About Rafael Adón

Rafael Adón’s provenance in botanical creations can be traced to the late 1800s in the lives and works of our maternal and paternal grandmothers: Doñas Enriqueta Reyna de Delgado, and our grandmother, Enrriqueta Delgado de Bernal. The two were respected curanderas and mystical women who healed with their indigenous knowledge of botanicals. Our paternal grandmother, Nicolasa Pérez de Córdova was a self-taught seamstress who made bespoke clothing for the people of the tiny, dusty desert town of Blythe, California on the banks of the Colorado River. In 1999, Rafael Córdova, the grandson of these strong and spirited women, founded Rafael Adón on an 800 acre avocado ranch, Rancho La Paloma in Santa Barbara, California. Rafael was driven by an impulse to make. Guided by the healing and creative compass of his ancestors, he took direction from nature and indigenous Chumash knowledge of ethnobotany to create the first soaps made with indigenous botanicals. He also took direction from Santa Barbara’s Rancho culture to craft soaps made with cultivated botanicals. Today, Rafael Adón continues its work in perfumery and skincare creations. Read their story