Root

The Ningbo fragrance brand through co-founder Simin Xu’s experience and words: emotion-led scents, stories expressed in lettering and vessels, and the practical work of packaging.

From mechanical engineering to perfume, and to the mansion across the road from where he sold vegetables with his grandfather. Follow Arnaud Poulain’s path and his collaboration with Amélie Bourgeois, exploring how memories of linen and his mother’s mimosa, along with industrial architecture, become fragrance and craftsmanship.

“I began with music. It was my first source of inspiration.” — Filippo Sorcinelli

“I think home is the most personal place. That is precisely why I want to be particular about an interesting, creative process.” — Troye Sivan

Founded by graphic artist Mok Young-kyo in 2022, pesade begins its fragrance creation with writing about travel. Trace the brand’s development through chapters of three scents, analog packaging, and the making of its stores.

“Perfume, like music, is an artistic medium that needs no concrete references. Perfume is the art of the sense of smell.” — Filippo Sorcinelli (from an interview with Nose Paris)

“NEBBIA is a garment for boundaries, a covering for vanished borders and uncertain steps. It blurs the different ages of life, veils thought, and makes us lose the solemnity of a common-sense perspective. NEBBIA is a portrait of air moving within mystery, a quiet thrill passing through a downcast heart, an insubstantial noise running through a rarefied, malleable, floating parallel world of emotions.” — Filippo Sorcinelli

“Do not follow trends. Do not let fashion rule you. Decide for yourself who you are and how you want to live.” — Gianni Versace

“Fragrance weaves narratives without words, whispering stories that words cannot express. And it awakens emotions that linger long after the moment has passed.” — Elizabeth Liau, founder

“You do not smell fragrance with your nose. You smell it with your heart.” — Estée Lauder (from a conversation with Jo Fairley of The Perfume Society)