Heritage
A house, in its own words
Förster and Johnsen began in 2010 as a perfume house created by Michael Forster and Walter Johnsen. Its early collection grew out of the idea that fragrance could represent different facets of life, producing names tied to emotion and personal character rather than a single conventional fragrance family. Love EDT, Surprise EDT, Courage EDT, Serenity EDT, Confidence, Happiness EDT, and Freedom EDT all appeared within that early body of work, helping establish the house’s narrative-led approach. The precise circumstances behind the founders’ decision are not documented in the available sources, so the brand’s early history remains closely tied to the collection itself and the shared identity formed by Forster and Johnsen. There is a slight difference in the available chronology. Brand-indexing information associates the first fragrance line with 2010, while Fragsi describes the perfume house as officially introduced to the world in 2011. These accounts are not necessarily contradictory, since a house can begin releasing scents before its formal public introduction. What is consistent across the sources is the early-2010s origin, the two founders’ names, and a debut range centered on recognizable feelings and states of mind. The philosophy of Förster and Johnsen is most evident in the naming of its early fragrances. Love, Surprise, Courage, Serenity, Confidence, Happiness, and Freedom translate private emotional ideas into points of entry for scent discovery. This gives the collection a human scale. Instead of presenting fragrance only through notes, materials, or aspirational imagery, the house frames each scent through the experience it is intended to evoke. Its creative idea appears rooted in emotional variety, with each perfume functioning as a distinct character within a wider collection. The names also make shopping feel more intuitive. A fragrance seeker can move toward a mood, a quality, or a particular moment rather than navigate technical terminology alone. The brand’s history suggests that this approach was present from the beginning, not added later as a marketing device. Sources consulted for this profile offer limited information about the founders’ inspiration, formulation standards, or commercial aims. Those details should not be inferred from generic perfume-house language. What can be verified is the shape of the early range and the consistent use of experience-based naming.