Floris

Floris, which trades as Floris London, is a British perfumer founded in 1730 [7]. From a single shop at 89 Jermyn Street in the St James's district of London, the business has grown into a fragrance, bath and grooming house while staying, unusually, in the hands of one family across nine generations.

That continuity is the core of its identity. The same address has served as headquarters for nearly three centuries, and the company still describes 89 Jermyn Street as the heart of the business. Floris is privately held, with no parent company [7], and remains in active trade today, selling through UK, European and US storefronts and running current seasonal promotions.

The founder, Juan Famenias Floris, was born in Minorca in 1698 and trained as a barber and perfumer before travelling to London to seek his fortune [7]. In 1730 he and his wife Elizabeth began selling perfume, combs and shaving products at 89 Jermyn Street, then a fashionable quarter of the city [4]. The shop fitted out for the Great Exhibition of 1852 left a lasting trace: the Spanish mahogany cabinets installed for that event are still in place in the store.

Floris's early reputation rested as much on its grooming wares as its scents. Its first royal warrant, granted in 1820, named the firm smooth-pointed comb maker to King George IV. Ownership passed within the family rather than outside it: in 1878 Mary Anne Floris, who had married James R. D. Bodenham, took over the business with her family, beginning the Bodenham line that still runs the company.

The twentieth century brought the product the brand is best known for. No. 89, an eau de toilette named after the Jermyn Street address, launched in 1951, by which point a seventh-generation family member, Michael Bodenham, was at work on the company's creations. In 1989 a factory in Devon was officially opened by Diana, Princess of Wales. Floris formalised its made-to-order tradition in 2006 with the launch of its Bespoke Fragrance Services, renovated its Jermyn Street shop and opened a museum space there in 2017, and in 2018 Edward Bodenham, a ninth-generation family member, became perfumery director.

The company has remained family-owned since its founding and is presently run by the eighth and ninth generations [7]. Floris describes itself as the oldest English fragrance house still owned and run by its founding family. According to the company, customer formulations are recorded in the Floris ledgers, a set of formula books started by Juan Famenias Floris that the firm says date back nearly 300 years and still allow clients and their descendants to reorder past scents. The brand has logged no acquisitions, and reaches its tercentenary in 2030.

Floris positions itself as a heritage British family perfumer, trading under the line "British Family Perfumers Since 1730." Production is centred on craftsmanship and personalisation: fragrances are developed at 89 Jermyn Street and made in England [8]. The bespoke programme ranges from a customisation appointment to a six-month perfume-design service built around several consultations, with the perfumer working from a client's preferred notes to build a scent gradually. Edward Bodenham, who leads the perfumery team, is described as having learned the craft as a boy from his grandfather and father.

The company also makes ethics claims about its production. According to Floris, it is cruelty-free and does not test on animals or work with suppliers who do; it adds that not all of its products are fully vegan but that it is expanding its vegan-friendly range.

Floris sells across fragrance, bath and body, grooming, and candles and home, alongside its bespoke commissions. Its signature scent is No. 89, the 1951 eau de toilette named for the shop's address. The fragrance is closely tied to the writer Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, who used it as his own scent; Floris is name-checked in three of Fleming's novels — Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956) and Dr. No (1958).

The house has accumulated a long line of documented customers, several preserved as letters and receipts. The novelist Mary Shelley wrote to Floris in 1818 requesting hairbrushes and a toothbrush, and an 1863 letter from Florence Nightingale, thanking the firm for "beautiful sweet-smelling nosegays," is still displayed in the store. Other records include a Winston Churchill receipt dated December 1934 and a December 1959 purchase by Marilyn Monroe made while she was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel [8]. In a 2024 brand spotlight, The Gentleman's Journal described Floris as "the world's oldest independent family-owned perfumer" [8].

Royal patronage runs through that recognition, and the dating of one warrant is not settled. Wikipedia records that Floris was appointed perfumer to Queen Elizabeth II in 1971 [7], while the company's own history page frames the appointment in 2013 wording, calling Floris "the only perfumer to hold a Royal Warrant from the Queen" [4]. Wikipedia also lists a 1984 warrant as manufacturers of toilet preparations to the Prince of Wales [7]. The company says it received a further royal warrant from King Charles III in 2023, as manufacturers of toilet preparations to the King [5]. The 1730 founding date is not in dispute and is identical across the brand's own pages, Wikipedia and editorial coverage [7].

Floris is active. The company continues to launch new fragrances, operates live e-commerce across several regions, maintains active social channels, and was awarded its most recent royal warrant in 2023 [5].