“We are born to wander through a chaos field. And yet we do not become hopelessly lost, because each walker who comes before us leaves behind a trace for us to follow.”
-- On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor
There was no archive. I hesitate to admit this since it is expected of a historic brand. Where are the formula books? Gone. Where are the sales records and tax filings? Gone. Where are the perfectly preserved bottles and packages? In someone’s curio cabinet? The disappointment is palpable when we admit this absence of archive to people. The truth is that despite our roots in the Gilded Age, our perfumery’s historic record is more Indiana Jones than Downton Abbey.
The perfumery flourished from its inception in 1865 through its closure in 1950, and then it was gone. Life moved on and Blue Grass moved in ushering a new era of American fragrance. No one in the family kept an archive. If you grew up in the United States, especially west of the Mississippi River, you know well the mantra of ‘letting go of the past and embracing the future’ and this is what happened to 85 years of Blocki perfume history.
Fortunately, a single trace was all it took to recover our lost perfumery. Years ago, when I asked my mother-in-law about Tyler’s obsession with scent, she offered me a slim book bound in green leather as an explanation. It was a compilation of biographies put together by the Chicago Veteran Druggist Association in 1904. The biography of John Blocki, Tyler’s great-great-grandfather, noted that he left the drug business behind for perfumery. Vintage book collectors be vindicated, hang on to those dusty old volumes!
The absence of archive freed us to take a more unique approach to our history. Heritage brands often tell their history in a reverential way full of proclamations; we were the first, the best, the biggest, this film star wore our fragrance, and so on. Instead, we chose a frank approach that we feel represents the best parts of the individualism and informality that dominate American culture. We have always been excited to share our discoveries with our customers in real time.
A heart-warming result of being earnest, is the number of people who have reached out with information about the original perfumery. One woman emailed us a photo of an original Blocki flower-in-the-bottle perfume that she received from her grandfather’s friend who worked in the Chicago factory. She told us that employees would take home seconds with stuck caps since they made beautiful vanity displays. Another woman found a bottle while diving in Puget Sound. Neither of them would part with their bottles but we are happy to have their stories.
Our most surprising discovery was the scale of the original perfumery. We assumed John Blocki was blending perfumes using formula books like most druggists of the time, but he was a manufacturing perfumer more like large fragrance houses today. He created perfumes for his own brand and several other brands. He also bottled and packaged fragrances and toiletries in at least three factories across the US and one in Canada. Blocki perfumes were always available to a wide audience.
It has been ten years since our perfumery’s relaunch, and we are still searching for and finding artifacts and learning new details. These new objects seem to show up just when we need inspiration and motivation. One of our latest finds has been on my wish list since the beginning: original labels from the 1900s. We won the lottery the day they showed up in eBay; a set of nine labels in two sizes!
The labels did not disappoint. The women in the Blocki family were not shrinking violets, and neither were the women whose images graced our perfume labels. While lovely, they are a not the typical demure and modest women associated with the Victorian era. They radiate power and sensuality like the women portrayed by Alphonse Mucha but in a less ethereal way. Their realism is engaging. Peau d’Espange with her chin held high seems to say, ‘you don’t deserve me, darling.’ Lilies of the Valley with her flowing hair and Grecian gown glowers at the artist with a watchful ‘don’t even think about it’ side eye. The identity of the artist and the models is still a mystery.
The gaps in history are where historians become detectives. Since the day we decided to revive the perfumery, we have worn two hats: detective and business owner. Our history is a work in progress, but we think it is exciting to still have questions. We hope you will join us and smell amazing while doing some detective work!
