What led you to create Maison 21G and inform us extra concerning the revolutionary idea of bespoke perfumes?

Evocative, distinctive, and memorable, I deeply imagine that the fifth sense conjures up profound feelings and connections with others. Your signature fragrance is a lot greater than a mere accent; it’s a true extension of your character, a software to imprint reminiscences, and convey confidence all through key moments of your life. As such, I imagine that your scent must be as distinctive as you’re!

In 2020, I conceptualised Maison 21G, supported by my ardour and 25 years of expertise in perfumery as a artistic director working alongside famend designers and perfumers. All through this time, I watched this lovely business lose its soul and accept one-size-fits-all scents, creating the identical on a regular basis floral, fruity, and gourmand scents for everyone, whereas pushing big advertising and marketing campaigns on the expense of high quality, distinction, and character of what’s contained in the bottle. I felt that one thing was going flawed on this lovely business, so I made a decision to interrupt free from the glamorous company world and shake the conventions of this sleeping business.

My imaginative and prescient was to convey again the “energy of creation” into the palms of shoppers, providing a singular and fascinating scent discovery expertise. Dedicated to a cleaner fragrance business, I used to be pushed by a want to convey transparency, sharing, schooling, and sustainability to make a greater perfumery world for the following technology. My final mission was to recreate an actual “Maison de creation” for all of us, creating a singular expertise with lovely scent encounters.

The idea of “expertise” is vital for opening and operating a boutique. What’s a profitable “expertise” on your clients?

Maison 21G is a luxurious Maison of Creation with fashionable iconic flagship shops worldwide, utilizing a poly-sensorial strategy to create a singular retail expertise. We goal to create a luxurious expertise in perfumery like no different for our clients. We encourage confidence, self-expression, and exploration in perfumery, with a poly-sensorial strategy. With 10 flagship shops the world over, each nook of our boutiques is meticulously curated with a collection of devoted zones reminiscent of our well-known revolutionary scent bar to find and select your components, the perfumer organ the place shoppers mix their very own scent, and our non-public atelier’s areas to study the artwork of creation.

We additionally frequently search new expertise to boost our experiential retail choices. As an illustration in step with our dedication to innovation, we provide a singular AI character quiz. Our open app gather info reminiscent of your pores and skin tone, your scent desire, your values in life, and your required advantages to advocate well-matched scents for every particular person. Our RFID Expertise informs and educates consumers on the origins, the olfactive profile and properties of our scents.

After creating their customized scent, clients can add a private contact by utilizing our complimentary UV Printing Machine to customize their fragrance bottle design. As well as, we offer fragrance workshops for {couples}, staff constructing occasions the place our scent consultants information shoppers in making a personalised perfume in a single hour by appointment.

Our experiential retail house encourages cross-cultural exchanges. And clients come collectively to share concepts and cultures, pushing the envelope of creativity. Maison 21G is dedicated to disrupting the posh business by making a neighborhood of perfume designers, connoisseurs, aficionados, or novices in each main metropolis on this planet, pushed by a singular offline retail expertise, relayed by a powerful digital presence to finish the offline expertise with a devoted loyalty program, and computerized reorder providers on your personalised scent from wherever on this planet.

The personalisation of scent is on the core of Maison 21G’s idea? What are the parameters that go into figuring out a bespoke perfume?

Maison 21G is a model that prides itself on its dedication to craftsmanship, personalisation, schooling, and expertise. On the coronary heart of our enterprise mannequin is the will to create bespoke fragrances which can be tailor-made to the distinctive character and olfactory preferences of every of our clients. Our flagship shops function laboratories, the place highly-skilled scent designers information clients of their scent creation, making certain that their personalities and preferences are thought-about at each step of the method. We imagine {that a} fragrance is rather more than simply an adjunct. It’s private, intimate, and turns into your voice to precise your distinctive identification. For this reason we provide our clients direct entry to fragrance concentrates with the best proportion of perfume focus to make tailored haute perfumery accessible.

