Structure, sensuality, and the return of German perfumery
Interview: Lutz Herrmann for Elevated Classics Magazine
When we talk about perfume heritage, most people default to France. Guerlain. Dior. Caron. If the story widens, Italy is brought in for sensual leather and sunlit Mediterranean florals. Germany rarely comes up. Which makes no sense if you actually look at how modern perfumery was built.
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
By the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, German perfumery was more than soap and cologne. It was chemistry, precision manufacturing, and a new way of thinking about scent. German chemists such as Haarmann & Reimer and Albert Baur were pioneering aroma molecules and synthetic notes. That work changed everything. It let perfumers move beyond copying a single raw flower and instead create abstractions that felt modern and almost architectural. You could now build ideas, not just bouquets. French houses ran with that vocabulary and made legend out of it. Germany helped invent the language those legends were written in.
Berlin had its own fragrance scene during that era. It had serious houses, not just boutiques with romantic backstories. One of the most respected was J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin.
The house began in 1856, when Joachim Friedrich Schwarzlose, originally a piano maker, opened a chemist’s shop and colonial goods store near Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. He set it up as a working family business, something durable that could support his children and train them in a trade. They produced soap, hair care, candles, and perfume. This was not a vanity project. It was an operation.
By 1880, the Schwarzlose family had acquired the title of royal purveyor to the court. Supplying the Prussian Royal Household, and eventually the Imperial Court, brought status and reach. The house was known in Berlin, then across Europe, then abroad. By the turn of the century the company was exporting to Spain, Asia, and Australia, and bottles from Schwarzlose were documented even in the Chinese Imperial household. They were early adopters of new perfume technology, combining naturals with new aroma molecules at a time when most buyers still expected perfumes that imitated fresh lily of the valley, violet, rose, lilac. Schwarzlose was already composing what they called “olfactory fantasies,” which is another way of saying they were making conceptual perfume before the term existed.
They were also inventive in presentation. Around 1920, they launched a perfume vending machine for English-speaking markets that dispensed scented powder onto a handkerchief. The machine offered different fragrances like Eau de Cologne, Rosa Centifolia, and Melati Radja. This is not nostalgia. This is a company that was always thinking one step ahead.
Because of that, they lasted. The house made it through periods that killed many competitors. They held out through the brutal inflation of the early 1930s, when countless German perfume and cosmetics companies folded. They opened a modernized flagship on Leipziger Straße in 1930. They kept producing even during the most repressive and suspicious years between 1936 and 1945, when the regime saw perfumery as too luxurious and too extroverted. They adapted. They offered more “functional” products domestically and exported their more provocative perfumes abroad, with names like Nuit d’Amour, Dione, and Why Not. When alcohol became scarce during World War I, they developed Trocken Parfum, essentially a solid perfume format. This ability to solve problems without betraying the core product is part of why the house became known not only to European courts, but also in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and Japan.
Then came destruction. In 1944, the Schwarzlose factory and shops were bombed and totally destroyed. After the war, with help from reconstruction money under the Marshall Plan, the house was rebuilt and managed to recapture some of its former presence. But Berlin was now a divided city. After the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, the physical split between factory sites and retail locations made operations almost impossible. In 1976, after more than 120 years, the company closed.
That could have been the end.
In 2012, it came back.
Packaging designer and creative director Lutz Herrmann revived the house as J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin. Herrmann had already spent years shaping the visual language of major fragrance brands. He went into archives, tracked down original bottles and documents, studied the brand’s design codes, and began to reconstruct the identity with respect, not kitsch. He brought in perfumer Véronique Nyberg. Together they rebuilt the line for a present-day audience without sanding off Berlin. The result does not smell like generic “luxury niche.” It smells like the city as it actually exists. Leather. Night air. Warm skin. Static. Concrete after the rain. Linden blossom over stone.
In 2017, Altruist, created by Nyberg with Berlin artist Paul DeFlorian, won an Art and Olfaction Award in the Independent category. Since then, the revived house has earned attention from Vogue and GQ, and even secured a place in The Major German Brands, the design council publication Germany uses to showcase national design culture around the world.
