Farina 1709 — The Memory of an Italian Spring That Gave Birth to the Term “Eau de Cologne”

“I have found a fragrance that reminds me of a spring morning in Italy. Bergamot after the rain, mountain narcissus, orange blossom. It refreshes me and awakens my senses and imagination.”
——Johann Maria Farina, from a letter to his brother

Today, many people associate “eau de cologne” with a light, refreshing concentration of perfume. But the term was not originally a common noun. It began when a young man who had moved from northern Italy to Cologne, Germany, named his perfume Eau de Cologne (Water of Cologne) in tribute to his second home.

Farina 1709 is not simply an old perfume brand. It is a house with a rare history: the name of its signature creation was imitated, spread, and eventually became the name of an entire genre of perfume.

Basic Information
The Founder and the Origins of the Brand
What Matters to the Brand
The Fragrance Lineup
An Aside: The Relationship with 4711

Basic Information

Brand name: Farina 1709
Official company name: Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz GmbH
Established: July 13, 1709, in Cologne, Germany
Founder of the original business: Giovanni Battista Farina (German name: Johann Baptist Farina)
Creator of the perfume: Giovanni Maria Farina (German name: Johann Maria Farina, 1685–1766)
Today: A family business involving the eighth and ninth generations of the Farina family
Official website：https://farina1709.com/

The phrase gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz in the official company name means “opposite Jülichs Square.” To distinguish the business from imitators using similar names, the shop’s location itself became an identifying mark. In time, the name “Farina gegenüber” (“Farina opposite”) came to serve a trademark-like role.

It was the elder brother, Giovanni Battista, who registered the shop that became the starting point of the company in 1709; his younger brother, Johann Maria, was the creator of the fragrance. Although the brand today often describes Johann Maria as its founder, the company’s history is easier to understand when the brothers’ roles are distinguished.

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

Santa Maria Maggiore, the Fragrance’s Homeland

Johann Maria Farina was born on December 8, 1685, in Santa Maria Maggiore, in what is now Piedmont in northern Italy. Growing up in the Valle Vigezzo near the Alps, he learned the art of distillation at a young age and honed his ability to distinguish the quality of natural essences by smell.

The fragrance he would later create was something close to an attempt to capture the landscape of his homeland in a bottle: bergamot, lemon, orange, flowers, herbs, and the damp air after rain. The words preserved in his letter to his brother reveal personal memories of distant Italy.

Johann Maria also moved to Cologne and began working as a merchant. His elder brother, Giovanni Battista, founded “G. B. Farina” in Cologne on July 13, 1709. Initially, the business focused on galanterie goods such as silk, lace, and accessories: the luxury fashion goods of the day. Scented water was not yet its main product. Johann Maria formally joined the business in 1714.

Clarity in an Age of Heavy Fragrances

In early eighteenth-century high society, rich, heavy fragrances built around musk and similar materials were common. Johann Maria, by contrast, composed a bright, highly volatile fragrance by dissolving citrus essential oils, including bergamot, in high-purity alcohol. What was new was his emphasis on a fresh citrus impression, distinct from heavy animalic scents.

He gave the scented waters previously known by names such as “aqua mirabilis” (“miracle water”) the French name Eau de Cologne. At the time, French was the shared language of Europe’s courts and international trade. The name “Water of Cologne” expressed both gratitude to his adopted home and an awareness of the European market.

Madame Billy of Aachen is recorded as a customer in 1716. In 1721, 24 bottles went to Paris, and between 1730 and 1739, approximately 3,700 bottles were shipped to 39 destinations. In a letter written in 1747, Johann Maria noted that his fragrance was already known throughout Europe. In the 1750s, 12,371 bottles were sold to French customers alone.

Becoming “Farina Opposite”

After the death of his elder brother, Giovanni Battista, Johann Maria continued the business under his own name from 1733. Its base was on Obenmarspforten in Cologne’s old town, opposite Jülichs Square. This location gave rise to the lengthy official company name, “Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz.”