The method of making a bespoke perfume at Maison 21G is interactive, participating and enjoyable: we start by asking clients to fill out our character quiz, which focuses on their values in life, private DNA (nationality, pores and skin color, age), likes and dislikes associated to their olfactive preferences, and the explanations they need to put on a specific fragrance (to be seductive, elegant, excellent, enjoyable, and so on.). This builds a buyer scent profile that’s distinctive to their identification. We’ve outlined 5 distinctive character profiles, every with its personal distinctive ingredient suggestions. For instance, an “Spectacular character profile” will want a fragrance that tasks strongly, with long-lasting sillage, and options daring woody, oriental, and spicy notes. A “Social Fanatic Profile” however, shall be extra drawn to softer, comforting, and caring notes reminiscent of musk, vanilla, and light-weight juicy fruits.

With using cutting-edge expertise, leveraging AI alongside extra conventional expertise, we’re revolutionising the fragrance business by understanding the wants and tastes of every nationality, tradition, and technology. The extra clients we get, the extra highly effective our AI turns into, and the extra exact the suggestions reveal themselves to be. As a bottom-to-top strategy, we’re in a position to study immediately from our buyer base and reply instantly to new shoppers traits in every capital like Seoul, Shanghai, Paris, and elsewhere. It’s a game-changing strategy for the fragrance business, and the extra we develop, the extra educated and concise we’re in a position to turn into in tailoring scents to people.

Workshops are on the very core of the Maison 21G DNA. What’s your favorite reminiscence of a Maison 21G workshop you organised in 2022?

We imagine within the energy of scent to convey folks collectively, and our workshops are designed to supply an unforgettable and distinctive sensory expertise. It’s a enjoyable and exploratory expertise, the place folks can reconnect, share, and find out about one another via scent.

One among my favorite reminiscences is from a Love Atelier that we organised in 2022. Throughout this workshop, the couple had the chance to take their like to the following stage! A younger man stunned his girlfriend with a wedding proposal. He had requested the scent designer to print “Marry Me” on the bottle that he had created for her. As he offered her with the bottle, he obtained down on one knee and revealed a hoop hidden contained in the field. The whole room was moved to tears by this romantic gesture. In that second, I used to be reminded of the facility of scent to create deep and significant connections, and I used to be grateful to be part of such a particular second of their lives.

Inform us extra concerning the sustainability efforts behind all of the packaging and glass bottles used at Maison 21G? You appear to be amongst the very first luxurious homes speaking overtly about recycling and the reuse of fragrance bottles.

At Maison 21G, our sustainable pillar is built-in into every thing we do. Our give attention to eco-consciousness, moral and clear manufacturing and distribution, is a part of our dedication to excellence, high quality, and luxurious. In an business the place using buzzwords and advertising and marketing jargon to ‘greenwash’ merchandise is rampant, we try to be clear, trustworthy, and open about our sustainability practices.

To attain our sustainable targets, we have now partnered with IFF-LMR (Laboratoire Monique Rémy) to supply the best high quality of perfumes. IFF’s vertical integration permits us to regulate each step of our components provide chain, and its adherence to particular sustainable and clear standards, together with environmental accountability, honest working circumstances, and optimistic relations with native communities.

At Maison 21G, we pleasure ourselves on being clear and open about what we embody in our bottles and what we don’t. Our scents are 100 per cent vegan, cruelty-free, CMR-free, paraben-free, phthalate-free, and preservative-free. We additionally formulate our scents as biodegradable to scale back our environmental influence.

We imagine in creating merchandise which can be recyclable and refillable. We’ve banned using plastic in any of our merchandise. We’re the primary firm to have refillable bottles, encouraging consumers to reuse their bottles, with reductions and incentives for many who reuse, recycle, and cut back their waste. By committing to eco-consciousness, moral manufacturing, clear sourcing, Maison 21G is taking steps in direction of a greener future for all.

You’ve got expanded your product vary and Maison 21G now presents inside its boutiques perfumed candles, the very begin of an elaborate house scent assortment. How is it performing?

