Perfumer H, the 10-year-old brand founded by British perfumer Lyn Harris, has opened its first door in mainland China.
Joining the hubbub of downtown Shanghai, the Perfumer H boutique occupies a four-story lane house on Julu Road, becoming its most expansive project to date.
By bringing retail, art and hospitality under one roof, Harris said the Shanghai project was also a rumination about “how retail here is changing quite dramatically,” said Harris, who is one of Britain’s few master perfumers, having trained at Robertet in Grasse, France.
“People are now walking in the streets, there are communities starting to form and it’s sort of moving away from big malls,” added Harris.
The shop was designed by the Shanghai-based architecture firm Tao+c.
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The Shanghai space brings to mind the cult fragrance-maker’s very first store in Marylebone, London, which was all about exploring and “capturing the sort of artistry, capturing what I do and then using this space for creativity — different types of creativity,” Harris explained.
Preserving the steel grid system of the former tenant, the multibrand retailer R130, Perfumer H worked with the Shanghai-based architecture firm Tao+c to realize Harris’ understated design ethos. Most of the original steel beams were painted over in emerald green, a color synonymous with Shanghai, while oak wood cabinets hang from a suspension system, which aims to encourage a sense of discovery.
The ground floor is home to its full range of perfume and candle selections, a fragrance laboratory and a candle-refill station, where Harris’ creative process and the manufacturing process are brought to life. Repurposed indigo fabric panels from Oame, a Chinese design studio that works with heritage indigo-dyeing co-ops in Guizhou Province, add accent to the breezy space and guide shoppers to the back garden, filled with plants selected by the local flower shop Wilde.
“It’s really about expressing different art forms, but with the same sensibility,” Harris said.
A gallery space on the second floor is dedicated to the flagship’s first exhibition. Titled “Process,” it gathers works from the brand’s longstanding friends, including glassblower Michael Ruh, woodworker Bobby Mills and ceramicist Ed Hill, as well as new local partners such as Oame; the baker and fermenter Camille Ng, and Chinese wood carpenter and artist brand Heidi Woodcraft.
Inside the gallery.
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In addition to Perfumer H’s full range of fragrances and home fragrances, a hand-rolled incense holder made by Heidi Woodcraft, a set of three perfumed teas, bespoke butter, rhubarb and marmalade jam, and lemon olive oil created by Ng’s Atelier Over in Shanghai line the shelves.
To the other side of the second floor is a scent library, which sets the scene for by-appointment only olfactive consultations. Users can take up to an hour to learn about olfactory families and pick out a scent for themselves.
Inside the scent library, which also functions as a consultation room.
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The local office is located on the third floor, while the fourth floor will soon be unveiled as Perfumer H’s first artist residency program, where artists, perhaps including Harris herself, will create works that can then be shared with customers.
The cream-colored residency space, including a wooden nook, a sunny terrance and vintage furniture, will begin operating this summer.
“It’s meant to really push creativity, especially the people that I already work with,” Harris said. “Then the other idea is that people can pay to stay here, where they will meet artists, learn an art form — perhaps pottery — during their stay.
“Over the past two years, I’ve really got to understand the culture and how things work here. Obviously, I can’t bring all my things here; I have to make things here. It takes time,” Harris explained of her approach.
During her time here, Harris created a scent for the local multibrand retailer Dongliang, and came up with the scent “Steam” after visiting a local tea plantation. The perfume will hit markets in late April and launch in China in early May.
“Tea notes are interesting but it has taken me forever — 15 years and I never got it right. But it was during a trip to Hong Kong and Taiwan a few years ago that I finally understood what made the tea here so special — it’s the humidity; it’s so instrumental to capture that humidity in the fragrance,” Harris said of the fragrance that also includes plum notes which conjure up the image of “moisture hitting the tea leaves in the morning,” she added.
The Shanghai store is the 11th for the fragrance company and the fifth in Asia. In 2021, Perfumer H received funding from Fable Investments, Natura & Co.’s venture capital fund. Terms of the new stake were not disclosed, but Fable generally invests between 2 million euros and 10 million euros in beauty companies. In 2023, it increased its stake in Perfumer H, aimed at extending its product line, bolstering its management team and supporting expansion in Asia.
