# Danner & Flemming ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2023 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Regensburg | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Southern Bavaria, Germany (iris cultivation and processing), Paris, France (composition by Antoine Lie), Lake Geneva area (blending with L'Atelier Français des Matières) | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://www.dannerflemming.de/ | Danner & Flemming is a German perfume house based in Regensburg, Bavaria, that makes fragrances from iris it grows and processes itself. The company grew out of a university research project into whether iris, one of perfumery's most demanding raw materials, could be cultivated in Bavaria rather than in its traditional growing regions of Italy and France. Its motto, "Vom Feld in den Flakon", translates as "from the field to the bottle", and the house controls each stage of that chain, from planting the rhizomes to supplying the iris butter and extracts that dominate its perfumes. The brand made its public debut in September 2025 with three limited, vintage-dated iris perfumes composed by the French perfumer Antoine Lie [9]. One retailer profile gives 2023 as the year the company was founded in Regensburg [12]; the company itself publishes no founding date, and editorial coverage dates the brand from its 2025 launch. Danner & Flemming is active and remains a small, team-financed house whose output is limited by the size of each year's harvest. ## Origin & founders The house traces its beginnings to Werner Kunz, a chemistry professor who learned about iris and its scent while living in France. According to the company, this led to the idea of testing the cultivation and processing of iris in Bavaria within a research project, a slow piece of pioneering work that took many years to bear fruit. The project was based at the University of Regensburg, where Kunz worked with the chemist Theresa Höß and the biologist Marcel Flemming to find out whether the plant could be grown in the region [11]. To grow it, the scientists needed a farmer. Flemming recruited Christian Danner, whom he later described as having the openness, courage and stamina for the venture. In a May 2026 interview, Flemming dated the first planting to "almost 12 years ago" [10]. The first seedlings, he recalled, arrived in a sack, half-rotten and mushy, and only about a hundred plants went into the cold October soil. He had little hope that anything but weeds would grow, yet green shoots appeared the following spring. According to Flemming, all of the house's Iris germanica plants, now many tens of thousands, descend from those few. The work was unglamorous. Iris grows slowly, yields little and had no established cultivation or processing practice in Bavaria, so the team had to develop both the agricultural techniques and the processing steps. The company credits Danner with building some of the necessary machines himself. Early on, Flemming said, everything was done by hand without equipment, while Danner's family helped in the fields. The brand names four co-founders. Danner works the fields; Flemming, a biologist, is involved in both cultivation and perfume development; Höß, a chemist, is described as the team's organiser and strategist; and Sebastian Rost, a designer at an agency and a friend of Flemming's, joined later and created the brand's visual design. Höß and Flemming are both identified as chief executives. Kunz, who initiated the research, is described by Flemming as a partner but is not listed among the four co-founders. The house bears the surnames of its farmer and its biologist. ## History & milestones After years of experiments to raise the yield of fragrance molecules, Flemming recalled the moment one trial produced iris rich in irones, the compounds responsible for iris's powdery, woody, violet-like smell. Positive feedback from established perfumers followed, and the team concluded that its raw material was of exceptional quality. The original plan was to sustain the fields by selling that material to the fragrance industry. It did not work out. When the team finally had a meaningful quantity, the harvest of an entire year fitted on a single pallet and sold for only a few thousand euros [10]. Flemming described it as a dark moment. The group decided instead to turn its own iris into finished perfumes and to build a brand around them, an approach the company calls the logical next step. For the composition, the house approached Antoine Lie, an independent perfumer whose earlier clients include Comme des Garçons, Etat Libre d'Orange, Houbigant, Puredistance and Zoologist. According to Fragrantica's German edition, the brief was simply "just make a beautiful iris", and CaFleureBon reported that Lie was given free rein without cost restrictions. Other ingredients were sourced through L'Atelier Français des Matières, with blending carried out in the Lake Geneva area. The first collection appeared in September 2025. It consisted of three perfumes, Iris Altesse, Iris Poulsard and Iris Trousseau, and used the entire first Bavarian iris harvest, giving roughly 900 bottles in total [8]. The exact edition sizes were 311, 245 and 356 numbered bottles. In 2026 the house released a second vintage of the trio under the name "Selection 2026" and issued an Anniversary Set to mark its first year. In an interview published in August 2026, Flemming announced a fourth fragrance, Iris Tannat, the first to combine two iris varieties, in an edition of about 900 bottles. As of that interview, the team hoped to release it in autumn 2026 [7]. ## Ownership Danner & Flemming is operated by BOAS GmbH (Bavarian Orris Aromatics & Scents), a company registered in Regensburg whose managing directors are Theresa Höß and Marcel Flemming [5]. No corporate parent or acquisition is known. The founders describe the business as self-financed. Flemming has said the team wanted to do everything itself partly because it had little capital, that the company took on no debt, and that all of its investors are members of the team, so that it works "for ourselves, not for external capital" [10]. ## Philosophy & positioning The company says the raw material, not market analysis, determines its fragrance profiles. In its view, the oils and extracts from different iris varieties are distinct enough that each deserves its own perfume. It also stresses hands-on involvement: the team says it takes part in every step from plantlet to raw material and therefore "knows each plant personally". Wine is the house's main point of reference. Because each harvest is shaped by weather and soil, every release is treated as a millésime, or vintage, and a new harvest produces a new edition from the same terroir. The perfumes are named after old French grape varieties, Altesse, Poulsard and Trousseau, and Fragrantica's German edition noted that the cylindrical boxes and labels recall wine bottles. Flemming has argued that the small editions follow from the harvest rather than from marketing. Because there is only one harvest a year and a finite amount of iris butter, he told CaFleureBon, "our limitation is natural, not a marketing limited edition". Editorial writers have placed the brand within a broader interest in field-to-bottle perfumery and in vintage-style, small-batch releases. The house positions itself at the top of the price range, and its perfumes are sold through its own website and through selected perfumeries. ## Products & innovation Danner & Flemming makes only fragrance, and iris is the centre of every perfume. The house grows three types: Iris pallida, Iris germanica and its own variety, Iris germanica Danner. It uses both iris butter, the concentrated essential oil, and softer, warmer iris extracts. According to the company, iris essences make up between 2.5 and 4.1 percent of the perfume oil, a level Fragrantica's German edition describes as many times higher than is usual in the industry. Each of the three original perfumes is built around one variety: - **Iris Altesse** centres on Bavarian Iris pallida, at a concentration of 2.6 percent. CaFleureBon reviewer Ida Meister put its iris content at 26 times the customary concentration in perfumery and described it as a bright, effervescent iris bouquet with bergamot and pink pepper. - **Iris Poulsard** uses Iris germanica and has the highest concentration of the three, 4.1 percent of the perfume oil. - **Iris Trousseau** uses the house's own Iris germanica Danner, at 2.5 percent. A Discovery Set of three 3 ml samples is also offered in limited numbers. The house's main technical claim concerns processing. Iris rhizomes, the underground stems from which orris is made, develop their scent only after long storage, and during that time they can turn musty or develop mould. The company says its patented, purely physical refinement method dries the rhizomes quickly and gently, avoids those effects and significantly raises the content of fragrant irones [4]. The drying combines hot-air drying with adsorption drying powered by green energy. No patent number has been published. Sources differ on who developed the method. The brand presents it simply as "our patented method" without naming an inventor. Fragrantica's German edition credits the chemist team of Werner Kunz and Theresa Höß [8], while CaFleureBon credits Marcel Flemming [9]. No third-party certifications or ethical claims such as vegan or cruelty-free status are documented for the brand. ## Recognition The company's homepage displays a "Best of Scent 2025" distinction; the organiser and category are not stated [1]. CaFleureBon's editor-in-chief, Michelyn Camen, included Iris Altesse in her round-up of the top perfumes of 2025 [9]. Specialist fragrance media have covered the house since its launch. Parfumo published a launch article with an interview with Flemming in September 2025, and the German podcast DerDuftDude devoted an episode to the brand in December 2025. In 2026, Fragrantica's German edition introduced and reviewed all three perfumes, Elevated Classics ran a long interview on the brand's origins and its work with Lie, and Fragrantica's English edition published a review and interview under the headline "Danner & Flemming: The Best Iris on the Market!" in August 2026. Its reviewer, Beth Butterfield, wrote that for those "into iris" she could not recommend the brand highly enough. ## Current status Danner & Flemming is active. As of October 2026, its website offered the Selection 2026 vintage of its three perfumes, with the note that they would soon be available again, and a fourth perfume, Iris Tannat, had been announced. The house remains small and self-financed, and the size of each edition, a few hundred bottles per perfume, depends on the year's harvest. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2025 | Brand debuts in September with three iris millésime perfumes (Iris Altesse, Iris Poulsard, Iris Trousseau) composed by Antoine Lie | https://cafleurebon.com/danner-flemming-parfums-iris-altesse-antoine-lie-2025-plus-petillant-iris-giveaway/ | | 2025 | First collection uses the entire first Bavarian iris harvest; total 900 bottles | https://www.fragrantica.de/Neuigkeiten/Danner-Flemming-Von-der-Erde-zum-Parfum-13659.html | | 2026 | 'Selection 2026' vintage of the three perfumes on sale; Anniversary Set issued for the brand's first anniversary | https://www.dannerflemming.de/ | | 2026 | Fourth fragrance 'Iris Tannat' (first to combine two iris varieties, approx. 900 bottles) announced for a hoped-for autumn 2026 launch | https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Danner-Flemming-The-Best-Iris-on-the-Market-25958.html | | — | Research project at the University of Regensburg (Prof. Werner Kunz, Theresa Höß, Marcel Flemming) with farmer Christian Danner to cultivate iris in Bavaria; per a May 2026 interview the first ~100 plants went in 'almost 12 years ago' | https://elevated-classics.com/exclusive-interview-danner-flemming/ | | — | After a year's harvest sold as raw material fetched only a few thousand euros, the team decided to create its own perfume brand | https://elevated-classics.com/exclusive-interview-danner-flemming/ | ## Awards {#belagg-awards} | Year | Awards | Category | Source | |---|---|---|---| | 2025 | Best of Scent 2025 | unknown (badge image 'bestofscent2025' under 'Ausgezeichnet mit:' on homepage; organiser and category not stated) | https://www.dannerflemming.de/ | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Iris Altesse** — Mit einer Iris-Konzentration von 2,6 Prozent soll „Iris Altesse“ die strahlende Pudrigkeit der Iris pallida offenbaren. Weltweit ist der Duft auf nur 311 Flakons limitiert. — https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Mikayla/Blog/Eintrag/vom-feld-in-den-flakon-danner-flemming-und-die-kunst-der-iris - **Iris Poulsard** — Die zweite Kreation, „Iris Poulsard“, enthält 4,1 Prozent Iris im Parfumöl und erscheint in lediglich 245 nummerierten Flakons. — https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Mikayla/Blog/Eintrag/vom-feld-in-den-flakon-danner-flemming-und-die-kunst-der-iris - **Iris Trousseau** — Mit 2,5 Prozent Iris im Parfümöl entfaltet das dritte Parfüm „Iris Trousseau“ die einzigartige pudrige Note der seltenen Iris germanica Danner. — https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Mikayla/Blog/Eintrag/vom-feld-in-den-flakon-danner-flemming-und-die-kunst-der-iris - **Discovery Set (3 x 3 ml)** — Für alle, die unsere Jahrgangsparfums Iris Altesse, Iris Trousseau und Iris Poulsard entdecken möchten, gibt es unser Discovery Set in einer limitierten Anzahl. — https://www.dannerflemming.de/parfums ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} Bavarian-grown iris (Iris pallida, Iris germanica, Iris germanica Danner) · iris butter (beurre d'iris, iris essential oil) · iris extract / resinoid Source: https://www.dannerflemming.de/iris ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - Patented, purely physical refinement/ageing process for iris rhizomes (fast, gentle drying; avoids musty off-notes and mould, raises irone content) · Iris germanica Danner (the house's own iris variation) — https://www.dannerflemming.de/iris - Patented method for the refinement of iris rhizomes (patent number not published on the site) — https://www.dannerflemming.de/en/story ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Fragrantica** (2026) — Review + interview with Marcel Flemming by Beth Butterfield, 'Danner & Flemming: The Best Iris on the Market!' (27 Aug 2026) — https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Danner-Flemming-The-Best-Iris-on-the-Market-25958.html - **Fragrantica (DE)** (2026) — Brand introduction and review of all three perfumes by Sergey Borisov, 'Danner & Flemming: Von der Erde zum Parfum' (23 May 2026) — https://www.fragrantica.de/Neuigkeiten/Danner-Flemming-Von-der-Erde-zum-Parfum-13659.html - **CaFleureBon** (2026) — Review of Iris Altesse by Ida Meister (30 Jan 2026); notes Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen included Iris Altesse in her summation of 2025's top perfumes — https://cafleurebon.com/danner-flemming-parfums-iris-altesse-antoine-lie-2025-plus-petillant-iris-giveaway/ - **Elevated Classics** (2026) — Exclusive Q&A interview on the brand's origin, iris cultivation and work with Antoine Lie (18 May 2026) — https://elevated-classics.com/exclusive-interview-danner-flemming/ - **Parfumo** (2025) — Launch blog article with Marcel Flemming interview, 'Vom Feld in den Flakon' (14 Sep 2025) — https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Mikayla/Blog/Eintrag/vom-feld-in-den-flakon-danner-flemming-und-die-kunst-der-iris - **Bayerischer Hof Insights Quarterly** (2026) — Report in the 'Nicely Said' section p.44 (listed in the brand's own press section, 02.06.2026; not fetched) — https://www.dannerflemming.de/en/story - **DerDuftDude Parfumpodcast** (2025) — Podcast episode on the brand (listed in the brand's own press section, 03.12.2025; not fetched) — https://www.dannerflemming.de/en/story ## Sources 1. (T1) https://www.dannerflemming.de/ 4. (T2) https://www.dannerflemming.de/iris 5. (T2) https://www.dannerflemming.de/impressum 7. (T3) https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Danner-Flemming-The-Best-Iris-on-the-Market-25958.html 8. (T3) https://www.fragrantica.de/Neuigkeiten/Danner-Flemming-Von-der-Erde-zum-Parfum-13659.html 9. (T3) https://cafleurebon.com/danner-flemming-parfums-iris-altesse-antoine-lie-2025-plus-petillant-iris-giveaway/ 10. (T3) https://elevated-classics.com/exclusive-interview-danner-flemming/ 11. (T3) https://www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Mikayla/Blog/Eintrag/vom-feld-in-den-flakon-danner-flemming-und-die-kunst-der-iris 12. (T4) https://www.parfinity.com/en/brand/danner-flemming --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-17 Please cite with a link to the article URL.