Essencia sustains natural perfumery with legendary rigour
- Essencia’s perfumes and essential oils meet the highest green label standards, and its products are used globally in the cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries
Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports
Essential oils evoke the power of nature to bring forth life, healing and nourishment. In the world of perfumery, Swiss firm Essencia catalyses the abundant creativity and passion of perfumers into natural fragrances crafted around age-old botanical principles and legendary Swiss rigour. The result is a surging interest in all-natural perfumes and aromatic products that align with 21st century sustainability.
“Our know-how is evident in the character and quality of our perfumes,” says Richard Illi, CEO. “We are learning every day by developing new products that are 100 per cent natural, for decades now.”
Essencia was founded in 1949 to distribute essential oils to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By the 1970s, the company had created its first all-natural fragrances and, since then, focused on designing natural fragrances. Essencia is now recognised as a world-leading specialist in natural perfumery. A certified manufacturer of perfumes and essential oil supplier, it meets the highest standards of green labels, including those for certified organic essential oils and natural perfumes. Its products are used globally in the cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industries.
Craftsmanship in natural perfumery is quite challenging, with only about 300 available raw materials, as opposed to some 1,500 with synthetics. At Essencia, perfumers smell every batch of essential oils to maintain the highest quality. True to its sustainability pledge, the company accepts minimum orders of 1kg to avoid wastage.
“Many brands are shifting more and more to natural fragrances, as we have seen in Britain where we have experienced fantastic growth over the past few years,” Illi says.
Essencia aims to reach more markets starting this year. It welcomes partnerships with medium-sized distributors that share the same passion and commitment for natural ingredients, have a thriving clientele of SMEs in the personal care and skincare industries, and whose portfolio favours natural active ingredients.
“We are making a difference with natural products,” Illi says.