Of all of the cities in the world I have yet to visit Berlin is one that I hope to cross off the “not yet visited” list fairly soon. From afar I’ve always been impressed by the resilience of the city which has never more evident than in the last 75 years or so. No matter what the geopolitical winds were that blew through Berlin it always managed to keep its cool. As Berlin has moved into the twenty-first century it has strengthened its cultural cool as a center of the European music scene especially producing some of the best DJ’s in the techno scene. I had never thought of Berlin as a perfume capitol but the re-invention of an old Berlin brand has made me consider the influence a city can have on the perfume inspired by it.
JF Schwarzlose is this brand, it was started in 1856 by Joachim Friedrich Schwarzlose as an adjunct to his pharmacy. He and his sons, Max and Franz, would eventually become the Purveyor to the Royal Court of Prussia in 1870. Over the next hundred years, like any company, they had their ups and downs. In 1976 one of those downs caused the company to fold and be consigned to memory, it seemed. In 2012 Tamas Tagscherer wanted to bring back the Old Berlin but mix it with the New Berlin and create modern fragrances with vintage roots. Hr. Tagscherer turned to two artists to help him realize his ambition. Lutz Herrmann was drafted to design the bottle and Veronique Nyberg of IFF was tasked with putting the perfume in Hr. Herrmann’s bottle. The decision was made to release four fragrances under the revitalized brand. Three, 1A-33, Treffpunkt 8 Uhr, and Trance; would be based on original formulas from the previous incarnation. One brand new modern composition called Rausch would round out the debut line. Mme Nyberg has done a very skillful job of melding vintage and modern aesthetics in the three new versions of the originals but it is Rausch which really shows the potential for the future of JF Schwarzlose going forward.
1A-33 was the car license numbers in pre-war Berlin and the fragrance which shares the name moves right along like current German-engineered cars. 1A-33 often felt like it was developing at Autobahn speed on my skin. The speed of expansion when I wore this was the only quibble I had as when you move so fast you often don’t have time to see what’s there on the side of the road. 1A-33 speeds through a really nice set of fruity floral turns gathering speed with mandarin and red pepper on top through a chicane of lime blossom and jasmine to the exit ramp of iris and cedar. I thought the speed of 1A-33 was a little bit too fast but your mileage may vary.
Treffpunkt 8 Uhr (Rendezvous at 8 O’Clock) is the opposite of 1A-33 as this develops at the speed of a great first date that you don’t want to see end. The opening of Treffpunkt 8Uhr is a very unique pairing of mango flower and ginger. The mango component is light and very green which matches the suppressed energy of the ginger. It is like those nervous first moments of a first date as you work the nervousness out. The heart is a mix of saffron and clary sage and this is where things take off. The herbal/ spicy give and take is very nice. Mme Nyberg adds the final goodbye with a deep woody vetiver. I have to believe the addition of the mango flower and saffron are Mme Nyberg’s inspiration and they turn this into something very modern.
Trance is the last reinterpretation and it is the one that, probably, most closely hews to the original formulation. The fragrance JF Schwazlose was most known for was called Rose Centifolia. Trance takes a very piquant Turkish rose as its centerpiece and surrounds it with powder and absinthe in a very 1920’s feeling fragrance. Trance begins with a lot of powder surrounding the rose and it takes some time for the spicy heart of the rose to push through the cloud. Once the rose has come to full bloom the powder recedes to a proper level and then allows for a dangerous absinthe accord and a hint of labdanum to add a bit of mysticism and danger to the proceedings. Trance feels like an old fragrance but Mme Nyberg keeps that feeling while making it much lighter overall than one might expect a modern re-telling of a vintage fragrance to be.
As much as I enjoy the perfumed past I think it is always the future that gets my attention and that is the case with JF Schwarzlose as my favorite of these four fragrances was the one which had no previous incarnation. Rausch (Rush) is a very modern fragrance in architecture and style. Mme Nyberg has created a fragrance for the nightlife of twenty-first century Berlin. It is for a night of working your way from Asphalt to White Trash Fast Food taking in all the techno scene has to offer. Rausch is a mix of some of the deepest notes in the olfactory musical scale. It is the beat thumping mix of red pepper and sandalwood. Then Mme Nyberg drives the beat deeper with a beautifully smoky accord of nagarmotha, patchouli and vanilla. This is that hazy moment of the night when you are just letting the music carry you along with it and you realize what a good time you’re having. As you duck past the last doorman to catch the last set before dawn a cloud of amber and oud is all that remains as you dance out the last moment of the night.
All of the JF Schwarzlose fragrances have average longevity and average sillage.
I am very happy to see an esteemed name find its way back on the road to relevance but I hope that the next few releases spend more time creating a new future than trying to find a way for the past to live in the present. If Rausch is an example of what Mme Nyberg can do when given her creativity free rein I would definitely like more of that, please.
Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Essenza Nobile.
Thanks to Essenza Nobile we have a reader’s choice draw for a full 50mL bottle of any of the JF Schwarzlose fragrances. To be eligible leave a comment on which one you would choose. The draw will close on January 16, 2012.
We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.
-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor