A visit to farfalla: essential oils from around the world
4/12/2023
Translation: Elicia Payne
In the 1980s, a group of hippies in search of essential oils founded the company farfalla. We sniffed around this Swiss family business and got a whiff of the diversity of aromatherapy.
I’m standing in the middle of a wild lavender field. Here in the Cevenne National Park in the south of France , insects buzz and buzz around me in the purple flowers of the wild flora. It’s warm, a gentle breeze blows over the hills, enveloped in the flowery, herbaceous scent of lavender.
The sea of soft purple flowers on the horizon disappears, the air becomes warmer and more humid. It’s the tropical climate of the Congo. In the middle of a lush, green-pink field of rose geraniums, trees tower above me. I notice the flowery smell of roses and an intense scent of lemon in the air. It’s the lemon eucalyptus trees giving off a citrus scent.
It cools down, the air becomes drier, the bright sun gives way to a rich dark green. I’m standing at the edge of a coniferous forest. Mighty silver fir trees soar into the sky above me. The resinous, woody smell of pine needles fills my nose. I’m standing at the edge of a forest in the Alps. The majestic silver fir trees have a calming effect. I take a deep breath ..
.. and open my eyes.
Source: Oliver Fischer
Fragrance worlds under glass domes
It takes me a moment to get back to where I actually am: in a stairwell in Uster, halfway up to the showroom of the Swiss family business farfalla.
There are shelves along the wall of the staircase with small glass domes on them. Underneath, entire aromatic landscapes open up: essential oils from all over the world and a taste of the companie’s portfolio. They take me and team leader Oliver Fischer, who is my photographer for the day, into very different worlds of scent and emotion.
When we reach the top, we’re greeted by Key Account Manager Manuela Marras: «Welcome to farfalla».
Source: Oliver Fischer
We enter the showroom and see the huge selection of natural cosmetics and Aromacare products. The company has 116 different essential oils produced worldwide for its product range and put great emphasis on sustainability and naturalness.
There’s a desk in the far right corner and neatly lined up in a semicircle on several levels above the tabletop are small, dark glass bottles. These are filled with the essential oils of countless plants from all over the world. Jean-Claude Richard, one of the founders, sits at the desk every Wednesday. He smells and mixes, experiments and refines the perfect blend to create new fragrances for the company’s portfolio.
Source: Oliver Fischer
Richard wasn’t alone when farfalla was created 41 years ago. His wife Marianne Richard and he were part of a hippie commune (as they call themselves) that founded farfalla in 1982 out of a self-imposed mission: they were looking «for a way to bring health, a balanced spirit and natural beauty in a harmonious unity with nature», according to the company history. In other words, they wanted to contribute to a better world. The result is a Swiss family business that today employs over a hundred people at 10 locations in three countries. It lives its passion for essential oils and is committed to sustainable production.
Please note: the products are currently only available in the Swiss store.
Ethnobotanical inspiration and instructions for your own aromatherapy
After our first impressions in the showroom, Manuela Marras shows us the premises of the company’s own academy. Here, interested private individuals and healthcare professionals can attend seminars and courses on aromatherapy and aromatherapy care. The instructors, often long-standing employees from various areas of the company, pass on their knowledge from over 40 years of experience with essential oils.
From the hippie commune to business studies and back to the scent of nature
Source: Oliver Fischer
Back in the showroom, we meet CEO Malvin Richard, who took over the company from his parents a few years ago. Wearing a friendly smile and a business suit, he doesn’t look at all like someone who grew up in a hippie commune. The clichéd expectations are completely dispelled when Richard explains how he initially worked as a management consultant after studying Business Administration. What may be surprising from the outsiders perspective, is that he doesn’t see this as a break in his career but rather a symbiosis of these two worlds: «Sustainable management on all three levels, economically, ecologically and
socially, is in my view the only way to create real added value.»
In the next interview, we find out more about how this claim is put into practice in relationships with suppliers and nature. First of all, Richard makes it clear that he has always had a love of plants. As a child, he spent many holidays on «scent trips» when his parents went out to discover new plants for the company portfolio. Today, the many fragrances are part of his children’s everyday life.
When asked about his personal favourite fragrance, the company boss ponders: «A lot of fragrances that I like have been with me my whole life. But what I always like to smell, for example, is bergamot.»
The positive effect of essential oils has also been scientifically confirmed now: if you breathe them in during aromatherapy, the plant substances activate the limbic system in the brain. This is where our emotions arise, so essential oils have a direct effect on our emotional world – the reason why we often remember smells for a long time and why they can trigger so much in us.
I noticed the aroma blend Lern gern in the product range: Can it really help children learn better? Richard smiles at the question: «I almost get queasy when I smell it.» As a child of scent-loving parents, learning was obviously always associated with the smell of citrus fruits and silver fir. This also makes it clear that the emotional effect of fragrances is individual to the person. Incense, for example, divides opinion, depending on whether or not you enjoyed going to church.
A bottle with the scent of thousands of leaves
Time for a tour: CEO Richard shows us the warehouse, quality control and bottling plant on the first floor of the building. What is delivered to the warehouse is already reduced to its essence. In keeping with the concept of sustainability, the already distilled oils are delivered to Uster.
Source: Oliver Fischer
This is because, depending on the plant, many times more raw material is needed to produce one litre of essential oil: 500 to 600 kg of rose geranium leaves, for example, or 40 kg of lemon eucalyptus leaves. Delivering the distilled oil to the warehouse instead of the whole plant (parts) not only saves emissions during transportation, it also keeps a larger part of the value chain in the country of production, explains Richard.
Source: farfalla
Source: farfalla
Grand Cru – a label for ecological and social added value
The social idea is part of the farfalla identity – no wonder given that the company emerged from the hippie culture. Over the decades, farfalla has established relationships with producers, often small farmers, all over the world. The original claim of the hippie founders to produce in a way that’s «more than just organic and vegan» has remained. The company’s own «Grand Cru» label is therefore only awarded to products that meet other criteria in addition to organic cultivation. Among other things, the growing region must be typical for the respective aromatic plant and the cultivation project should at best encourage further projects in the ecological and social sector in the respective country.
The farfalla midwife aid is an example of social responsibility: in order to reduce maternal mortality, which is still a terrible reality in many poorer countries, farfalla finances the training of midwives, for example in Madagascar or Ethiopia, with part of the profit from the purchase of each product.
Lavender and mint in the Zurich Oberland
A new addition in recent years is the cultivation of aromatic plants practically on the company’s own doorstep: the company grows lavender, peppermint and bergamot mint on site with the Wagerenhof Foundation, a social institution for people with disabilities that has been established in Uster for 100 years. The harvest can be processed in the company’s own distillery directly.
Source: farfalla
Source: farfalla
Quality with expiration date
Lavender and mint right on the doorstep is ideal for the freshness of the products. Once delivered to the warehouse, the oils are subjected to a quality check: they’re tested for scent, density, purity and possible pesticide contamination. They’re then transferred to glass containers and given an expiration date. This isn’t a matter of course for essential oils, but it’s important for the quality guarantee, explains Richard.
Source: Oliver Fischer
Farewell from the house of fragrances
That brings us to the last stop on our tour and we say goodbye before sniffing our way through the stairwell one last time. By the way, my favourite is one of the all-time classics: lavender. I definitely have a positive association with the fragrance and I appreciate the calming effect, especially for falling asleep.
Please note: the products are currently only available in the Swiss store.
Have you acquired a taste for it? Here you can find out more about essential oils in general and here specifically about the effects of lavender.
Header image: Oliver Fischer
Science editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.