In the eighteenth century, perfume was not something everyone could routinely afford. Made with costly natural ingredients, Farina’s fragrance was a luxury for royalty, aristocrats, and the wealthy. In the 1730s, its customers included Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, King Frederick William I of Prussia, and Clemens August, Elector of Cologne, and it continued to spread to Europe’s courts.

After French forces occupied Cologne in 1794, soldiers and officers helped spread the fragrance by taking it home with them. Napoleon and the Bonaparte family also became customers, and nineteenth-century order records survive for Goethe, Beethoven, Queen Victoria, and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Records also survive of Queen Victoria’s order for 600 bottles and Goethe’s request for “six bottles” in 1802.

How a Name Became a Genre

Success also attracted imitation. With no modern trademark system in place at the time, businesses calling themselves “Farina” proliferated. Wilhelm Mülhens, who sold perfume on Cologne’s Glockengasse from 1799, also used the surname of an unrelated Farina and adopted “Franz Maria Farina” as his company name. This was the business later known as “4711.”

The original house pursued a long legal battle, and in 1873 the Mülhens business was prohibited from using the Farina name. The fourth-generation Jean Marie Farina had been seeking legal trademark protection since 1836, and that campaign led to the enactment of the German Empire’s Trademark Protection Act in 1874. After it took effect the following year, in 1875, Farina became the first company in Cologne to register its label as a trademark.

Ironically, the distinctive product name “Eau de Cologne” spread around the world and became a generic term for perfume of a light concentration. The brand’s greatest success had made it impossible to retain exclusive use of the name. This nearly 300-year history of imitation lies behind Farina’s emphasis today on “Original Eau de Cologne.”

Three Centuries Preserved by a Family

The Farina family has preserved not only the fragrance but also ledgers, orders, letters, and delivery records. Its continuous corporate archive dating from 1709 is what makes it possible to discuss famous customers’ use of the perfume through order records rather than mere legend.

The red tulip logo that still symbolizes the brand was introduced in 1924. In 2003, a fragrance museum opened inside the historic Farina House, telling the history of perfume through eau de cologne production equipment, bottles from different periods, ingredients, and documents.

Today, the business is run by the eighth-generation Johann Maria Farina and his daughter, the ninth-generation Christina Maria Luise Farina, commonly known as Luise Farina. Luise is the first woman to take a leading role as a direct-line successor, and as a perfumer she reinterprets historical ingredients in contemporary fragrances.

“I wanted to create something with my own handwriting while respecting the history I had inherited.”
——Luise Farina, on the Série Extrait de Cologne

What Matters to the Brand

Fragrance Begins with the Quality of Its Ingredients

In the eighteenth century, Johann Maria wrote to a bergamot supplier: “I do not want ordinary essences. Only the highest quality.” These brief words express Farina’s approach most succinctly.

The scent of natural ingredients varies with the harvest year and place of origin. Reproducing the same formula therefore requires more than simply following a recipe: it calls for a “nose” capable of assessing and adjusting that year’s materials. The eighth-generation Johann Maria likewise says that poor ingredients cannot produce excellent quality, and emphasizes that the founder sourced many essential oils and raw materials from Grasse.

The bergamot at the heart of Original Eau de Cologne is still sourced directly from producers in Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. The meeting of Italian sensibility, Cologne’s sense of place, and the refinement of French perfume culture gives Farina its consistent character.

A Secret Formula and Family Succession

The exact original formula is not made public and is passed down within the family. More important than its secrecy, however, is the preservation across the ages of its structure: the brightness of citrus centered on bergamot, the softness of flowers, and the gentle lingering impression of musk and amber.

Luise says she thinks about the impact over ten or twenty years and on the next generation rather than short-term sales. Her father repeatedly told her, “Start with the product. Quality is the reason people return.” Tradition is not about freezing an old design in place, but about protecting quality that stands up to repeat purchases over the long term. Farina’s family business has continued to put that philosophy into practice.

Rosolie and the Red Tulip

“Rosolie” is an emblematic flacon that carries on the slender bottle design of Farina’s early years. Johann Maria once personally signed every bottle sent to a customer. Today’s Rosolie retains its well-proportioned, elongated form and screw cap, giving visual expression to the fragrance’s origins.

