The short form 'Farina gegenüber' and the French name 'Jean Marie Farina vis-à-vis de la place Juliers' were also commonly used over a long period of time.

On 17 July 1709, Johann Baptist Farina registered as a new resident at Cologne town hall and on the 24th was granted free citizenship.

[1] Johann Baptist and his brother-in-law, Franz Balthasar Borgnis, then founded 'Farina & Compagnie', which later developed into 'Gebrüder Farina & Comp.'

The Farina company sold a wide range of luxury items, such as lace, handkerchiefs, silk stockings, wigs, feathers, tobacco boxes, sealing wax and face powder that one would have expected to find in a shop run by Italians.

experienced a number of financial difficulties, which led to Franz Balthasar Borgnis’ and Carl Hieronymus Farina’s departures.

In 1703, long before he joined his brother to found 'Farina & Compagnie' in 1714, Johann Maria Farina (I) put his skills to work and created a fragrance that was to become a great success.

In 1708, Johann Maria Farina wrote a letter to his brother, Johann Baptist Farina, in which he describes his perfume as follows: “I have created a perfume which is reminiscent of a spring morning following a soft shower where fragrances of wild narcissi combine with that of sweet orange flowers.

Furthermore, the fact that only natural essences were and still are used means that the perfume maker must blend and combine various vintages to obtain a constant fragrance.

[7] From 1730 onwards, Farina’s list of customers expanded at a great pace and, according to records, 3,700 bottles were delivered to a total of 39 addresses between 1730 and 1739.

By 1740, eau de Cologne was a great success and was sold in Rouen, Paris, Strasburg, Magdeburg, Trier, Wesel, Kleve, Lyon, Vienna, Amsterdam, The Hague, Liège, Lille, Aachen, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Braunschweig, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Augsburg, Stuttgart, Bamberg, Mainz, Warsaw and Koblenz.

In August 1785, a certain Mrs Duplessis from Nogent enquired whether eau de Cologne could in any way help her paralysed husband.

In his response, Johann Maria Farina (III) suggested she dampen some pieces of cloth in the perfume before applying them to her husband's aching limbs and recommended she add 50 drops of eau de Cologne to his weekly drinking water.