Company Values
These natural fragrances are inspired by beautiful landscapes and the wonderful things that inhabit them.
Firn premium botanical fragrances are made one at a time using only high quality, cruelty-free, biodegradable, and completely natural and plant-based ingredients. They pay homage to the natural world, imagined concepts, collective memories, and personal experiences.
"Firn" is a portmanteau of Fern and Fir, created to honor the rich, green bioregion in which the fragrances are hand blended. Firn is also an old term that was used to describe the raw material of glaciers, and is best translated to "last year's snow". I LOVE this! Without snowmelt from the previous winter, many of our world's natural spaces would not exist as the stunning habitats that we love to explore with the hope of finding something greater than ourselves.
You'll notice a common theme in many of the fragrances listed. Many of these contain smoke or deep forest notes. If you've always wanted to visit Oregon or have already experienced and loved it, I think you'll appreciate these blends in particular.
Enjoy.
Company Values: Ethical Fragrance Inspired by Wildness
Firn botanical fragrances are made exclusively with high quality, biodegradable, and cruelty-free ingredients. They pay homage to the natural world, imagined concepts, collective memories, and personal experiences.
The word "firn" is a double entendre'. First, it's a portmanteau of the words fern and fir, a term I thought I had invented as a way to honor the green bioregion in which the fragrances are handmade. Turns out, firn is a term used to describe the raw granular material of glaciers not yet compressed into ice, best translated to mean "last year's snow". A simple image search for true firn yields photographs of jagged mountains and frozen stratified landscapes. Because of this, I feel the word's meaning even more appropriately represents Firn fragrances, which are layered in scent, pure and crystalline, and transmit light the way snow and ice do. Additionally, the creation process of each fragrance is transparent in itself. (More on this below.)
Firn as a company supports the preservation of natural spaces, virgin wilderness, and all things that are untamed. It supports communicating with the environment using our more base senses, like nose and instinct. Ever walk into a forest clearing that smells like elk musk, or have the sensation that a small feral creature is watching you from a branch above? Firn absolutely supports that! That's tapping into a deeper sensory experience, your own wildness. Firn fragrances were created to support a more primal connection to nature, because we are nature and we come from it. Once we recognize that we are integral animals to this world, our relationship with it can improve. The result is that we can live in better harmony with everything else with whom we share this space.
Earth Friendly, Transparent (Literally and Metaphorically) Practices
Unlike conventional perfumes, you'll notice Firn Handcrafted fragrances aren't colorless; that's because they're made with 100% pure, natural, and often organic ingredients. You may even come across very small amounts of plant material or sediment; this is ok!
All plant matter that I wildcrafted was collected responsibly and with utmost respect and consideration for its contribution to its native ecosystem. Thanks were given to the plant and the location.
Most of the packaging materials are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. When in season, dried lichen will be used to cushion the fragrances during their transit. Lichen is harvested from the ground from underneath local trees.
The boxes within which the fragrances are packaged are recyclable and printed on 100% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) paper.
Giving Back
A percentage of sales for certain full-size items (e.g. Badlands) will be donated to environmental causes. Please see product descriptions for more information on which sales directly support this big beautiful thing we all call Home.
Vial Exchange Program
Once you’ve used all of your personal fragrance, please return the empty glass bottle, wood cap, and atomizer. You’ll receive a 15% discount toward your next purchase. Email firnhandcrafted@gmail.com to learn more.
Why walnut caps instead of a faster growing and more easily replenished material like bamboo or beechwood?
People with good taste recognize good quality.
Walnut wood is more likely to get reused, returned, or repurposed because, I believe, most people actually want quality, longevity and beauty over convenience and ease of disposal. My hope is that Firn resonates with folks who seek out reusable and long-lasting items over disposable ones with less character and heart. An analogy: Midcentury teak credenza, or particle board hutch?