Les Parfums d'Arys

Les Parfums d'Arys of Paris France, was established in 1916 at 3 rue de la Paix Paris, by Dr. Lucien Graux, who had already produced perfumes with the Arys name.  

 The Arys Perfumery, thanks to its efforts, its remarkable outfit, has acquired the draws of: Patented supplier of the Royal House of Spain, Supplier of the Royal House of Norway, Supplier of the Bey of Tunis.  

Lucien Graux, doctor, entrepreneur, writer, publisher and French resistance fighter, launched the Arys perfume house (1916-1950), which had an international volume. As a doctor, his specialties were public hygiene, urology, and pharmacology applied to healthcare. He was also the editor of La Gazette Medicale de Paris (1906-1914). In December 1907, he filed a patent for a drug combating uric acid, called "Urodonal", which he promoted with great advertising, through Etablissements Chatelain (Paris and Courveboie), distributing products pharmaceuticals such as Globeol and Jubol.

Around 1916, he founded the Societe Anonyme des Parfums d'Arys in Paris, and listed it on the stock market in 1918. He opened a prestigious boutique located at 3 rue de la Paix to sell his perfumery and toiletry products. During this period, interest in all things Asian and Middle Eastern was reaching its peak. To answer the demand for these exotic trifles, perfumeries decided to release their Oriental -inspired fragrances. Companies such as Rosine, Bichara and Babani competed against Arys to fill the shelves with their perfumes and to capture the heart of the Europeans and Americans. 

Baccarat and Rene Lalique were commissioned to create beautiful flacons to contain their precious perfumes.

Arys proved to be very successful at the time. In a 1925 publication, the so-called "Societe Anonyme des Parfums d'Arys", whose products were prepared "according to the formulas of Dr. Reymondon," was singled out as "one of the most powerful organizations in France and in the whole world."

Because of its high quality and excellence of its products, Arys was awarded the following:

• Strasbourg Exposition 1919 - Silver Medal  
• Monaco Exposition 1920 - Gold Medal
• Monaco Exposition 1921 - Gold Medal
• Beirut Exposition 1921 - Certificate of Honor
• Marseille Exposition 1922 - Not competing but participated as chairman of the panel of judges.
• Rio de Janeiro Exposition, 1922 - Silver Medal
• Strasbourg Exposition Pasteur 1923 - Grand Prize
• Strasbourg Colonial Exposition 1924 - Gold Medal
• Paris Exposition du Val-de-Grace - Grand Prize

 

 Participated in all international trade events:

• Casablanca Fair 1922
• Vienna Display competition 1922
• New York Commercial Fair 1922
• Havana Fair 1924

This house was presented in the French Perfume Pavilion during the International (Art Deco) Exhibition of 1925.

La parfumerie française et l'art dans la présentation, 1925:

"The Société anonyme des Parfums Arys is one of the most powerful organizations in France and around the world. Its modern factories are equipped with wonderfully furnished laboratories with remarkably perfected equipment, constantly updated according to the latest advances in machinery. Its many very large, very bright workshops are clearly concerned with the comfort and well-being of its numerous staff, the remarkable hygienic conditions in which the work is carried out, make it possible to deliver to the public only products of choice, incomparable finesse, and incomparable presentation. 

The Société des Parfums Arys in its factory in Courbevoie employs a staff of several hundred workers; it uses a driving force of 350 horsepower; its delivery service has 9 cars and buggies; to help the growing importance of its production, it has had to create numerous ancillary services, some of which have become veritable factories; it has auto repair shops, box factories, cardboard and sheathing factories, a printing press, a glass factory where all of its fine art bottles are made. 

Endowed with these powerful resources, the Société des Parfums d'Arys has managed to rise in a few years to the number one rank among the major perfume brands. The names of its perfumes, of completely new formula, are in all memories; they have brought about a profound transformation of modern perfumery and have earned this French industry, so renowned throughout the world, a new, revived and rejuvenated vogue. Aided by intensive and intelligent advertising by a very knowledgeable knowledge of foreign markets, Arys perfumes have conquered the whole world.

 Leaflets and brochures are sent each year by the thousands to all English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German speaking countries. They promote branded products, and exalt very high French good taste. The expansion of business abroad made it possible to consider the on-site manufacture of Arys products. A subsidiary was created in Milan, it now occupies an area of ​​8,000 meters. Other factories are born and operate in Barcelona, ​​Brussels, Budapest, under the direction of French specialists; others are under study and will soon be born in England, Romania, Chile, Czecho-Slovakia, etc. which already contribute and will contribute more and more to the diffusion of our luxury industries, and to the expansion of French influence abroad. 

Recent contracts with a powerful American company have allowed us to become one of the main exporters of perfumes in the United States, where the Arys brand, known only to an elite yesterday, is winning the favor of the general public. All these branches are constantly visited by inspectors who are very familiar with new products from the Paris house, and who are perfectly familiar with the complex conditions of international trade.  

It welcomes foreigners interested in French perfumery with sympathy, and in 1924 it received a group of Yugoslav students, and about 150 Canadian journalists, who had come to Paris for the Olympic Games. 

Finally, the Société des Parfums d'Arys took an active part in the organization of the International Exhibition of Modern Industrial Decorative Arts; its Chairman of the Board of Directors was appointed class XXII rapporteur of the Admission Committee."

The photos below illustrate the opulent interior of the Arys boutique in Paris from 1925 to 1927.

