Floris founder Juan Famenias Floris and his wife Elizabeth began selling perfume, combs and shaving products in the elegant quarter of London’s St James. The Floris shop they opened at 89 Jermyn Street remains the heart of the business and is still run by their descendants today.

A letter from Robert Floris written to his parents at Jermyn Street as he sourced ingredients from abroad, a journey that inspired our Neroli Voyage Eau de Parfum. The practice of taking a written page and giving it a quarter turn before continuing to write across it is known as cross-writing, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries due to the high cost of paper and postage.

Floris received their first Royal Warrant as Smooth Pointed Comb Maker to HM The King George IV. Skilfully made combs were a speciality of Floris at this time, along with a collection of toothbrushes and mouthwashes, and greatly valued by the company’s elite clientele.

The year of the world-famous Great Exhibition. The exhibition was held in Hyde Park, just a short walk from Jermyn Street, and the Spanish mahogany cabinets and glasswork purchased at the exhibition are still in place at the Floris shop today.

Florence Nightingale had returned from the Crimean War and was busy setting up a training school for nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital in Waterloo. In our Jermyn Street shop we display this treasured letter written by Florence Nightingale in 1863 to “Mr Floris” thanking him for his “beautiful sweet-smelling nosegays”.

Mary Anne Floris married James R.D. Bodenham and in July 1871, the first of their children was born. Shortly after, they settled in the family home ‘dear old Ivy Lodge’ where they would continue to live for a further 50 years. In 1878 James and Mary Anne took over the family business from Mary Anne’s brother, Joseph.

A receipted invoice dated December 1934 for fragrances purchased by Winston Churchill including Special No.127 Eau de Toilette and Stephanotis, both of which are still available in the Floris Signature Collection.

Floris products continued to be made by hand on the shop premises at 89 Jermyn Street; this image shows Michael Bodenham (7th generation descendant) working on his next creation.

Ian Fleming, writer and creator of James Bond, was a regular customer of Floris and he first featured our products in his novel Moonraker in 1955. Our No.89 Eau de Toilette was created the year before his first novel was published in 1951 and the scent soon became a favourite of the James Bond creator. 

During the 1950s Floris increasingly exported orders to the United States where the brand was gaining popularity. A receipt in our collection dated December 1959 shows a purchase of Rose Geranium made for Marilyn Monroe Miller while she stayed at Beverly Hills Hotel, California.

To satisfy increasing demand the family established a factory in Devon which was officially opened by HRH Princess Diana in 1989. 

To this day, our soaps are hand wrapped at our premises in Devon. Pictured here is an early soap mould with the floral border decoration which is still used today to emboss our collection of Luxury Soaps.

Tucked away at the back of the 89 Jermyn Street shop sits the Floris perfumery, where all the Floris fragrances have been created since 1730. In 2006 Floris opened the doors by launching a Bespoke Fragrance Services, allowing people a unique opportunity to create their own perfume with the guided expertise of the Floris perfumers.

In honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Floris launched Royal Arms – Diamond Edition, originally created to celebrate The Queen’s birth in 1926. As the only perfumer to hold a Royal Warrant from the Queen, Floris crafted a limited edition of the fragrance, decanted into six antique crystal dressing-table bottles discovered in 1914.

Floris undertook the first renovation of the 89 Jermyn Street shop for over 100 years, carefully protecting the grade II listed building.

To celebrate the restoration, Floris also unveiled two new projects; first, a newly realised museum space at the back of the shop displaying a collection of Floris archive items, and the second being the Ledger Series, re-releasing eight fragrances from customer ledgers dating back centuries.

2017 also marked the first year of Floris' appearance at both Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Garden Festival. Held by the Royal Horticultural Society, Floris sampled a collection of our most loved floral and herbacious scents.

In 2018, Edward Bodenham, Perfumery Director and 9th generation family member of Floris became a proud member of the British Society of Perfumers, founded over 50 years ago, by perfumers, to help gain recognition and status in the fragrance industry.