It must be useful.
It must work dependably.
It must be beautiful.
It must last.
It must be the best of its kind.— Alfred Dunhill
To understand Dunhill’s perfumes, it helps to begin with objects other than perfume: saddlery, motoring clothes, leather bags and lighters that fit in the palm. This London house expanded through the things people needed as they travelled, dressed and used their tools.
That history later gave perfumers and designers starting points for both scent and packaging. How could leather feel lighter? What kind of bottle might belong in a hand accustomed to metal accessories? Dunhill’s fragrances reveal the work of translating familiar materials into another form.
Basic Information
- Founded: 1893. The fragrance history reaches back to 1934.
- Founder: Alfred Dunhill
- Place of origin: London, United Kingdom
- Official website: dunhill
The Founder and the House’s Beginnings
From an apprenticeship in saddlery to motoring accessories
Alfred was born in London in 1872. His father Henry ran a harness-making business, where Alfred began his apprenticeship at fifteen. In 1893, aged twenty-one, he took over the enterprise. Dunhill traces its foundation to that year.
Alfred saw an opportunity in the emerging motor car. Equipment for riders could give way to equipment for motorists: he redirected a business rooted in leather towards a new age of transport.
At Dunhill’s Motorities in Conduit Street, the range included clothing and accessories for drivers: leather car coats and luggage, fur gloves and goggles. These addressed needs that owning a car alone could not satisfy, on the road and away from home. The promise of “Everything but the Motor” captured that widening scope.
The Duke Street shop and a collector’s study of objects
In 1907, Alfred opened a tobacconist’s in Duke Street. Its services included My Mixture, tobacco blended for individual customers. Adapting something to its user became part of the business alongside choosing what to sell.
Alfred was also a collector of smoking implements. He displayed privately collected objects in a glass cabinet in the shop and published The Pipe Book in 1924. His interest extended beyond his own products to the study of objects from different places.
When the book illustrated a Californian tubular pipe, Alfred did not yet own an example of that type. He used one from the British Museum instead. A comparable object entered his collection after publication. His study of the subject thus reached beyond the things he possessed to other collections.
A fragrance history reaching back to 1934, and a change in 2013
Dunhill’s fragrance history reaches back to 1934, distinct from the house’s foundation in 1893. A name developed through leather goods and smoking accessories eventually also became a name worn on the skin.
A later turning point came in April 2013, when Inter Parfums replaced P&G as fragrance licensee. It took over the existing portfolio and responsibility for developing, producing and distributing new perfumes. One of the major creations of that period was Icon, introduced in 2015.
John Ray’s collaboration with Carlos Benaïm
Perfumer Carlos Benaïm created Icon. Dunhill’s designer at the time, John Ray, liked leather and lavender. Benaïm took those preferences and the brand’s values into account while developing his own interpretation.
Leather, vetiver and neroli provided a general direction; the composition itself was left to the perfumer. A shared starting point coexisted with the freedom to work out the formula.
I had independence to reach the intended goal as I did my creative work.
— Carlos Benaïm
Icon subsequently expanded into Absolute, Elite and Racing. Century arrived as a separate fragrance in 2018. In 2019, Signature Collection debuted exclusively at Harrods in London before its global rollout. Alongside the development of a fragrance family came a collection that gave different materials individual leading roles.
The House’s Approach to Fragrance
Composing Icon: bringing brightness to a suede-like texture
Benaïm worked with Aliénor Massenet on a suede-like accord—a combination of fragrance materials forming a particular olfactory impression. Iris softened the vetiver, and spices including cardamom added another layer. Yet something was still missing.
But at the point I wasn’t satisfied; it just wasn’t fresh and clear enough.
— Carlos Benaïm
He developed a separate accord of mandarin, neroli and bergamot. Bringing it into the composition brightened the other elements, although the neroli initially needed a small reduction. Icon took shape through adjustments to softness and light, rather than simply intensifying its leather character.
A bottle that recalls the finish of a lighter
Mark Eisen designed Icon’s bottle. Its finish drew on a vintage lighter, with the house’s engine-turned pattern of fine repetitions covering the metallic exterior.
As leather provided a starting point for the scent, a portable metal object informed its container. The perfume brings together two different sides of Dunhill’s work: leather in the composition and worked metal in the bottle.
Materials and places in Signature Collection
The Signature name had previously been associated with Dunhill lighters. In fragrance, an interest in materials, their quality and origins became four compositions: British Leather, Indian Sandalwood, Moroccan Amber and Arabian Desert.
For British Leather, perfumer Pierre Negrin considered how to transform the texture of leather.
I aimed to translate the texture of leather—typically considered a bit thick and heavy—into a more light and fluid space.
— Pierre Negrin
For Benaïm’s Indian Sandalwood, sandalwood itself provided the creative starting point. Across the collection, the choice of a leading material and the way it is interpreted distinguish one work from another. An interest in materials running through the house’s saddlery, bags and metal accessories finds expression in perfumers’ individual decisions.
Additional Context
Inter Parfums’ Dunhill fragrance license expired on 30 September 2023 and was not renewed. A twelve-month sell-off period followed; by 30 September 2024, the company had sold all its remaining Dunhill finished goods and components.
References
- dunhill, The Spark Of Legacy — A History of dunhill Lighters — Alfred Dunhill’s words on making objects
- dunhill, About Dunhill — the inheritance in 1893 and the move into motoring accessories
- Christie’s, The Private Collection of Mr Alfred Dunhill — early life, apprenticeship, the shop, collecting and the 1924 book
- ISETAN MEN’S net, interview with Dunhill Nihombashi Mitsukoshi store manager Shinichi Unno — Motorities products and service for individual customers
- Don Duco, Amsterdam Pipe Museum, Alfred Dunhill’s fascination for the tubular pipe — the British Museum illustration and the later addition to his collection
- Inter Parfums, Exclusive License Agreement for Alfred Dunhill Fragrances — the portfolio dating to 1934 and the 2013 transition
- The Candy Perfume Boy, Rubbing Noses with Perfumer Carlos Benaïm — Ray’s brief, the fragrance direction and creative freedom
- Inter Parfums, 2019 Annual Report — Icon extensions, Century and the launch of Signature Collection
- Jo Fairley, The Perfume Society, Dunhill launches Icon — working with Massenet, iris and citrus adjustments, and the lighter-inspired bottle
- Mark Eisen, Industrial Design — Icon’s bottle design
- OPENERS, Dunhill Launches Icon — the engine-turn pattern and its relationship to motoring design
- Esquire Middle East, Signed and Sealed: Dunhill’s new signature selection — the collection’s theme and Negrin’s and Benaïm’s creative intentions
- Interparfums, 2025 Annual Report — Recent Agreements — the license’s expiry in 2023 and completion of the company’s inventory sell-off in 2024
