ELECTIMUSS: A London Niche Fragrance House Wearing the Glory of Rome

“Electimuss means ‘to choose the best,’ and for us that is not simply a name but a mission statement. It means a commitment to using the finest ingredients, working with the most talented perfumers, and creating truly outstanding perfumes. When customers choose an Electimuss fragrance, they are choosing the best every time.”

— Luke Granger (Co-Founder)

Essential Information

Founded: 2015
Founders: Luke Granger and Jason Collison
Creative Director: Claire Sokell Thompson
Based in: London, United Kingdom
Official website: https://www.electimuss.com

The Founders and the Brand’s Origins

A First Encounter with Fragrance

The story of Electimuss begins with a British boy’s childhood experience. Years later, Luke Granger described the origins of his brand this way.

“My journey with fragrance began with my Italian-American grandfather. He introduced me to the magic of scent when I was young. I can still vividly remember being allowed to smell the caps of his cologne bottles. Those early experiences, my grandfather’s stories about Italy, and my honeymoon in Rome with my wife, where I was deeply drawn to the history and art, all formed the foundation of what would later become Electimuss.”

— Luke Granger

This anecdote could be said to encapsulate the DNA of the Electimuss fragrance brand. Scent was imprinted on Granger’s life not merely as something to enjoy, but as a medium carrying memories and stories.

From a Dream in the Early 2010s to the 2015 Launch

Electimuss has a somewhat complicated early history.

Its first stirrings date back to around 2011.
The starting point was a concept developed by British hairstylist and perfumer Michael Boadi, the creator of Illuminum and Boadicea the Victorious (in Japanese), for a new brand translating the splendour of ancient Rome into fragrance. On 16 January 2012, the British company ELECTIMUSS PERFUME LIMITED (company number 07911114) was incorporated, with Boadi himself appointed as a director, and its first creation reached the market in 2013. Black Caviar, one of its signature fragrances, also emerged from this early line.
However, these activities did not last long. Shortly after the first release, Boadi ended his involvement in the brand, and Electimuss disappeared from the spotlight for a time.

The trajectory leading to today’s Electimuss began a few years later. Luke Granger, who had been a brand manager at Boadicea the Victorious, and his close associate Jason Collison took over the brand in 2015, effectively rebooting it.

In their official account, 2015 marks the “founding” of Electimuss, and its journey as a British luxury fragrance house born of a passion for ancient Rome is told from that year onward. However, records at Britain’s Companies House show that the new entity listing the two men as officers, ELECTIMUSS LIMITED (company number 11589984), was actually incorporated on 26 September 2018, indicating that establishing a corporate structure separate from the former company took several more years. Claire Sokell Thompson joined as Creative Director in 2019, completing the current three-person leadership team.

Electimuss therefore has two “beginnings.”
One is Michael Boadi’s original venture, conceived in 2011 and bringing its first perfume to the world in 2013.
The other is the fresh start in 2015, when Granger and Collison took over the brand and, following the corporate reorganisation of 2018, rebuilt the line that continues today. The current official website tells only the latter story, and today’s Electimuss, with its motifs of ancient Roman splendour, has been woven from this “second starting point.”

The Arrival of a Creative Director and a Transformation

Electimuss began attracting rapid attention in the fragrance community after Claire Sokell Thompson joined the team as Creative Director. She joined around 2019–2020, bringing experience as the original Creative Director of Thameen London, and her arrival helped refine the brand’s creative direction into something more cohesive.

Claire describes the Electimuss concept this way.

“Electimuss was born in 2015, inspired by the Romans’ passion and appetite for perfume. I joined in 2019 and helped develop that passion into a contemporary yet timeless fragrance brand with the grandeur and ambition of the Roman Empire. We see perfume as an invisible thread running through history, and our big idea is to create fragrances that empower and enrich people.”

