied royal courts, and its aristocratic clientele naturally gravitated toward Schwarzlose’s new perfume shop.

Purveyor to His Majesty: Alongside Berlin’s Golden Age

From the 1880s onward, Schwarzlose obtained the title of supplier to the Prussian royal family, and its reputation spread beyond Berlin throughout Europe. In 1897, Franz Köthner joined as a business partner, and the company also came to bear the title “Purveyor to the Court of His Majesty the Emperor and King.” The discovery of a Schwarzlose flacon, or perfume bottle, from that period in the collection of Puyi, China’s last emperor, speaks to the brand’s international standing.

In 1873, during this same era, Schwarzlose made its name around the world with an invention: a patent for a migraine stick called “Crayon Anti-Migraine.” For the ten years before the patent became freely available in 1883, this stick-shaped product was a hit across Europe. It is also said to be a precursor of later stick-format cosmetics, including lipstick.

In 1896, Schwarzlose also launched “Aureol,” a hair colorant developed by chemist Ernst Erdmann without metallic additives. Lutz Herrmann says this name was later adapted into French as “L’Oréal.”

The Turn of the Century: An Age of “Olfactory Fantasy”

By the early 1900s, Schwarzlose had grown into an international brand, exporting its perfumes to Spain, Asia, Australia, and America.

“Fashion in the early 1900s still called for perfumes that reproduced the natural scents of flowers such as lily of the valley, violet, rose, and lilac as faithfully as possible. At the same time, however, the art of constructing olfactory fantasies was becoming increasingly important.”

Schwarzlose was quick to adopt the latest scientific approach of combining natural ingredients with synthetic fragrance molecules, or aroma molecules. This was described as a revolution comparable to “inventing new musical notes” or “giving painters colors they had never seen.” In the 1920s, the company also introduced to English-speaking markets a “perfume vending machine” for spraying fragrance onto handkerchiefs, said to have been the world’s first.

After weathering the harsh inflation of the 1930s, the company opened a modernized new store at 113 Leipziger Straße in September 1930. During the turbulent twenties of the Weimar Republic, Schwarzlose created perfumes such as “1A-33,” “Treffpunkt 8 Uhr,” “Trance,” and “Spanisch Leder.” These were the works that would later return as part of the modern collection.

World War II and Closure: Followed by 36 Years of Silence

In 1944, the bombing of Berlin completely destroyed Schwarzlose’s factory and stores by fire. The archives, including all its past formulation records, had also been reduced to ashes in a fire in 1943. After the war, the company attempted to rebuild with assistance from the Marshall Plan, but the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 brought the difficulty of a physical divide between its factory in the East and its sales office in the West. Then, in 1976, the city authorities ordered the factory to relocate to a nonresidential area, bringing at least 120 years of history to a close.

“J.F. Schwarzlose Söhne” thus closed its doors, and the brand fell asleep for 36 years.

2012: Revival Led by Lutz Herrmann

The revival was led by packaging designer Lutz Herrmann, who had designed perfume bottles for global brands such as Joop! and Hugo Boss since the 1980s.

He recalls:

“There are very few historic perfume brands in Germany. Yet in France and Italy, even the lineages of perfumers who worked for Marie de’ Medici still survive. That had always puzzled me. As I pieced together the history of Schwarzlose, I became completely absorbed in this magnificent story.”

Herrmann researched national archives and collected vintage flacons and documents. Together with communications expert Tamas Tagscherer, he revived the brand as “J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin.” The two formed a close bond with Jutta Jank-Trabant, the last heir of the Schwarzlose family, who still visits the revived brand’s office as a cherished guest.

In 2018, René Dominik, a longtime acquaintance of Lutz Herrmann, joined as a managing partner. Dominik says:

“Very few perfume brands with a long history remain in Germany. A brand for connoisseurs like J.F. Schwarzlose is an extremely precious presence to me.”

The present partnership includes Herrmann, Dominik, Frank Hoffmann, and Lars Börgel, among others. The office occupies a loft in an old factory in Berlin’s Moabit district, very close to the site of the former factory.

What Defines the Brand

“The Fragrance Takes Center Stage”: A Flacon with a Bauhaus Aesthetic

The flacon’s design is thoroughly minimalist. Lutz Herrmann describes the design concept as follows:

“The design of the flacon is deliberately restrained. Behind it is the belief that the fragrance should quietly unfold its world, never be pushed into the background by excessive ornament of any kind.”

A substantial glass base, an embossed brand logo, and a hand-fitted brass cap all pay homage to the original flacons of the early 1900s. The logotype is based on the old logo, while the cap design carries the influence of Eduard Ludwig, a Bauhaus architect and pupil of Mies van der Rohe. Ludwig redesigned the entire Schwarzlose brand from 1948 onward. Some historic flacons were also designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld, a designer trained at the Bauhaus.

Lutz Herrmann explains the visual identity:

“In our graphic approach, we keep the brand and packaging simple and clear. Berlin’s heritage is rooted in the spirit of early Bauhaus rather than ornament.”

Reinterpretation Without the Old Recipes: The Challenge of Chromatographic Analysis

With all the formulation records lost in the 1943 fire, contemporary perfumer Véronique Nyberg estimated the original formulas through “sophisticated chromatographic analysis” of old flacons, then created modern reinterpretations from there. Chromatography is a chemical analytical method used to separate and identify the components of a mixture.