The pandemic introduced unprecedented adjustments in our existence, with folks spending extra time at house than ever earlier than. At Maison 21G, we recognised that customers have been searching for methods to make their house setting extra snug, inviting, and reflective of their personalities. This impressed us to launch our sustainable, pure, and customisable Residence Scents vary, and we’re delighted with the way it has been embraced.

Our Residence Scents vary was launched with the identical daring and disruptive strategy that characterises our fragrance vary, and is underpinned by a dedication to wellness, together with all-natural components that may assist clients chill out, focus, and sleep extra successfully. We imagine that folks should unlock the scent of their soul, and our Residence Scents vary is designed to make that course of simple, gratifying, and eco-conscious.

The gathering consists of our lovely 100 per cent pure wax Twin Candles, Bespoke biodegradable Reed Diffuser, and pure Oil burner which permit clients to decide on and mix their favorite scents in fashionable and splendid ornamental objects, a premiere within the Residence Scent world. As with our personalised perfumes, we put the client on the coronary heart of the creation course of and set it aside from all of our opponents.

We imagine that the information to create a stupendous, wholesome Residence Scent for the entire household, must be accessible to everybody.

E-commerce is rising quick throughout all continents. We see your staff working laborious on rising the worldwide digital presence of Maison 21G. How are on-line gross sales performing for you?

Maison 21G’s experiential on-line e-commerce completes the offline expertise with a devoted loyalty programme and computerized reorder providers for personalised scents from wherever on this planet. We provide bespoke artistic experiences to anybody, wherever, with our DIY artistic set, which we are able to ship to any location throughout the globe. Our absolutely customised web site permits a singular and playful artistic expertise at house.

Our lead magnet, the AI-Powered Quiz, guides shoppers in creating the right scent mixtures on-line based mostly on their character, tradition, age, and completely different wishes for a fragrance, reminiscent of freshness, magnificence, and seduction. The twin-scented crayon permits folks to attempt mini scents earlier than buying a full bottle. At the moment our fragrance followers on-line who can’t entry to our outlets have grown considerably. Lots of people are bored with off-the-shelf scents and have leapt on the probability to craft their very own scents from sustainable and high-quality components on our bespoke web site. Our model promise of pure, clear, and ethically sourced essences has resonated strongly. Our core buyer base consists of Millennials and Gen Z shoppers from Asia, US, Canada, Australia, and Europe, in search of personalised merchandise with an experiential edge on-line. By numerous activations with on-line campaigns, direct advertising and marketing, and a devoted, inclusive, engaged, and energetic neighborhood of scent designers, we have now constructed a loyal buyer base that shares our ardour for creativity, high quality, and sustainability.

Inform us about your newest growth within the Center East with the opening of a boutique in Dubai and a long run partnership with the Chalhoub group. This all sounds very promising!

We’ve been thrilled with the responses from the Center East shoppers since we launched Maison 21G. Perfume is only ingrained into their tradition, and it’s wonderful for me to precise the DNA of my model there. I’m personally passionate concerning the Center East market, and we have now thrilling plans for the area with the help of the celebrated {and professional} Chalhoub Group.

In Dubai, I’m all the time impressed by the variety of cultures and the pure artistic instincts of the folks I meet. They’re so fashionable and take wonderful care of their picture and scent identification. Dubai has no boundaries, and I really like the grandiose and multisensory experiences discovered at each nook of this buzzing worldwide capital. We’re trying to develop our presence in Dubai but additionally Abu Dhabi, with a give attention to opening extra shops in key selective high places like Bloomingdales, Tyrano, Malls of the Emirates, and past.

In Qatar, we’ve simply opened a stupendous flagship retailer within the model new luxurious mall of Vendome, subsequent to all essentially the most luxurious manufacturers. We’re now increasing and have established partnerships with prestigious shops reminiscent of Printemps, Galerie Lafayette, and Harvey Nichols, with a artistic scent bar idea. We’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness and keenness of the folks for our lovely components and experiential ideas.

