TAMBURINS: The Korean Fragrance Brand Exploring Beauty Beyond Definition

“Invisible sensations always enrich our lives. Even when we cannot precisely understand an object’s movement, its presence makes our moments more vivid.”
— From SOLACE, the exhibition for TAMBURINS’ first perfume collection​

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Essential Information

• Brand name: TAMBURINS / 탬버린즈
• Established: September 2017
• Operating company: IICOMBINED / 아이아이컴바인드​
• Founder and representative: Hankook Kim / 김한국
• Official website: https://www.tamburins.com​
• Brand concept: “A fragrance brand exploring beauty beyond definition (A fragrance brand that explores anomalous beauty)”

Note: The name TAMBURINS comes from the percussion instrument, the tambourine. Some Korean-language sources describe it as a combination of “tambourine” and “ins,” for Instagram, but this etymology could not be confirmed officially.​

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The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

Hankook Kim: From English-Language Camps to an Eyewear Empire

To understand the story of TAMBURINS, it is first necessary to know its creator, Hankook Kim, and the trajectory of its parent brand, Gentle Monster.

Hankook Kim originally worked in a field unrelated to fashion or design. He was employed by Camp Korea.com, now CK Global Partners, a company running English-language educational camps in Korea and abroad. The turning point came in 2011, when business partner Oh Jaeuk offered to invest in a new venture if a good idea emerged. Inspired by the American online eyewear brand Warby Parker, Kim began planning an eyewear business.

Kim noticed a clear gap in the eyewear market at the time. Frames were largely designed around Western facial structures, while the needs of Asian consumers were overlooked. Seeing room for innovation, he set out to build a brand combining bold aesthetics with functionality.​

“In Korea, being told you have a small face is the greatest compliment. There was no competition in oversized glasses that make the face look smaller.”
— Hankook Kim​

His eyewear proposal was selected in a new-business competition run by Camp Korea.com, and he established IICOMBINED with support of 50 million won in capital, approximately ¥5 million. Thus, in 2011, the sunglasses brand Gentle Monster was born.​

Entering existing sales channels was not easy, however. Repeated rejection by stores he hoped would stock the products convinced Kim that the brand needed its own space. In 2013, he opened a physical store in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.​

“I wanted the products to look as though they were on exhibition.”
— Hankook Kim​

The idea of designing a store as an exhibition space rather than a sales floor became part of IICOMBINED’s DNA, later passed down to TAMBURINS.

The brand’s popularity exploded after actress Jun Ji-hyun wore Gentle Monster sunglasses in the Korean drama My Love from the Star (별에서 온 그대), broadcast in 2013–2014. They became a sensation not only in Korea but also in China as “Jun Ji-hyun’s sunglasses,” accelerating the brand’s growth. In 2017, it received an investment of approximately 60 billion won, then around ¥6 billion, from L Catterton Asia, the LVMH group’s private-equity arm.

The Birth of TAMBURINS: Exploring the Invisible Sense of Scent

Having brought a revolution to vision through Gentle Monster, Hankook Kim turned his attention to the sense of smell.

Kim himself reportedly liked perfume and used it daily. Each time he wore it, he felt he could “discover a self different from other people,” and wanted to offer people new sensations and experiences through scent. Rather than creating just another perfume brand, however, he aimed to propose an entire lifestyle around fragrance.​

In September 2017, TAMBURINS launched with a flagship store on Garosu-gil, the tree-lined street in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Its launch strategy was remarkably bold: it introduced only one product, the Nude H. And Cream hand cream, whose cap and body were linked by a gold chain. Blending three natural oils, bergamot, sandalwood, and patchouli, it carried a signature fragrance nicknamed “the smell of earth.” With the appearance of a fashion accessory, it attracted attention as an unusual brand selling nothing but hand cream.

According to an analysis by Istituto Marangoni, the range had grown to three products by March 2018. This was described as a deliberate, restrained new-product strategy intended to steadily strengthen the brand’s appeal.​

Becoming a Fragrance Brand During the Pandemic: Letting Go of Skincare

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Perfume Hand Sanitizer, a sanitizing gel carrying three of the brand’s defining scents, became a runaway success, selling out whenever it was restocked. In 2021, The Shell Perfume Hand line introduced shell-shaped packaging and eight fragrances designed directly by in-house perfumers.

Then, in 2022, TAMBURINS made a major decision. It announced that it would discontinue all its skincare lines and focus exclusively on fragrance products.

