A family,
a discovery.

From music to medicine

Paul Herzog was born on 26 June 1911 in Bucharest, the son of a Swiss diplomat and an Austrian mother.

Gifted with perfect pitch, he paid for his medical studies with his jazz band, the Billy Stones, before completing them in Vienna.

Stockholm, the Karolinska

Called to the Karolinska Hospital, he joined the team of researchers fighting poliomyelitis.

With Professor Clarence Crafoord, he helped develop the artificial respirator that kept patients alive during open-heart surgery.

A meeting in Sweden

At a conference on skin respiration, he met Karin, a beautician by profession. Twenty-four years separated them.

She would follow him in all his research, around the world, and always advise him.

Scientific recognition

He developed a system that analyses inhaled and exhaled air, so that it could be reproduced during operations under anaesthesia.

In 1964, his work earned him the title of doctor honoris causa.

Vevey, 1971

At 59, the doctor returned to settle in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, with Karin and their daughters Karina and Paulina.

He was 60 when Noëlle, their third daughter, was born.

Taming oxygen

Karin encouraged him to achieve what he had always dreamed of: stabilising oxygen in an emulsion. Doctors had been attempting it for more than half a century.

The flat's second kitchen became a laboratory. With the help of specialist friends, including Dr Roman Vuille, he patented his discovery.

On her own skin

The doctor intended his invention for medicine. Karin, a beautician, followed every step and tried it on her own skin.

Convinced, she persuaded him to turn it into a skincare range. He paid tribute to her by giving it her name: Karin Herzog.

A family affair

A third career began for Paul Herzog, and the whole family took part.

Karin created the products and gave the treatments. Karina and Paulina, then teenagers, worked alongside them, and Noëlle grew up in the midst of the adventure.

One of the very first Karin Herzog counters opened in a Paris department store.

Paul Herzog 1911-1992

An attentive father, a tireless inventor, curious about every technology to the very end.

He passed away on 2 February 1992, aged 80. His emulsion, for its part, has travelled the world.

Today, 50 years

Since 1976, Karin Herzog skincare has been developed and made by the family, in Switzerland.

The family carries the adventure forward, with the third generation.