My greatest problem now’s to overcome Saudi Arabia, with the opening of our flagship retailer in Nakheel mall. We all know it’s a demanding market by way of high quality and repair, with a big base of fragrance connoisseurs and aficionados. Nevertheless, we’re assured that we have now every thing at Maison 21G to make an influence there. I’m personally concerned in each facet of the shop opening, and we’re dedicated to offering the best high quality services to our clients in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Center East.

Fragrance is an inseparable a part of Center Jap tradition. What perspective in direction of fragrance have you ever observed amongst Center Jap shoppers?

The Center East is revered to a excessive diploma and perfumery rooting in historic practices. As an illustration, the Persians have been the primary to make use of distillation in extracting oils from flowers to create lovely essences that solely Center Jap folks have the tradition to understand. Who would’ve identified that many years, centuries later, fragrance utility nonetheless stays an important ritual of their each day lives.

Famend for essentially the most aromatic of traditions — smouldering incense, burning bakhoor, utilizing ritualistic important oils, and aromatic teas — it’s no surprise why the language of scent creation applies on many ranges of their tradition. From a religious technique to anoint oneself earlier than prayer to epitomising a private fingerprint, deep reminiscences of their life, an announcement of themselves; fragrance is a strong software in characterising one’s individuality right here.

With absolutely the strongest olfactive preferences globally, the residents of the Center East search a daring, distinctive scent and positively above-average longevity. Furthermore, their conventional strategy consists of layering a number of opposing scents. Most prevalently, they use spices, earthy patchouli, deep resins and amber, sensual oud, floral rose Taif, all to create essentially the most elaborate, unique, and astounding compositions distinctive to themselves, which they’ll discover at Maison 21G. Our idea of making your personal fragrance is completely tailored to Center Jap shoppers who’ve been layering and mixing scents for many years. They admire the artwork of fragrance making and have a deep understanding of the complexities of making a singular scent that displays their character and magnificence.

After opening boutiques in Vietnam and South Korea, what’s your subsequent essential tasks and developments throughout 2023 & 2024?

South Korea is a key marketplace for Maison 21G in Asia and success on this nation can have a big influence on our model’s fame and growth in Asia. As a result of South Korea is thought for being a trending marketplace for luxurious manufacturers, reaching success there can set the tone for the remainder of Asia, together with nations reminiscent of China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Customers in these nations could also be extra possible to concentrate to a model that has already confirmed itself within the aggressive South Korean market.

Subsequent for me is to proceed increasing my model selectively in Asia with experiential retail, sustainability, and schooling. I’m dedicated to opening extra flagship shops, store in store in luxurious malls, counters in responsibility free areas, to convey our distinctive expertise to each main capital.

My subsequent greatest problem for 2023-24 shall be China the place we have now a really bold plan with Everlasting group. We’ve already opened a stupendous retailer in Hainan with Lagardere and can quickly be opening flagship shops in Shanghai and Shenzhen, in addition to partnering with fashionable distributors who perceive and might specific our model DNA. To achieve fashionable Gen Z and Millennials, we’ll additionally give attention to digital platforms like Tmall, Weibo, Little Purple Ebook, and WeChat, translating our AI quiz and selling our hero merchandise in Chinese language.

In China, shoppers have a comparatively brief historical past with perfumery and are wanting to study concerning the components, uncover their preferences, and develop their very own scent fashion. They’re additionally fascinated by studying about perfumery suggestions and tips, together with what scents to put on for various events and the variations between high- and low-quality perfumes. The development in direction of area of interest perfumery in China displays a want amongst shoppers to precise their identification and individuality via perfume, in addition to a rising appreciation for high-quality, artisanal merchandise. This development is partly pushed by a want to face out and be completely different from the gang, with distinctive fragrances that can not be present in mass status perfumes. Chinese language shoppers are additionally more and more fascinated by unconventional scents with characters that permit them to precise their edgy fashion.