Behind the decision was a track record of scent-centered products consistently winning consumer support since launch: Nude H. And Cream, Perfume Hand Sanitizer, and Multi Fragrance. Recognizing its potential as a fragrance brand, the company decided to devote all its efforts to that direction.

SOLACE: A Handful of Comfort, the First Perfume Collection

In September 2022, TAMBURINS unveiled its first full perfume collection, SOLACE: 한 줌의 위안 (A Handful of Comfort). The campaign film starring Jennie was released on September 22; the fragrances went on sale and the exhibition at Geumho Alver in Geumho-dong opened on September 30.​

The exhibition occupied four floors, from the basement to the third floor. The basement offered an immersive space filled entirely with CHAMO’s fragrance and sound art, while the ground floor held an enormous “giant” installation. Running for around a month, the exhibition helped establish TAMBURINS as a leading K-fragrance brand.

International Expansion and Rapid Growth

TAMBURINS’ overseas development followed the pattern of Gentle Monster’s success. In September 2021, its first Chinese flagship opened on the fourth floor of HAUS SHANGHAI, the second installment of Gentle Monster’s multi-brand space project. Fragrance exhibitions have continued to take place in Shanghai since then.

In China, while other Korean beauty brands faced anti-Korean sentiment, TAMBURINS won over young consumers with its distinctive artistic spatial design.​

On March 14, 2024, TAMBURINS made its Japanese debut with the opening of TAMBURINS TOKYO AOYAMA FLAGSHIP STORE in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo. The launch drew a strong response: the special Egg Perfume pearl case worn by Jennie sold out on the first day. The brand then rapidly expanded its Japanese presence to Shibuya PARCO, Hankyu Umeda Main Store in Osaka, Isetan Shinjuku, Daimaru Kobe, and, in 2025, a flagship in Shibuya.

In December 2025, HAUS NOWHERE BANGKOK opened at ICONSIAM, marking the brand’s expansion into Southeast Asia.​

Sales growth has also been striking. Revenue at IICOMBINED’s cosmetics division, approximately equivalent to TAMBURINS, rose from 3.4 billion won in 2019 to around 164.6 billion won in 2023, an expansion of roughly 50 times in just four years.​

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The Brand’s Commitments

Exhibition Spaces Rather Than Sales Floors

Spatial design is essential to any discussion of TAMBURINS’ commitments. Hankook Kim believes that “consumers judge a brand’s scale by looking at its retail space,” and TAMBURINS stores are designed with a sense of scale and artistry comparable to the flagships of houses such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

“The idea was not simply to sell products. We wanted to create a space that builds an emotional connection and leaves a lasting impression.”
— Hankook Kim, on HAUS DOSAN​

According to Trendland, 14 members of TAMBURINS’ 20-person team worked on store art installations and brand visuals, while the R&D laboratory and perfumery team operated separately. This allocation of people shows how important the staging of space is to the brand.​

The Sinsa flagship features a robotic horse modeled on a wild horse grazing in grassland. At HAUS NOWHERE SEOUL, which opened in Seongdong-gu in 2025, an enormous robotic dachshund sculpture moves as though breathing, themed around the new Sunshine fragrance. Each store welcomes visitors with artworks based on a different concept.

Creating Fragrance In-House

TAMBURINS is said to carry out everything, from its distinctive storytelling process to perfumery and the manufacture of formulas, using its own in-house methods. Its official website describes “sensory fragrances inspired by all the stories scattered around the world.”

However, Egg Perfume product labeling lists “COSMAX Co., Ltd” as the manufacturer. This suggests an arrangement in which fragrance concepts and formulas are developed in-house while actual production is outsourced to COSMAX, one of Korea’s largest OEM/ODM cosmetics manufacturers. No official explanation from the brand detailing this manufacturing arrangement could be found, however.​

Art as Product: Packaging Design

TAMBURINS products are designed beautifully enough to remain on display as interior objects after use. The gold-chain design of its first product, Nude H. And Cream, explored beauty as a carried accessory, evoking a clutch bag.​

The shell-shaped packaging of The Shell Perfume Hand also serves a hygienic purpose by minimizing exposure to air. Egg Perfume’s egg-shaped bottle expresses “the warm, soft curves and texture of an egg nestled gently in a nest,” and is said to evoke “the excitement of not knowing what is inside until you break the shell and look.”

