I've noticed something rather interesting about the fragrance industry.
There's never a shortage of new releases.
Every season, another collection. Another extraordinary breakthrough. Another fragrance we're assured will change our lives.
Apparently, we've become remarkably efficient at creating masterpieces.
Or perhaps we've become remarkably comfortable with calling everything a masterpiece.
I suppose that's one way to do business.
It's just not mine.
Developing a fragrance at an independent perfume house should involve considerably more than deciding what might sell, approving a formula and ordering bottles.
At least, that's how I see it.
Success Can Be a Dangerous Thing
When we introduced CEO, the response exceeded my expectations.
People enjoyed it. They bought it. They recommended it.
Of course I was delighted.
I'm building a business, not running a monastery.
But success has a rather unpleasant habit of convincing people they've figured everything out.
I've learned to be considerably more careful about making that mistake.
The more I immersed myself in perfumery, the more I came to appreciate the extraordinary complexity behind a truly remarkable fragrance.
The behaviour of materials. The architecture of a composition. The almost imperceptible adjustments that can transform an entire experience.
Our partner perfumers understand these things at a level I'm still working toward.
I respect that enormously.
Looking back, I sometimes think we were rather fortunate with CEO.
There's no shame in admitting that.
The shame would be in mistaking good fortune for mastery.
A successful fragrance deserves appreciation. It doesn't deserve immunity from examination.
That's why we're reformulating CEO.
The original helped establish this house, and I'm proud of what it accomplished.
But I know more today than I did when we created it.
And I believe we can do better.
I'd rather question something successful than spend the next ten years congratulating myself for it.
About That Oud Fragrance
People have been waiting for our Oud.
I understand the anticipation.
Believe me, I'd quite like to release it myself.
But there's a difference between having an oud fragrance ready to sell and having an oud fragrance I'm prepared to put this house's name on.
What we're pursuing isn't simply another interpretation of a fashionable material.
I want the fragrance to tell a story through its development.
The opening must establish something meaningful.
The heart must guide the experience, not fight for attention.
And when the oud finally emerges, it should feel as though everything preceding it was leading to that exact moment.
Not an ambush.
An arrival.
That's considerably more difficult to accomplish than it sounds.
It involves evaluating, adjusting, wearing, questioning and occasionally removing materials you were rather fond of in the first place.
Our perfumers bring their technical mastery. I bring the creative direction and the standards I expect us to uphold.
Together, we keep working until the composition earns its place.
And if that means another delay?
Well, I suspect the world can survive a little longer without another bottle of oud.
The Most Dangerous Words in Business
It's good enough.
Three wonderfully convenient words.
They can save you money. Save you time. Get a product out the door.
And quietly dismantle every standard you once claimed to believe in.
Complacency rarely announces itself.
It arrives disguised as practicality.
The customer won't notice.
It's already selling.
We'll improve the next one.
I understand the temptation. I started this house knowing considerably less than I know now. That's exactly why I refuse to treat yesterday's standards as the limit of tomorrow's work.
But I have no interest in building a fragrance house whose greatest achievement was something it accomplished years ago.
We're supposed to get better at this.
Not merely busier.
Every ingredient must make the next ingredient more beautiful.
That principle requires discipline. Sometimes it requires throwing away work you were perfectly happy with yesterday.
It's not always pleasant.
Neither is mediocrity.
Our Enemy Isn't Another Fragrance House
Competition doesn't particularly concern me.
Other houses have their own creative direction, their own ambitions and their own customers.
Good for them.
My concern is what happens inside this house.
Whether we're learning.
Whether we're improving.
Whether we're maintaining the courage to question our own decisions.
Because the moment we become more interested in defending yesterday's work than improving tomorrow's, we have a problem.
I'm not promising perfection.
I don't believe anybody sensible should.
But I am promising that we will continue expecting more from ourselves.
And occasionally making our own lives rather difficult in the process.
Our enemy is complacency. I understand that more clearly today than I did when we started.
Made to be Remembered.
— Vach Cittoni
Explore the fragrances that have earned their place in our collection.