— Claire Sokell Thompson (Creative Director)

Roles Within the Team

Today’s Electimuss is run by the trio of Luke, Jason, and Claire. Luke handles logistics, warehousing, and supply, while also contributing to product innovation; Jason oversees business development and sales; and Claire manages creative direction, fragrance development, communications, and digital. Luke himself says, “We are not a corporate environment; we are a family,” stressing that the brand was born from passion, not simply business.

What Defines the Brand

Ancient Rome as a Source of Inspiration

The name Electimuss derives from Latin. Meaning “to choose the best,” it lies at the heart of the brand’s philosophy. The ancient Romans were deeply captivated by perfume. Fountains were filled with rosewater, and scent was woven into purification rituals, celebrations, banquets, seduction, and worship. They followed the Silk Road from east to west, gathering rare fragrant materials from across the empire. Electimuss seeks to revive this spirit of “the Romans as perfume connoisseurs” for the modern age.

Claire puts the brand’s concept into these words.

“The concept of Electimuss is to explore creativity in a dramatic, unapologetic way. Rich, sensual, opulent, decadent, daring, challenging: those are the adjectives that describe the brand.”

— Claire Sokell Thompson

An Uncompromising Pursuit of Fragrance

All Electimuss fragrances are made at a Pure Parfum / Extrait de Parfum concentration of either 25% or 30%. This is considerably higher than the concentration of ordinary commercially available perfumes, generally around 15–20% for eau de parfum. This high concentration gives Electimuss perfumes “overwhelming sillage and longevity that unfold with a single spray.”

Claire makes clear that this commitment to concentration is non-negotiable.

“We do not compromise on that at all. Our brand name means ‘to choose the best’ in Latin, and that belief runs through everything we do.”

— Claire Sokell Thompson

Among her favourite ingredients, Claire first names rose, which might be called “the goddess of perfume,” followed by patchouli. She also speaks of Sicilian bergamot and natural oud as indispensable materials.

An “Equal Partnership” with Perfumers

Electimuss creates its fragrances in collaboration with independent perfumers around the world. Its distinguished roster includes Julien Rasquinet, Christian Provenzano, Kevin Mathys, John Stephen, Marco Genovese, Céline Barel, Sofia Bardelli, Cécile Zarokian, and David Chieze.

Luke describes the relationship with perfumers this way.

“We work with master perfumers as true creative partners. We give them the freedom they need to do their best work.”

— Luke Granger

When preparing a brief, Claire first chooses a muse, or source of inspiration, and explores its many dimensions through mythology, literature, art, music, and other fields. Her briefs contain paintings, music, colours, stories, and references to fragrant materials, but she says she is careful not to be overly prescriptive: they are only “anchors for the concept and creative exploration.”

Claire also says, “I like perfumers with bold personalities, not only in the fragrances but also in the perfumers who create them.”

A Design Philosophy for Bottles and Packaging

The bottle design embodies the brand’s entire world. Luke describes its design philosophy this way.

“The design philosophy was to create something timeless, luxurious, and powerful. The bottle is designed as a contemporary interpretation of Roman architecture. The fluted glass sides and substantial metallic cap give it a sense of presence and quality in the hand. We wanted the bottle itself to be a work of art that people would want to keep on display even after the perfume was gone.”

— Luke Granger

The base of the bottle is etched with a sunburst, said to symbolise “vitality, energy, and strength.” Colours differ by collection: the Emperor Collection, for example, is housed in “imperial purple” bottles, while the Lustrous Collection features golden constellations on midnight-blue glass. The substantial sculpted glass and metal caps are “references to Roman architecture and symbolism,” projecting a commanding presence from the moment they are held.

The Fragrance Lineup

Electimuss currently comprises five collections. Each explores a different aspect of Roman culture, history, or mythology, with its own distinctive bottle colour and style.

Eternal Collection

This collection celebrates the beauty of Rome, the “Eternal City,” and humanity’s enduring fascination with fragrance. Taking as its theme the scents woven into everyday Roman life, and stories of love, power, and seduction, it contains eight fragrances. Aurora and Silvanus were both created by Marco Genovese. Oriental spices such as saffron, oud, and cardamom intertwine with sandalwood, ambergris, and white musk in compositions evoking a sensual Eastern atmosphere.

