myrurgia

There's no lady of a certain age in town that doesn't have memories related to Myrurgia.
Myrurgia was the creation of Esteve Monegal, a well known sculptor with a bussines sense; and a musician too.
In 1915, Mr. Monegal put his talents at work and came up with the perfume and cosmetics brand that would become THE brand among elegant ladies of the time.
Up to the mid-twenties the scents and packaging design were wildly exotic, like the times themselves.

In 1925, an extremely influential art event took place in Paris: the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs,-Art Deco derives from Arts Décoratifs-.
Myrurgia attended and won a gold medal.
Things were changing, Orientalism was getting tired, streamlines were in.
Mr. Monegal, always cutting edge, created new modern packaging for his perfumes and started using photography to advertise them. He also built a factory that is, still today, one of the finest architectural examples of that period.

Business was expanding and Myrurgia's fate seemed to become one of the leading perfume houses in Europe.
Big dark clouds were on the horizon though.
In 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke and Esteve monegal's dreams went up in smoke while the city was going down in flames.
Right after the end of the Spanish War, World War 2 started ravaging the rest of Europe.
Definitely, the times were no good for perfumes.
Myrugia survived but its magic didn't.

Today the brand belongs to Puig, a huge local group that produces for some of the best known names wordlwide.
Puig keeps on manufacturing a few, very few, Myrurgia products.

Myrurgia perfumes seem to be gone for good.

Images found on the web.