Antoinette Wilhelmina Nording (1814-1887), was a Swedish entrepreneur. She founded the famous perfume company '' Antoinette W Nording'', for a time the biggest

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

company in Sweden, in 1847. She can be regarded as the first female

perfumer A perfumer is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a ''nose'' (French: ''nez'') due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist wh ...

in Sweden, and as a female pioneer.

Life

Antoinette Nording was born to spice merchant Anders Fahlcrantz (1757-1823) and Brita Christina Bäckmanin Stockholm and in 1838 married the spice merchant Johan Christian Nording (1807-1883). In 1846, the monopoly of the

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

s were abolished in Sweden, and the following year, Antoinette Nording applied for a permit to manufacture and sell ''

Eau de Cologne Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne"), or simply cologne, is a perfume originating from Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a ge ...

''. Nording was granted her permit to manufacture and sell perfume in 1847. While a married woman was legally a minor under the guardianship of her spouse, she could engage in business with the permit of her spouse in accordance with the ''

Handelsordningen Handelsordningen ('Trade Regulation') was a business law reform introduced in Sweden 22 December 1846. The reform abolished the legal differences between retail business and wholesaling business, transformed the trade guilds to trade associations ...

''. Until the ''

Fabriks och Handtwerksordning Fabriks och Handtwerksordning ('Factory and Handicrafts Regulation') was a business law reform introduced in Sweden 22 December 1846. It is foremost remembered as the reform that abolished the system of the guild A guild ( ) is an association of ...

'' reform of 1846, perfume manufacture in Sweden had officially been the privilege of the

Apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...

guild, which made Nording a pioneer as the perhaps first perfumer in the modern sense in Sweden. Female apothecaries (normally widows of apothecaries who inherited the privilege of their husbands) had with all certainty manufactured perfumes before, but there are no woman confirmed to have manufactured cosmetics in Sweden before

Eva Ekeblad Eva Ekeblad (née De la Gardie; 10 July 1724 – 15 May 1786) was a Swedish countess, salon hostess, agronomist, and scientist. She was widely known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, allowing greater us ...

, and no woman confirmed to have done so for commercial purposes until Nording, making her a pioneer also as the first female perfumer in Sweden, though she was quickly given competition: already in 1858, there were five perfumers only in Stockholm, only counting the female ones. Antoinette Nording became a successful business person. She manufactured as well as imported four kinds of Eau de Cologne, French liquor, French and English soap, pomades, powders, theater make up and a number of cosmetic products for "the sophisticated toilette", and imported essences from England and Provence.Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013 She had an exclusive clientele, and her products were popular as Christmas gifts.

Legacy

Nording had no children, and after the death of her spouse in 1883, she retired. She sold her company to Christina Charlotta Pettersson (1850-1932), her employee since a decade, in exchange for a pension from the company. She also made Pettersson her heir. Her heir Christina Charlotta Pettersson and her spouse (who took the name Nording) managed to company with continuing success and left it to their daughter Ida Maria "Maja" Charlotta Nording (1885-1979). It had thereby been managed by women for three generations.

References

Sources

* Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013

Life

Legacy

References

Sources

Further reading