Björk & Berries

Björk & Berries is a Swedish fragrance company that works with natural ingredients only, most of them derived from local sources, and of course by the beauty without cruelty philosophy. "Björk" is the Swedish word for "Birch" and "Berries" is "Bär" in Swedish. Needless to say I do immensely enjoy that wordplay of a name.

The company was founded in 2005 after a meeting of the Rotary Club in the small industrial town of Sandviken - about two hours drive north of Stockholm - and the fragrance design centre plus shop is situated in the industrial community yet rural Högbo outside Sandviken.

They work with six - so far - major fragrance families, which are wild strawberries (not very surprisingly, my absolute favourite!), honey vanilla, birch apple (lovely fresh, sweet and wonderful), cloudberry jasmine (not a nice one), lingonberry rose (gorgeous scent) and blueberry lavender (too much lavender). There are also three additional fragrances which concentrates on perfumes, white jasmine, patchouli and cedar lime, the latter two being men's fragrances. None of which I find very appealing.

Money from October sold products in the pink lingonberry rose series contributes to breast cancer reasearch.

Most of the six major fragrance families comes in soap, body butter, body lotion, bath salt, shower gel and body splash. Some also comes in the shape of scented candle, shampoo and conditioner, travel kit, body scrub and perfume.

Not the cheapest of brands perhaps, though right up my alley as far as quality and philosophy go. The only product I have my serious doubts about, hence haven't invested in, are the body splashes. Measly bottles and the scent seems flighty. When it comes to splashes for body nothing whatsoever seems to beat the Bath & Body Works ones, neither in quality nor price...

We've had Björk & Berries on out to-do-outing list for some time now, the area is really a perfect drive for a summer day trip, but never gotten around to it. Until now. I got it as a birthday treat, which was quite a lovely thing. Even if the place and company itself was a bit of a disappointment, just because I had imagined it to be tucked away in the woods, situated dash more picturesquely and in not so modern buildings. Inside however it was not only, of course, very lovely scented but also a relaxing ambiance. Albeit quite unbusy when we were there, open seven days a week I do hope that was an exception to the rule.

In the shop adjacent fragrance design centre you can have a look by yourself or get a guided tour on the making of perfumes and fragrances. IMHO not the highlight of the visit, but I did like the waterfall-glass installation which did not only look lovely but also produced a both very soothing and invigorating sound.

The company is blessed with a gorgeous website which I'm totally infatuated by. Inexplicably only in Swedish though, but even if one can't read the text it's just a very pretty place to be - head there if you want to experience something relaxingly lovely (and have an interesting read in Swedish). Don't forget to have the sound on. Click on "Våra produkter" and then on the different fragrance families to get some really sweet glimpses of the perfect Swedish summer, nature and countryside.

Home with me came some lovely products. Naturally. In matching pretty packaging. I've only tried the lingonberry rose body butter so far and after just using it a few times I do believe I think it's pretty awesome. Hopefully the other products will prove to be equally good, they sure smell like it. Björk & Berries sell their products not only in this Högbo shop, but in their webshop as well as different department stores and shops all over Sweden. All over the world is next I hope?