The team still works in Berlin, in a light-filled loft in Moabit not far from one of the original factory sites. They remain in touch with surviving members of the Schwarzlose family, a quiet thread of continuity that feels meaningful in an industry where history is often borrowed rather than lived.
The company has expanded thoughtfully. Rene Dominik, Frank Hoffmann, and Lars Börgel have joined as partners, strengthening both creative and operational depth. Production continues to draw from German and nearby European suppliers, while perfume oils are composed with Nyberg in Paris. Final assembly takes place near Frankfurt under German and EU standards. The house remains fully independent.
Two years ago, I obtained a bottle of Trance. That was my first personal experience with Schwarzlose as it exists now. Trance felt like the most modern, elegant rose. It had depth but not heaviness, intimacy without syrup. I saw intelligence in the construction, and I saw discipline. That is when I understood that what this house is doing is not retro. It is Berlin now, built on Berlin then.
I reached out. Lutz Herrmann responded immediately. Below is our full conversation.
Interview with Lutz Herrmann
The revival
J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin was founded in 1856 and once supplied perfume to the German court before disappearing in the late 1970s. You revived it more than a century after its golden age. What first drew you to bring back this historic name, and how did you decide which parts of its past to preserve and which to reinvent?
As many traditional perfume brands in European countries have survived, like Penhaligon’s in the UK or Guerlain in France, I was wondering what the German market looked like 100 years ago and thus came across the beautiful history of Schwarzlose.
This company was one of several fragrance houses located in Berlin back then. Schwarzlose became famous when Berlin became the Imperial capital of Germany, and as they managed to supply the Royal Family, which by chance became the Imperial Family, they grew even more renowned across Europe and the world.
The period from 1874 to 1888 also reflects the time when modern perfumery was invented through German chemists like Haarmann & Reimer or Albert Baur.
Most important for our revival were the scents Schwarzlose created around 1920, when Berlin was an international cultural hotspot. This was an extremely innovative and creative time in Berlin, and we looked first at some of those scents from that period, like 1A-33 or Trance.
Berlin identity
Berlin has a very distinct energy, bold, creative, and effortlessly modern. It feels less polished than Paris but far more alive. How does that spirit shape J.F. Schwarzlose? Do you think there is such a thing as a “Berlin style” in perfumery, and how does it guide the way you design and communicate your scents?
Yes, the Berlin style or spirit is part of our fragrances. You will find a certain raw edge in our creations Leder 6 or Rausch, as well as in Trance and Leder 6.9. Berlin is less about refinement and more about surprising innovation. The innovation comes to life in other fragrance concepts too, like Zeitgeist or Altruist, both of which are overwhelmingly fresh while maintaining their presence as Eau de Parfum with a high perfume oil concentration.
In terms of graphic approach, the brand and packaging are kept simple and clear, since Berlin’s heritage is rooted in early Bauhaus rather than in ornament. This lives in our visual identity and minimal language.
Authorship and collaboration
Before reviving J.F. Schwarzlose, you worked as an art director for major fragrance houses, shaping bottle design and brand identity for names like Joop!, Hugo Boss, and Dolce & Gabbana. Today, you collaborate closely with perfumer Véronique Nyberg. How do you define creative authorship within the house? Where does your role as a visual and conceptual storyteller meet the perfumer’s craft, and how do you find balance between those worlds?
It is easy to balance those worlds, as each brand has a very specific character and occupies a very specific universe. Within this universe, there are different ways of expression through design, starting with colors or surfaces that are typical for certain brands. Its DNA is found in every detail.
You have to treat a brand like an individual human being. If you look at a brand in this way, you will always find the perfect creative solution.
For the perfumer Véronique Nyberg, I offer storytelling based on history and a future vision. She translates this with her knowledge and craftsmanship into an olfactive statement.
The creative process
The early Schwarzlose perfumes came from a pharmacist’s precision, while the modern ones such as Trance, 20/20, and Altruist feel conceptual and sensory. How do you translate ideas like architecture, emotion, or light into scent, and what does the development process look like inside your studio?
In the past, inspirations were conceptual or based on ideas too, just like today. There was no real difference, even though possibilities were limited due to less knowledge of the world of molecules.
Most inspirations came and still come from cultural evolution, from art, music, photography, movies, performances, or literature. Whatever is an artistic expression in our society can influence the creation of a scent. The way you get inspired has not changed since perfumery became part of a personal wardrobe. Only the pace is faster now than it was a century ago.
