Dana refers to the practice of generosity! For the company’s logo Serra chose a dramatic Greek-inspired Art Deco drawing of a woman's head taken from a sculpture by Mariano Andreu. He also engaged the most talented perfumers to create original scents according to his requests and packaged his products gracefully.In 1921 Dana Fragrances founder Javier Serra in Barcelona, Spain had the idea to create his own fragrance House. Having worked previously as director of Myrurgia, he left there to open his own house, but first needed to build his vision and team. Serra chose the name Dana for his business because it was short, good sounding in all languages and could be easily tied to perfume and beauty themes- according to the Museu del Perfum, Dana was: "in Greek mythology the nymph that planted flowers along the Mediterranean. The Dana of ancient Egypt was the name given to women who are distinguished for their beauty. Dana in Afghanistan means sweet awakening, and is also an island in the Pacific, where youth has no sunset. Dana in the old and mysterious Basque language also means success. Furthermore, Dana means white pearl in Arabic and in Buddhism. The brand’s ties to classical beauty, and international intrigue inspired the senses, and created an instant hit around the globe. 1932 Serra formally founded the House of Dana in 1932. By this time, he had now collected all the best ingredients, artists and distributers. With all this in place, he was set to compete with the best in the world. On August 22, 1932 Serra released to the world the first Dana perfume, TABU. The fragrance inspired by tones of sensual desire that inspired both Paris and New York and with a marketing campaign that oozed with mass market sex appeal. Playing off the marketing success of Cartier and others at the time, Serra was able to create a stand alone fragrance and marketing campaign for the woman whom every man desired. The House of Dana, with new success relocated to Paris. There Serra went on to release a string of nearly 50 original perfumes through the 1950s, among the best known in the world are Tabu, 20 Carats, Canoe, Emir, Platine, Sirocco Donna, VooDoo, Priorite, Imposible and the remarkably well received Ambush. Main office operations were transferred to the United States in 1940 when Germany occupied Paris. Ironically, Benckiser, a German family-run company that produced mostly chemicals and soaps, acquired Dana years later. The New York based office continues to manage operations globally even to this day.