150 years ago, one of the co-founders of Haarmann & Reimer – a predecessor of Symrise – synthesized vanillin for the first time. This was the start of a success story spanning almost one-and-a-half centuries of innovation and high-quality products. The company will therefore be celebrating a special anniversary in 2024, looking back at the past but also fixing its sights firmly on the future. 

INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

When chemists Wilhelm Haarmann and Ferdinand Tiemann synthesized vanillin for the first time in 1874, they could not have known that this would be the cornerstone for a global enterprise. Yet their product was indeed very special. It could be used in place of vanilla – the costly queen of spices – in some applications, making this flavor affordable and accessible to a broader consumer group. 

The two scientists used a natural raw material that the company still uses today, extracting the vanillin in several stages from the sap of conifers. While Tiemann went on to work in academia, Haarmann laid the cornerstone for Symrise. He established his first company in 1875, joining Karl Ludwig Reimer one year later to form Haarmann & Reimer. 

The second predecessor of Symrise was also established in Holzminden. In 1919, hairdresser Carl-Wilhelm Gerberding founded Dragoco to manufacture perfume and soap compositions. The two companies evolved in parallel, went international and merged in 2003 to create what was then the world’s fourth largest supplier of fragrances and flavorings. Since its public listing in 2006, the company has continued to grow and move into new areas. In doing so, Symrise has focused on sustainability, developing an extensive strategy for this as early as 2005 that it has expanded massively in recent years. 

And so the company has come full circle. Now, as in 1874, nature is the foundation of Symrise’s business, enabling it to continue operating both sustainably and successfully in the future as well.