Heritage and archives
You uncovered vintage bottles and historic formulas when reviving the brand. How much do the archives still guide your work, and do you ever feel tension between honoring history and pursuing creative freedom?
At the moment, everyone in fashion talks about archives. Each new creative director of a major house first studies the past for inspiration and guidance.
In our case, the archives have been essential from the start. Schwarzlose had been almost forgotten, and there were only a few people who still remembered the brand. We revived several of the vintage fragrances as contemporary interpretations through the nose of Véronique Nyberg.
Heritage is part of our DNA. Our goal is to build on that heritage to create a strong legacy. Schwarzlose does not have to live in the archives forever; it can project new olfactive worlds that offer enchanting and involving experiences.
Survival and continuity
The original J.F. Schwarzlose house lived through both World Wars, surviving the destruction of Berlin and rebuilding after 1945. What do you know about how the company endured those years, and does that history of survival influence how you think about resilience and legacy today?
Through research in the archives we found that the brand, no matter what, continued its mission to create and offer the finest perfumery products even in the darkest hours between 1936 and 1945. At that time, the regime disliked perfumery, considering it too luxurious and artificial.
Schwarzlose kept a more functional assortment for the German market and exported its more expressive perfumes, such as Dione, Nuit d’Amour, and Why Not, to foreign markets. When alcohol became scarce during World War I, Schwarzlose introduced Trocken Parfum, which translates best as solid perfume.
In every era, the owners of Schwarzlose found smart solutions without compromising their mission. We aim to keep that same spirit today.
Production and sourcing
Transparency and craftsmanship have become central topics in perfumery. Where are J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin perfumes produced today, and how involved are you in sourcing and quality control? What defines “Made in Germany” for you in the context of perfume?
We take production very seriously and decided to source all components, if not from German manufacturers, then from European partners close by.
Our perfume oils come from French suppliers since our perfumer Véronique Nyberg was trained in the Netherlands and France and lives in Paris. As she creates olfactive links to the original formulas, she keeps a German sense of precision.
Everything is assembled in a factory near Frankfurt under EU and German quality standards.
Defining niche
Germany’s niche perfume scene is growing quickly, yet Schwarzlose stands out for its clarity and restraint. Do you identify with the term “niche,” and what do you believe a truly niche perfume house should represent in 2025?
Niche perfumery has grown all over Europe. Personally, I believe niche is not the right category for Schwarzlose. The brand is small and growing slowly but healthy, based on its historic potential.
It is better described as an artistic perfume brand. Schwarzlose is quality-driven and aesthetic by nature. We experiment constantly. With Treffpunkt 8 Uhr, launched in 2012, we were already introducing a gourmand fragrance a decade before it became common in niche perfumery. With Leder 6 we created a new dialogue between leather and incense. We do not look at competitors or trends. We look at our own roots.
Markets and growth strategy
Your fragrances have found loyal audiences across Europe and Asia, and Trance in particular has become a collector’s favorite. What does growth look like for J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin in the next few years? Are you focusing on expanding retail locations, strengthening your presence in Asia, or developing the U.S. market further? How do you plan to grow while maintaining your independence?
It is true we have loyal followers, and we will keep our independence. Soon we will introduce a new line that opens the brand to contemporary and experimental olfactive visions. We have been working on it for quite some time and are still fine-tuning now.
The Asian market is especially interesting for us. Schwarzlose had early distribution there as far back as 1898, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia, but also in China and Japan. We may even create a separate collection for those markets.
The future of German perfumery
French perfumery is known for heritage, Italian for sensuality, and German for structure and intellect. How do you see German perfumery evolving, and what role do you hope J.F. Schwarzlose Berlin will play in shaping its next chapter?
We believe a bit of structure can create newness and help evolve both sensuality and heritage. Mix these qualities and you get the best of different worlds. This is our aim.
Elevated Classics Classification
Primary Category: Heritage Brand
Secondary Tags: Independent | Revived House | Berlin-Based | EU Production
Composition Partner: Mane (Véronique Nyberg)
Notable Recognition: Art and Olfaction Award 2017
Leave a Reply