For twenty years, Arys experienced international growth and employed hundreds of people at their factory at 107 boulevard de la Mission Marchand in Courbevoie.  

The brand was very popular in Italy with its Lavanda fragrance, starting in the mid 1930s.

In June 1940, Graux entered into resistance, but was arrested at his home by the Gestapo in June 1944, then deported to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was murdered on October 10, 1944. As a result, Les Parfums d'Arys then launched Temoignage (Testimony in French), a fragrance in tribute to Lucien Graux. more information on Lucien Graux can be found in the book Bibliothèque du docteur Lucien-Graux, published in 1956.

The original Arys company was always titled as "Arys Parfums de Luxe" and their brand seems to still have been in business in 1959.  I believe it was defunct by 1960.

Today, you can find Arys perfumes under the name, "Arys Parfums Paris,"  which seems to have been in business from 1965 to 1994. The revived company still used many of the original Arys names from the 1920s period, though these made after 1965. The Arys Parfums Paris company used modern looking bottles, many with sprays.  

Chemical Industry: Magazine for the German, 1965:

"A new company was founded under the name "Arys Parfums Paris SARL" to introduce the "Arys" brand in France. Half of the capital of this new company is provided by the Italian company "Algi Picardi & Co. Sas (Milan) the rest from the French. D. Rabatte, J. M. Brandt S. A. acquired."

Official bulletin of civil and commercial announcements, 1968:

"ARYS PARFUMS PARIS, S. A. R. L. with capital of 15,000 F, increased to 65,000 F. Activity actually carried out: creation and operation of a commercial and industrial fund, study and research of all formulas and processes for manufacturing perfumes and beauty products, purchase and sale."

 

The perfumes of Arys:

• 1911 Promenade Matinale
• 1916 Arys
• 1916 Arysette
• 1916 Bridal Bouquet
• 1916 Le Chypre
• 1917 Chypre 2
• 1917 La Rose
• 1917 Le Cyclamen
• 1917 Parlez-lui de Moi
• 1917 Secret d'Arys
• 1918 L’Heure Heureuse
• 1918 Un Jour Viendra
• 1919 C'est Ca!
• 1919 Chypre 3
• 1919 Croyez Moi
• 1919 L'Amour Dans la Coeur
• 1919 L'Anneau Merveilleux
• 1919 L’Œillet
• 1919 La Violette
• 1919 Parce Que
• 1919 Premier Oui
• 1919 Rien que de Bonheur
• 1919 Un Jardin le Nuit
• 1920 Ambre Vermeil
• 1920 Assola
• 1920 Blasé
• 1920 Dame au Saphir
• 1920 Djola
• 1920 En Fermant Les Yeux
• 1920 Faisons un Reve
• 1920 Faites-Lui Mes Aveux
• 1920 Fox Trot
• 1920 Idee de Femme
• 1920 L’Héliotrope
• 1920 La Mimosa
• 1920 Le Jasmin
• 1920 Musky
• 1920 Parfum Admirable
• 1920 Parlez -lui de moi
• 1920 Rose sans fin
• 1920 L’Anneau Merveilleux
• 1920 Vouloir c'est pouvoir (parfum pour homme)
• 1920 Vraiment
• 1920 Yank
• 1922 Caresse Infinie
• 1922 Éternellement
• 1922 Feuilles
• 1922 Le Lilas
• 1922 Le Muguet
• 1922 Un Jardin La Nuit
• 1923 Blues
• 1923 Eau de Cologne Ambrée
• 1924 Un Reve
• 1925 L'Iris
• 1925 Le Bonheur dans L’Air
• 1926 Ambré de Carthage
• 1926 Charlestown
• 1927 Diamant Imperial
• 1928 Mes Chers Aimis
• 1920 Black Narcissus
• 1930s Amneris
• 1934 Eau de Lavande (Lavanda)
• 1940 Soubrette
• 1945 Témoignage
• 1950s Lavande Pour Monsieur
• A Paris
• Eau de Lavande
• Mary Poppins
• Nuit Blanche
• Grand Lavande
• Jour et Nuit
• Mon Jardin le Nuit
• Quercia
• Can Can
• Célisse
• Rien Que du Bonheur
• Verveine
• Automatique
• Sabine

A 1920 ad lists the following perfumes in their own categories:

BOUQUETS:

• Un Jour Viendra
• Ambre Vermeil
• Parlez -lui de moi
• Premier Oui
• Rose sans fin
• L’Anneux Merveilleux
• L'Amour Dans la Coeur

DERNIERES CREATIONS:

• Faisons un Reve
• Fox Trot
• Vouloir c'est pouvoir (parfum pour homme)

EXTRAITS:

• Œillet
• Rose 
• Mimosa
• Cyclamen
• Jasmine
• Mimosa
• Iris
• Lilas
• Muguet
• Heliotrope
• Chypre

Bottles:

Arys commissioned bottles from the finest makers of the period. A fairly early link was forged between Arys and Lalique, but the bottles do not rank among his most beautiful. Altogether, Rene Lalique created at least fourteen flacons for Arys, nine of these were available in more than one size. Baccarat manufactured some flacons and Julien Viard also lent his imagination to the design of bottles for Arys.

Another manufacturer of Arys bottles was "UMAB." This name is the glass company Usines et Manufactures d'Art de Bezons, of Bezons, France. They participated successfully at the Art-Deco exhibition, Paris, in 1925, where they were awarded the Certificate of Honor.