Thank you for this assignment, truly: there is nothing more relaxing than visiting Farfalla in Uster, canton Zurich. However stressed you arrive – rush hour, roadworks, deadlines – three or four deep breaths on the way up to the offices on the upper floor and you are already in Om mode. And the moment you sit across from father and son, Jean-Claude and Malvin Richard, deep calm sets in. I had already been there a few weeks earlier, when Farfalla celebrated its 40th anniversary. On show was the whole world of its now more than a hundred essential oils – yet almost every product seemed made for a female audience. No room, for instance, for the subject of menopause. But yes, men, you too are affected by declining hormones: the jargon calls it andropause.
Simply Unisex
Jean-Claude Richard smiles: «Products for men to counter all the complaints that ageing brings are barely present on the market», admits the charming, moustachioed founder. Yet Farfalla was developed with a unisex idea from the very start. Apart perhaps from sprays and oils to ease menstrual pain, a man can use practically every product too. The unisex idea is no coincidence – with the Richards it is even older than the company itself.
A quick look back: in the 1970s a group of like-minded people from the Zurich Oberland founds a commune in canton Uri, later in Ticino. Music brings everyone together, they do yoga, meditate and experiment with herbs and plants of every kind – including illegal substances, Jean-Claude Richard recounts with a grin. The goal: inner peace in harmony with nature. You can picture the scene.
A Smart Move
Gian Furrer, Paul Gisler, and Jean-Claude Richard with his wife Marianne form the core of this commune. They grow ever more interested in plant-based actives and travel the world in search of special oils – and in 1982 they found Farfalla. The word is Italian for «butterfly»: where butterflies fly, the ecosystem is healthy. Their products quickly conquer the market. Today the son, Malvin Richard, runs the company – the only direct descendant of the commune. His father has handed over the business but kept a seat on the board.
Father and son have handled the generational change cleverly. «That’s how it works at Farfalla, it’s our culture», they say in unison. «We pursue the same goal together, without drifting apart – and yet we keep our freedom.» It seems almost too good to be true, like a pink cloud of scent amid a world full of jealous brands and results-obsessed managers. That Jean-Claude and Marianne have separated does not weigh on the company – the community stays united.
The Recipe
Throughout our conversation Malvin has been mulling something over; in the end he comes out with it: «We could put together a recipe, for men. Farfalla MEN, that would be a first.» Spoiler: sadly it isn’t the sole key to feeling as energised and well as the Richards do. Both men rise early in the morning to meditate – always have. «I believe in the positive powers of meditation», says Jean-Claude. And what else has Malvin learned alongside his father? «There was never a boss relationship», he tries to explain, «but never a classic father-son relationship either – it became a friendship quite early on.»
The son, of course, absorbed the hippie ethos with his mother’s milk; to this day he loves how tolerance and openness are lived out. It is the company philosophy too: the staff you meet in the corridors or the show garden are all in good spirits and seem self-assured – as if they knew more than you do. Perhaps the secret is that they are surrounded by essential oils all day long. Try the recipe and share your experience with us – perhaps this story has kicked off a whole new line of business at Farfalla. «Man is a developing country», muses Jean-Claude. A fine closing line.
Exclusively for MEN: The Male-Menopause Spray
«Men suffer menopause-type symptoms too. This organic scented spray helps ease them: refreshing, it brings relaxation and a lift in mood thanks to bergamot and grapefruit. Ginger, Atlas cedar and silver fir have a stabilising effect and help strengthen your own centre.» – Jean-Claude Richard, co-founder of Farfalla
Ingredients: 27 ml of «do it yourself» organic perfume as a base, plus 5 drops of bergamot (low in furocoumarins), 4 drops of grapefruit, 3 drops of ginger and 3 drops of silver fir. Method: open the organic perfume bottle, add the essential oils, close the bottle and shake well, spray onto the hand – then breathe in deeply and enjoy. More recipes at farfalla.ch.
This article appeared in MEN issue 2/22 (November 2022).
