FRANÇOIS COTY (1874 - 1934) - Father of Modern Perfumery

His real name was François Joseph Marie Spoturno & is considered to be the father of modern perfumery. Coty was the maiden name of his mother.

François was born in Ajaccio in 1874 in a house which was next to the house where Napoleon was born. Later Coty will be called the Napoleon of perfumery. Orphaned at the age of 7, he was educated by his grandmother. Due to financial problems, his grandmother sends him at the age of 13 to Marseille to earn his living. He sold women fashion accessories.

In 1900 he goes to Paris. During his military service he meets a Corsian officer, Emanuel Arene, who later becomes a politician. He employs Coty at the end of his service as his secretary. Coty who was a workaholic, takes advantage of this job to learn the commercial correspondence notions, accounting & public relations. He continues to sell women accessories, due to which he meets Yvonne Baron, whose father is a fashion designer. Yvonne & François will have 2 kids. Yvonne proves very precious for Coty’s future.

In 1901, he discovers perfumery. His pharmacist friend, Raymond Goery needs some help one evening. He gets his formulas weighed by Coty. That's how he discovers perfumery. He does not like the odor of the existing perfumes. So, he rents a small room, where he works on perfumery accords for 5 years. His aim is to create some perfumes which smell good and can be preserved. After 5 years, he goes to the Nouvelle gallery, to sell his perfumes. Everybody refuses to buy & show him the way out. Being smart, he drops a bottle of his perfume, ”La Rose Jacqueminot”, and lets the fragrance speak for itself. It becomes a great success.

From 1902, he starts visiting all the raw-material manufacturer in Grasse. He visits Chyris. He took a keen interest in the natural raw-materials, absolutes of Chyris, which were called at that time Produit Naturels sans Cires (PNC). Coty was the first one to use these absolutes in perfumery. Earlier perfumers did not know its usage. After Coty had success with them, others also began using them. Later Coty sold his perfumes in Russia with the intermediary of Chyris.

Coty knew that new perfumes where required, exotic perfumes which can make one dream. Also he wanted to increase his clientele. He knew Lalique, who used to make glass jewelry at that time. He convinces him to make bottles for him. In 1904, Coty establishes himself at rue de la Boetie in Paris with a shop, a laboratory & an atelier de conditionnement - a workshop. He had a very modest start. A few companies offered him their captive fragrant bases, Dianthine, Iralia, Flonol, Ambre 83 & Ambreine to use in his formulations. He used them as a single raw-material in his compositions.

Coty was very much aware of the market & its needs. He had a knack of marketing, sales and a competitive spirit which attracted a lot of raw-material houses.

Whenever Coty made a perfume, he also worked on designing his bottles, packaging & advertisement. When a new perfume creation was ready, he would test this perfume in the market for 6 months. If he was not happy with it, he would launch it in his other company, called Le Parfum Inconnu in a common packaging. If it worked well there, then would relaunch it with the brand Coty.

Few Perfumes created by Coty

At the beginning he made a lot of Soliflores - single flower fragrances.

1904 Heliotropine, Lilas Blanc, Idylle, Le Vertige, L’eau de Espagne

1905 La Rose Jacquueminot, L’ Ambre antique - Ambre doux L’Origan - Ambre fleuri epicée

1906 Le jasmin de Corse, Flirt, Coeur des calices, L'or

1909-1912 Soie de fleurs, Iris, Lilas poupre, Violette, Cordon vert

1913 L’oeillet de France, La jacinthe

1917 Le chypre

1921 L’ Emmeraude

1922 Paris

1927 L’ Aimant

1928 La jacée

1932 Fougère

1934 A Suma ( worked with Vincent Roubeyre )