In the tradition of the Viennese Secession — where every surface was an opportunity for beauty — we approach skincare as decorative art. Each formula composed, not merely mixed. Each bottle a vessel of botanical craft. We believe that ornamentation is not superfluous but essential; that the ritual of beauty deserves objects as considered as the ingredients within them. This is our manifesto: to create with the devotion of artisans, the precision of chemists, and the soul of artists.
Elara Bergmann grew up between her grandmother's herb garden in the Wachau Valley and the gilded halls of the Belvedere. She trained in cosmetic chemistry in Paris before returning to Vienna, where she founded Aurum Botanica in a converted Jugendstil apothecary. Her vision was singular: to reunite the science of skincare with the decorative arts tradition of her homeland.
Elara Bergmann
Founder & Master Formulator
"I wanted to create something that belonged as much in a Secessionist vitrine as on a bathroom shelf. Beauty should be uncompromising — in what it contains, in how it performs, and in how it presents itself to the world."
We don't hide behind minimalism. Every detail — from formula to packaging — is an act of intentional craft. Ornament reveals care, not excess.
Every ingredient is traceable to its field. We know the soil, the season, the hands that harvested. Provenance is our promise.
Never more than 200 units per formulation. Each batch is a limited edition, made with the attention that scale cannot sustain.
Skincare as ceremony. We design products that slow you down, that invite presence, that transform a daily act into a moment of intention.
Total artwork, from formula to packaging. Every element of the Aurum Botanica experience is designed as a unified whole — nothing incidental, nothing unconsidered.
Our atelier occupies a converted apothecary in Vienna's 7th district — Neubau, the creative heart of the city. Behind a façade of wrought-iron botanical panels and etched glass, we formulate, test, and hand-fill every product that bears the Aurum Botanica name. The space itself is our manifesto made material.
Marble countertops beneath brass pendant lamps. Rows of amber apothecary jars line the walls, each labeled in gold script. Here, Elara and her team of three chemists compose each formula by hand — weighing, blending, and testing with the patience of perfumers composing a fragrance.
A private room appointed in sage velvet and Secession-era mirrors, where clients receive bespoke skin consultations. Tea is served in gold-rimmed porcelain. Each appointment concludes with a personalized ritual card — a hand-written prescription for beauty as the Secessionists understood it.
"Aurum Botanica doesn't make skincare — they compose it. Every jar feels like an artifact from a more beautiful timeline, where craft never surrendered to commerce."
— Vogue Austria
"In an industry addicted to stripping back, Bergmann doubles down on ornamentation. The result is unexpectedly radical — skincare that insists on being art."
— Monocle
"The Jugendstil apothecary in Vienna's 7th is worth the pilgrimage alone. What happens inside — small-batch formulations of uncommon beauty — justifies the devotion."
— Wallpaper*