Herrmann describes the difficulty:

“The old formulas no longer exist. All the archives went up in flames in 1943, and when the company closed in 1976, no one kept anything either. Véronique was therefore given the task of preserving the foundation of the old fragrances while adding something of her own. It is always a balancing act on a tightrope, but she handles it beautifully.”

There is also the constraint that EU regulations mean many ingredients used at the time can no longer be used today. The result is therefore not an exact restoration, but a “re-creation through the spirit of the present.”

Sustainability and “Made in Germany”

Since its revival in 2012, Schwarzlose Berlin has maintained a policy of sourcing all its ingredients and packaging from Europe. The perfume oils are supplied by MANE in Paris, where Nyberg is based, and final assembly takes place at a factory near Frankfurt under EU and German quality standards. Herrmann says:

“In 2012, sustainability was not yet a common topic in the perfume industry. The prevailing wisdom was ‘more is more.’ But as a designer, I had always been aware that making things also means producing waste.”

A Gender-Free Philosophy of Fragrance

All Schwarzlose Berlin fragrances are positioned as unisex. Herrmann explains why:

“The culture of scent has no gender. Whether you are a woman, a man, transgender, or otherwise, fragrance should stir the soul and resonate within it, to the point where gender disappears.”

The Fragrance Collection

The current collection has two broad pillars: a “Heritage Line” of reinterpretations from the old Schwarzlose archives, and a “Contemporary Line” inspired by present-day Berlin.

Heritage Line: Revivals from the Archives

• 1A-33 — One of the brand’s signature perfumes. Linden blossom, magnolia, jasmine, mandarin, and red pepper. Its name comes from Berlin’s old license-plate system, introduced in 1906: “I” stood for Prussia, “A” for Berlin, and “33” was the number for Moabit, the district where the factory was located. The fragrance of linden blossoms on Berlin’s grand boulevard Unter den Linden, meaning “under the linden trees,” embodies the city’s atmosphere.
• Treffpunkt 8 Uhr — German for “a rendezvous at eight.” Mango blossom, ginger, sage, and vetiver. A fragrance expressing the anticipation of a rendezvous, filled with expectation and nervous excitement. Lutz Herrmann names it as one of his personal favorites in the collection.
• Trance — Centered on Turkish rose, with absinthe, cistus absolute, a fragrance material derived from rockrose, and spices. Powdery and mysterious in texture.
• Leder 6 — A modern reinterpretation of “Spanisch Leder” from the old collection. “Dark leather,” “saffron,” “vanilla,” “davana,” “patchouli,” “oud,” and “incense.” René Dominik names it as a winter staple.
• 20|20 — Inspired by “Chic” from the 1920s. Amber, musk, and leatherwood. Herrmann explains the name: “We spent a long time thinking about a name that would bring the old idea of ‘Chic’ into the present. The pandemic made 2020 an unusual year, but independently of that, we chose this simple, intuitive name.”
• Rosa Centifolia — A modern reinterpretation of the 1912 original. An iconic fragrance for the brand, its reinterpretation took a full ten years. Rose, benzoin, patchouli, amberwood, pink pepper, and geranium. Herrmann says: “The original in this flacon still gives off a powerful, distinctive scent. Capturing that while modernizing it at the same time was difficult.”

Contemporary Line: Inspired by Modern Berlin

• Rausch — German for “intoxication” or “ecstasy.” Red pepper, sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla beans, amber, and oud. A sensual fragrance inspired by Berlin’s legendary nightlife.
• Zeitgeist — German for “the spirit of the times.” Officially described as “a fusion of sensuality and freshness, an embodiment of the multifaceted present.”
• Altruist — A collaboration with Berlin artist Paul DeFlorian. Bergamot, lemon, ginger, rose, orange blossom, nutmeg, black pepper, cedar, vetiver, and patchouli. Winner in the Independent category at the 2017 Art and Olfaction Awards.
• Fougair — Fern accord, bergamot, boxwood, artemisia, and cypress. A modern interpretation of fougère, the French word for “fern” and also the name of a traditional fragrance family.
• Etrango — Red pepper, davana, nectarine liqueur, benzoin, tobacco, balsam fir, vetiver, and guaiac wood.
• Leder 6.9 — A richer, warmer reinterpretation of Leder 6.

The brand also offers room fragrances, LEDER, BERLINER LINDE, and ZEITGEIST, as well as the travel-size “Captives” series, which allows customers to freely combine three fragrances.

By the Way

• Historic Schwarzlose flacons are still held in a museum in New York and in Beijing’s Palace Museum, the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City’s holdings form part of the collection of Puyi, China’s last emperor.
• The ceremony at which “Altruist” received the Independent category award at the fourth Art and Olfaction Awards in 2017 took place at Berlin’s Silent Green Kulturquartier.
• Schwarzlose Berlin is said to be the only perfume brand featured in “The Major German Brands,” a publication of the German Design Council, or Rat für Formgebung. The publication is distributed internationally by the German government and its diplomatic missions to introduce German design culture.
• Herrmann positions the brand not as “niche perfumery” but as an “artistic perfume brand.” His stance is: “We do not look at competitors or trends. We look at our own roots.”