To adapt to those completely different expectations, Maison 21G will tailor our advertising and marketing strategy and providers to Chinese language shoppers. That is the energy of our personalised strategy, which isn’t solely tailor-made to the person but additionally to the tradition and context. We put excessive effort into localising our strategy, contemplating the cultural and historic context of perfumery in every market and the way this influences shopper preferences and behavior to succeed worldwide. The period of “one-size-fits-all” fragrance and super-centralised advertising and marketing is certainly over, and I’m excited to be on the forefront of this new strategy to the business.

The place do you see Maison 21G in 5 years down the street? Any IPO deliberate forward?

Turn into the primary tailor-made perfumery model globally.

The model goals to problem ready-made merchandise and set up a brand new section within the perfume business: the Tailor-made Perfumery section — after the shock of Area of interest Perfumery. We intend to have iconic Homes of Creation in key perfume capitals worldwide to put in this new section by way of the model’s sturdy credentials in design, innovation, and sourcing new pure components for our scent designer neighborhood.

We constantly enhance our service and coaching of Maison 21G scent designers, presumably constructing an academy of perfumery to share information and experience. We’ve tasks in Web3 to tokenise our distinctive fragrance creation recipes, which is able to stop copying and grant possession to our loyal clients, preserving their creativity at Maison 21G.

We additionally plan to accomplice with different industries reminiscent of artwork, culinary, music, resorts, and mixology to create polysensorial occasions.

To help the imaginative and prescient and mission, Maison 21G will proceed to boost good cash with greater traders to problem the normal fragrance business, acquire sustainable market share and turn into essentially the most fascinating fragrance model.

We need to maintain the authenticity of what they do so long as potential, supported by energetic funds and monetary companions who perceive the significance of disruption, branding building and innovation to satisfy the brand new shoppers’ wants in perfumery.

How did you react to the acquisition of Tom Ford by the Estee Lauder Group in November 2022 for a hefty US$2.8 Billion price ticket (together with debt)?

This acquisition of Tom Ford is a strategic transfer that strengthens Estee Lauder’s high-end luxurious magnificence portfolio. Tom Ford has established itself as a number one model within the perfume and cosmetics market over the course of a number of many years and has a big presence in essential development markets such because the Asia-Pacific area and journey retail. Their success in disrupting the fragrance business years in the past is noteworthy. This acquisition is a testomony to the worth of constructing a powerful model picture with revolutionary merchandise, reaching untapped shoppers, and being led by a daring, sturdy founder.

Maison 21G goals to observe in Tom Ford’s footsteps by making a luxurious artistic model picture with revolutionary services that may attain untapped shoppers. We try to be a challenger within the high-end luxurious section of the perfumery business, specializing in personalisation, sustainability, and an experiential strategy to create your personal scents. Our dedication to creativity units us aside from opponents, and we’re continuously pushing the boundaries with new expertise and machine studying to raised perceive the wants and tastes of our clients. We’re daring and unafraid to disrupt the fragrance business, bringing transparency and openness into an business sorely missing in disruption.

What are the commanding valuation ratios within the magnificence and fragrance business?

Valuation ratios within the magnificence and fragrance business are decided by numerous components, together with an organization’s dimension, development potential, profitability, barrier of entry, expertise, sturdy USP and model picture. When an organization has a powerful model picture and a disruptive strategy, it tends to have increased valuation ratios. Within the magnificence business, it isn’t unusual for bigger firms to pay as much as 10-12 occasions an organization’s income in the event that they see potential for development and growth.

So for small magnificence firms, the important thing to reaching excessive valuation ratios is to problem the normal enterprise mannequin and create a powerful, disruptive worth proposal with excessive barrier of entry and agility, that bigger firms can’t simply replicate with their established buildings. It’s certainly tough for bigger firms to innovate as they should stability danger and sometimes have heavy buildings to navigate.

This creates vital potential for acquisition and growth with massive teams, as they search out revolutionary and disruptive firms to boost their portfolios and acquire market share.

Within the fragrance business, by disrupting the business with new and revolutionary concepts, small firms have an enormous potential for acquisition and growth with massive teams and doubtlessly command excessive valuation ratios within the course of.

To search out out extra about Maison 21G, go to https://www.maison21g.com/house or contact them at create@maison21g.com

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