The red tulip, adopted in 1924, meanwhile became a mark that distinguished the original house in a market full of imitations. Today’s restrained packaging centers on white and red, reflecting the philosophy Luise expresses as: “Our beauty lies in the simplicity of our products, packaging, and message.”

The Fragrance Lineup

Original Eau de Cologne

This is the heart of the brand and the starting point for everything. Fragrance databases classify it as “citrus aromatic.” Bergamot, lemon, bitter orange, and lime form the top notes; jasmine and neroli the heart; and amber and musk the base. Its opening is almost sharply bright, but the composition is more than a simple citrus water, leaving a delicate veil of flowers and a soft warmth.

It is not a fragrance that competes in dense projection or long-lasting scent. It suits the original way of wearing eau de cologne: creating a sense of cleanliness close to the skin and reapplying as needed. Alongside standard bottles, the range includes Rosolie bottles recreating the design of the house’s early years, roll-ons, and refills.

Série Extrait de Cologne

This collection of six fragrances, developed by ninth-generation Luise with creative director Nicola Pozzani and the perfumery team, carries the brand into its next chapter. Rather than simply making a stronger version of the original, it takes each of its six core elements—bergamot, mandarin, neroli, jasmine, musk, and amber—and reconstructs it as a contemporary, high-concentration perfume.

No. I Bergamote Admirable: Layers the vividness of bergamot with a character reminiscent of sweet pâtisserie.
No. II Mandarine Bonheur: A bright, multifaceted citrus built around three types of mandarin: green, yellow, and red.
No. III Néroli Après la Pluie: Taking the founder’s words “after the rain” as its starting point and drawing inspiration from the Orangery at Versailles, it depicts the leaves, flowers, fruit, and branches of bitter orange.
No. IV Jasmin Méditerranée: A vibrant jasmine reminiscent of a summer evening on the Mediterranean.
No. V Eau Musquée: A contrast between bright citrus and clean, sensual musk.
No. VI Sillage Ambré: A lingering impression that moves from Italian bergamot to modern, mineral amber, moss, and wood.

Development took approximately two years, with a small perfumery team producing hundreds of trials for each fragrance. This is “Original Eau de Cologne broken down into six olfactory portraits”: an attempt to carry history forward through reinterpretation rather than preservation.

Tina Farina

In the 1980s, Tina Farina brought together fragrance, astrology, and personality types to conceive eaux de parfum corresponding to each of the twelve zodiac signs. Rather than imposing the zodiac as a means of determining fate, the series lets people choose a fragrance according to a personality they identify with.

Names such as “Feeling” for Pisces, “Harmony” for Libra, “Creativity” for Aquarius, and “Charme” for Taurus themselves describe a character. The line also demonstrates that Farina’s history did not stop with the original fragrance alone, but has branched out through the individual sensibilities of later generations of the family.

Cuir de Russie (Eau de Toilette)

A leather fragrance inspired by the glamorous way of life of the 1920s. It opens with lemon, bergamot, and basil, passes through fern, clove, vetiver, cedar, and cinnamon, and settles into leather, musk, styrax, moss, and vanilla. In contrast to the transparent citrus of the original, it reveals a classic, deeply shaded side of the house.

An Aside: The Relationship with 4711

“4711” is widely known as a perfume from Cologne. Farina was founded in 1709, while 4711 officially dates its origins to 1792. The company history provided by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, meanwhile, dates Mülhens’s sale of eau de cologne on Glockengasse to 1799. In any case, the two perfume brands have different lineages.

This very confusion is the key to understanding the meaning of Farina’s red tulip, its lengthy official company name, and the word “Original.” Farina 1709 is not a brand that later recreated a famous style. A fragrance made by an immigrant imagining spring in his homeland took on the name of a city and eventually became a classification of perfume. The house still stands at that starting point.

In Japan, the brand received its first official launch at “Salon de Parfum 2025” in October 2025, with November 1 of the same year announced as the start of nationwide sales. Original Eau de Cologne and Rosolie were introduced, making it possible, after more than 300 years, to experience “the origin of eau de cologne” in Japan.

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