Where do we come from?
The Story began on Berdichev province of Kiev on 1927.
The entire village knew when Sonya, my grandmother, baked an unimaginable chocolate cake with a touch of clove and sea salt. Sounds crazy and tasted terrific. She first started with milk quarrel. While warming the milk and dissolving the cocoa, the vapors traveled thru the village on those freezing days of January. When the milk was warm and the cocoa dissolved, she added a few whole cloves and let it rest for 20 minutes before taking the cloves out, then she added the wheat flour, yeast, brown sugar, a touch of vanilla, eggs and sea salt, she covered the mix with a white handmade 100% cotton cloth for 2 hours, while her wooden forged steel oven was getting ready for the 1 hour ceremony of baking. During the ceremony of baking everyone on Berdichev was already talking of the wonderful scent of the cake, so wonderful that latter it was known as “The Fridman Fragrance”.
Why did the people from Berdichev started calling the scent of Sonya´s cake The Fridman Fragrance? Well because that unique scent identified Mr. León Fridman, his wife Sonya and the rest of the family (three little boys at the time).
Discovery # 1 was done! The people from Berdichev could identify someone from far away just with a specific scent.
Scent makes connections.
Discovery # 2. Chocolate cakes were baked on Berdichev perhaps every day on many houses, but Sonya´s was unique. people could identify her cake over all the others just because the touch of clove even though no one knew the fact that Sonya´s cake was actually made with Clove!
People can identify Scents not only as a general piece of information, but our sense of smell can identify very small details that could make a difference, the scent of an orange is not the same one that orange juice or just a slice of an orange.
Scents can be unique enough so there could be no confusion.
Discovery # 3. On November of 1927, a family of immigrants opened a bakery on Berdichev, they named Sonya´s trying to hold from Mrs. Fridman reputation. Even the chocolate cake was good, the family if immigrants had no success selling chocolate cakes; people cannot the be fooled by their sense of smell.
Scent tells the truth.
Discovery # 4. After a few months Sonya decided to open her own Bakery, great success since the first Chocolate cake baked. Before opened she told no one about the store, when she opened the store for the first-time fellow habitants from Berdichev were in line ready to buy;
Scent builds remembrance and Loyalty.
Discovery #5. The truth is that my Grandma Sonya died long before I was born. I never smelled or tasted her Chocolate Cake, but I heard my father, his brothers, and his sister Bertha talking about their Mother`s Cakes;
Scents tell Stories that last longer than any other sensation.
Discovery #6. On 1973 while walking on a Sunday morning to a Symphonic Concert at the Arts Center, we passed thru a very old fashion bakery run by a very old lady. My father suddenly stopped walking, I turned around and saw his face, I will never forget that moment, he was smiling while there were tears on his eyes. I had no clue of what was happening. His speechless face said “wait, don´t talk to me, give me a minute”. I was confused, tears, smile & silence, a few seconds seemed to me like a very long time. Suddenly he took a very deep breath and the words I remember came out of his mouth, even though I think they came from his heart, –“Son, my mother died long ago, 20 years ago, when we lived on Ukraine your grandma used to bake the best chocolate cake on the history of human kind. We left Berdichev leaving there many things and travel to America. When we reestablish on a normal life after the war, she never cooked another Chocolate cake. I truly don’t know why, but I guess it was because of her memories back in Berdichev. That means things that happened about 46 years ago, 46 years since her last Chocolate cake, and this Bakery smells exactly like the cake she use to bake for us, it´s exactly the same no doubt”- So we went inside to buy a cake to take home, suddenly my father asked the old lady –“What makes your cake smell so wonderful?”- the old lady replied –“an old family secret son, don’t tell anyone but I put some Clove for a few minutes on the milk while it´s warm”-;
The knowledge and recognition of a scent last forever on human’s memory, might be the last remembrances to be erased from our memories. Scents take you back in time on a flash.
Scent drives our emotions.
Well, that is how it all started. By recognizing all things that Scent can do for us, every time, all the time. As E.W. Hildick writes, “Your Nose Knows”, our nose drives many things on our lives without even our own knowledge or thinking process. Scents bring back memories, alert us of dangers, tell us who to get in love with. You can visit the best restaurant, with the best presented meals, and the best tasting food, but if your nose says otherwise, you will never even try the food.
We do have a deep commitment on delivering breath taking scents, the right scents for the right moment, for a very specific experience. Yes, this is Rocket Science; over 22 years of experience are behind us. We have learned, experimented, designed, research and evolved all of our products.
More than selling Scents we sell atmospheres that will make from a situation an unparalleled experience, From a chit chat a meaningful conversation.
Now days we don’t buy goods, we buy Experiences.
From the movie “Gone with the wind”: Wind, Air, Breath, Suspires, Dreams, Remembrances.
It could go with the wind; it could come from the air¡
Welcome, please enjoy the experience of Fridman´s Fragrances Send great messages that are invisible, unearnable, and unforgettable¡
Uri Fridman
President