Stefanie Hanssen and Christoph Niedermeier entered the perfume business in 2009 and realised that their ideal idea of a perfumery does not exist. They criticise the industry mainly because of the marketing of minors and the industry motto "sex sells" as well as the focus on heterosexuality. Thus they founded their own brand and manufacture with Frau Tonis Parfum.
Stefanie Hanssen, founder of Frau Tonis Parfum
In line with their personal philosophy, the Berlin brand stands for tolerance, diversity, generational variety and truthfulness. It is quite deliberate that no perfume recommendation is made for one gender. Stefanie Hanssen dedicated Frau Tonis Parfum to her grandmother and style icon Toni-Luise. We ask the founder five exciting questions about her brand and the problems of the perfume industry.
1. What is special about Frau Tonis Parfum?
We show fragrances for what they are: Memories of our humanity, in all its contradictions and complexity. For Ms Toni's perfume, the only thing that matters is how a perfume is worn. Preferably self-confidently. All fragrances are unisex, cruelty free and are handcrafted with great attention to detail.
At the Store, our philosophy is: listen instead of imposing. Helping when we are needed. Smart, discreet advice is a matter of course for us. We have developed a fragrance test especially for this purpose, which leads to your favourite fragrance with five questions.
2. What makes the perfume sustainable?
Our fragrances are sustainably produced in Europe and contain controlled organic raw materials. The perfumes are also processed by hand in Berlin and bottled exclusively in glass; all flacons and packaging are made in France and Germany. In addition, we generally refrain from using any plastic with regard to the packaging material. For all our parcel shipments, only sustainable materials are in our cardboard boxes to protect or stabilise our products.
Source & Copyright by Frau Tonis Parfum
3. Which sustainability aspect is particularly important in the perfume industry?
In the entire beauty industry, the omission of animal products is a very positive development; in the perfume industry in particular, synthetic alternatives are now almost indistinguishable from the natural original. The conscious examination of where raw materials are obtained and under what circumstances is also becoming increasingly important. The fact that products are cruelty free is now just as important as their effectiveness.
Here, the formulations are often misleading, because an eau de parfum must always also have a certain proportion of synthetic substances, which ensures that fragrance oils are stable over a longer period of time. Otherwise, the fragrance pleasure would be short-lived.
4. What are the greatest challenges facing the industry?
Indeed, it is a challenge to reconcile sustainability with great aesthetics. When it comes to packaging design, for example, our motto is "one fits all". Here, too, the idea of conserving resources applies when we use glass flacons that can be returned to the Recycling cycle after use. If the industry could also say goodbye to the, in my opinion, superfluous cellophaning of its products, a big step would be taken.
My appeal: finally stop promoting fragrances as a means of mating aid! Who else wants to see that in 2021? For us, it borders on contempt for humanity to misuse scantily clad minors as testimonials for the industry. For us, this is the maximum negative cliché, which we categorically reject. We plead for a rethink in the beauty industry.
5. What can we expect from you in the future?
Much! I continue to work to enrich the world with high quality fragrances that are unique in structure and flavor selection. This takes courage and self-confidence. Our fragrances therefore deliberately do not play to the mainstream, but position themselves as "edgy". This November, we are also presenting a fragrance that will celebrate the theme of "gender fluidity". I am particularly looking forward to this fragrance!