The brand’s visual identity combines a neutral palette centered on black and white with trend colors introduced for each collection. It also values tactile experiences, placing metallic surfaces alongside rough, rocklike textures within the same collection.​

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The Fragrance Lineup

An Overview of the Collections

TAMBURINS’ perfume line began in earnest with the SOLACE collection in September 2022. New collections have been added regularly since then.

SOLACE (September 2022) was the first perfume collection, comprising ten scents around the theme of “a handful of comfort.”

• Black line (five fragrances): CHAMO, HAYSTACKS, UNKNOWN OUD, FRENCH NEEDLE, BILINGUAL
• Yellow line (one fragrance): THAW, SUNSET
• White line (four fragrances): LALE, BERGA SANDAL, WHITE DARJEELING, SUEDE PEAR​

The Black and Yellow lines were priced at 139,000 won for 50 ml and 219,000 won for 94 ml; the White line at 129,000 won for 50 ml and 209,000 won for 94 ml.​

Major subsequent collections:

Collection	Introduced	Principal notes and features
PUMKINI and others	From 2023	Combinations such as sweet pumpkin, shiso leaves, and coconut milk ​
EVENING GLOW	Around 2024	Rose tinted by twilight, raspberry, and musk ​
BOTTARI	March 2025	Expresses the vitality of bursting mushroom spores. Akigalawood, moss, and amber musk
BLUE HINOKI	July 2025	Evokes hinoki washed ashore. Pine oil, hinoki, and driftwood ​
SUNSHINE / PUPPY	September 2025	Two scents themed around sunlight and puppies. Angelica, lily of the valley, and more ​

Representative Fragrances

CHAMO is a signature TAMBURINS scent and the focus of Jennie’s campaign. Rich, honeylike chamomile sweetness harmonizes with the bitter herbal aroma of clary sage, while the feel of damp moss is enveloped in blond wood and warm musk.​

BERGA SANDAL combines Mediterranean bergamot, bittersweet green mandarin, and sandalwood. It is said to be the closest in character to 000, the signature scent at the origins of TAMBURINS hand cream.

PUMKINI moves from top notes of sweet pumpkin, shiso leaves, and blood orange through ginger to a creamy base of coconut milk and sandalwood. The Tokyo Aoyama flagship also sold sculptural candles inspired by PUMKINI.

A Diversity of Product Formats

One distinctive feature of TAMBURINS is its presentation of the same fragrance in a variety of formats.

• Perfume: Two sizes, 50 ml and 11 ml, with leather caps​
• Egg Perfume: An egg-shaped 14 ml miniature bottle, compatible with accessories such as pearl cases and rattan wear​
• Perfume Balm: A stick-format solid perfume that melts with body warmth to release its scent​
• Perfume Oil: A roll-on format introduced with the 2025 BOTTARI collection
• Shell Perfume Hand: Hand cream that can be used like perfume​
• Perfume Candle: Highly designed candles that also function as decorative objects​
• Car Diffuser: Fragrance for car interiors
• Perfume Balm Clip: A solid perfume with a clip, introduced in the 2025 Sunshine collection​

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Incidentally…

• The relationship with Jennie: BLACKPINK’s Jennie has appeared in multiple campaigns as the face of TAMBURINS since the perfume collection launched in 2022. Hankook Kim is said to have “cast her as an advertising model while surrounding her with art to maximize the impact.” The campaign videos starring Jennie were so polished they were described as “launch films.”
• Unconventional sales channels: In Korea, TAMBURINS adopted a distribution strategy opposite to that of conventional beauty brands: rather than wholesaling to department stores, it sold through KakaoTalk Gift, the Korean social platform’s gifting feature, and luxury-beauty sections of online marketplaces.​
• Felix of Stray Kids: For the 2025 Sunshine collection, Felix of Stray Kids shared photographs of the collection on social media, generating excitement among fans worldwide.​
• HAUS NOWHERE SEOUL: Opened in September 2025 in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, it combines IICOMBINED’s new headquarters with a cultural complex. Designed by The System Lab, led by architect Kim Chan-joong, it houses Gentle Monster, TAMBURINS, and NUDAKE, as well as tableware brand Nuflaat and headwear brand ATiiSSU.
• Investment from Google: IICOMBINED is said to have received around 145 billion won in investment from Google in recent years, prompting discussion of possible collaboration in smart glasses.