The House

The Essence of Cologne

Feminis & Aqua Mirabilis

Well-being began with the Cologne.

In 1693, in a distillery in Cologne, a Piedmontese apothecary named Giovanni Paolo Feminis composes a rare water from eighteen plants grown in a Florentine convent. He names it Aqua Mirabilis — the admirable water. This is not a perfume: it is a care, a remedy, an object of knowledge. The University of Cologne will grant him, in 1727, a patent — not of perfumery, but of medicine.

Three centuries later, the Cologne has changed hands. Industrialised, commoditised, relegated.

CRay begins here — where the Cologne ceased to be an attentive gesture and became a product — and sets out to bring it back to its circle of origin — Haute Parfumerie.

Cologne, Craft,

CRay is a Parisian perfume house founded in 2022 — first known as Carlotha Ray, today condensed into four letters. Seven unisex fragrances, one perfumer's hand, one art director, one obsession with matter.Each bottle is designed to last, each formula thought to hold, each ingredient sourced consciously. The C of CRay carries a double sign. That of Cologne — the original word, the admirable water of 1693. And that of Craft — the care of the gesture, the atelier, the piece finished by hand. A Cologne made the way one makes a jewel: slowly, attentively, one material after another.CRay's eaux are composed for the generosity of the gesture, for the well-being of the day, the refinement of the evening, an effortless elegance.

Concentrated, Contemporary,

Seven fragrances, seven olfactory families, seven central materials.Intergenerational, ageless, genderless — all conceived as eau de parfum. They are worn alone, layered if desired — a single signature accord runs through them, letting them pair naturally. No rules. Only compatibility.Seven eaux, seven central materials, one hand, to restore the Cologne to haute parfumerie

Committed Haute Parfumerie

The CRay perfume collection brings together the tradition of French haute parfumerie with respect for people and the planet — for a sustainable luxury.At the heart of each fragrance, the finest raw materials build refined accords with remarkable olfactory facets, lasting hold and a long trail. Eaux de parfum worn alone or layered, conceived to pair with one another like pieces of the same wardrobe.Developed with French producers and craftspeople recognised for their know-how in perfumery, the elegant packagings are recyclable, lightweight and durable, designed to minimise the product's impact on the environment.

Nicolas Chabot

Nicolas Chabot embodies a contemporary vision of Haute Parfumerie, combining the eye of the collector with the audacity of the inventor. Heir to a family engaged in perfumery since 1930, he learns the craft in the shadow of the Houses of Dior and Givenchy, then at Estée Lauder, where he refines his sense of luxury.

In 2014, he revives Le Galion— a French House founded the same year as his family roots, in 1930, by Prince Murat, and made famous by the perfumer Paul Vacher. He then signs Æther (2016) — a conceptual perfumery of synthetic molecules — and Headspace (2022) — fragrances captured at the source. A lifelong devotee of Colognes — a thread passed from one generation to the next —, he takes over the Carlotha Ray house, now CRay, in 2026 .

Four Houses, four languages, one and the same obsession: to tell perfume otherwise. For him, to create is to imagine.

Restore Cologne to Haute Parfumerie