Nero Collection

Often described as the collection that expresses the brand’s personality most directly, it is said by Claire herself to “embody what Electimuss does best.” Inspired by Emperor Nero’s art, fine dining, and aesthetic way of life, it brings together bold, distinctive fragrances.

A signature creation, Black Caviar (by Marco Genovese), is a bestseller that has existed since the brand’s earliest days. The perfumer describes his intention as follows.

“Caviar has been a food of great luxury and preciousness since Roman times. Emperor Severus served caviar to his most honoured guests with garlands of roses and musical accompaniment. Emperor Nero was also known for serving caviar at his banquets. With Black Caviar, I wanted to capture a sense of luxurious pleasure within a classical composition using the finest ingredients.”

— Marco Genovese (Perfumer)

The fragrance opens with caviar, oud, and cedarwood, followed by a heart of lavender, sage, and rosemary, and a base of vetiver, patchouli, and oakmoss. It is an exceptionally original composition: “a salty sea breeze and an elegant woody, herbal fougère.”

Emperor Collection

The flagship line brings together the rarest and most expensive ingredients. Produced only in limited quantities and housed in imperial-purple bottles, it embodies the concept of “the very best that only an emperor could possess” and occupies the highest position within the brand in terms of ingredient quality and rarity.

Imperium (by Sofia Bardelli, 2019) is an emblematic fragrance in this collection. After opening with bergamot and coriander, it blossoms into lavish flowers of rose, lily, saffron, jasmine, neroli, and tuberose before transforming into a warm, sweet, woody base of Madagascan vanilla, amber, guaiac wood, oud, and patchouli.

Octavian is inspired by Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, and has a deep, dark oriental composition layering Bulgarian rose and semi-animalic Iranian oud with frankincense, saffron, and pink pepper.

Of Gladiator Oud (by Julien Rasquinet), the perfumer himself says:

“My dream was to create an iconic perfume worthy of its name: an addictive, wearable oud combining combat skill and physicality with the dignity of a true leader.”

— Julien Rasquinet (Perfumer)

Lustrous Collection

“Lustrous” means “shining” or “radiant.” The collection explores the relationship between Roman gods, stars, and constellations, with each fragrance inspired by Roman myths surrounding the stars. Its midnight-blue glass bottles are scattered with golden stars for a dreamlike finish.

Aquila Absolute (by Julien Rasquinet) is inspired by Aquila, the Eagle constellation, which the Romans revered as “king of the sky” and regarded as a symbol of beauty, light, and immortality. It opens with raspberry and Guatemalan cardamom, followed by Turkish rose and Egyptian geranium, then a base of leather, patchouli, labdanum, white oud, and Egyptian violet leaf.

Luke Granger made the following comment on the latest release, Astrum Nova (by David Chieze).

“This perfume draws on the idea of ‘astro-gardening,’ the forgotten agricultural practice in which the stars guided the planting cycles of ancient civilisations.”

— Luke Granger

Consort Collection

This unusual collection describes itself as “a playground for collaboration.” Conceived by Claire, it takes an approach in which two different perfumers each interpret and create around one core fragrant material from their own perspective. For example, using the story of Pluto, king of the underworld, and his wife Persephone as a motif, Christian Provenzano and Kevin Mathys each created a fragrance centred on patchouli. Persephone’s Patchouli and Patchouli of the Underworld are representative examples.

Incidentally…

“Reborn Like a Phoenix”: The brand’s early history is said to have involved twists and turns before Electimuss became known worldwide in its current form. Among fragrance reviewers, the establishment of its present beautiful bottle design and world of high-quality scents is sometimes described as a “phoenix-like revival.”

Granger’s Grandfather: The brand’s entire world, its love of Italy and Rome and its memories of scent, actually traces back to Luke’s Italian-American grandfather. It is a rather fascinating anecdote that this personal memory is the origin of a niche perfume brand with the potential to reach a scale of several billion yen.