Fragrance Du Bois... the Original Essence of Asia

SINGAPORE - July 12, 2013 - PRLog -- A brand so bespoke and unique you need an invitation before you can even buy it! To understand why you won't find it in the shops or online we caught up with Jacinta Rowe one of the brands "Fragrance Profilers" and asked what all the fuss is about. Jacinta was in Hong Kong where Du Bois has just established its newest private fragrance lounge in the heart of affluent Wanchai. In the last six months Du Bois has opened exclusive lounges in Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and now the latest in Hong Kong; further openings are coming in Jakarta, Dubai, Shanghai, Moscow and London all before the end of 2013.

We wanted to find out why this new brand is so different and why you need an invitation to buy it. Jacinta Rowe advises that “when we first decided to create a fine fragrance brand we knew we were different and we had to be seen to be different. Our story is unique; we produce fragrances from the mystical oud oil produced by ourselves literally from soil to oil”.

The aquilaria tree from which the Oud oil is extracted has been a protected species in the wild for more than ten years. The oil Du Bois use is harvested from their own sustainable plantations in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. Jacinta Rowe continues “We are probably the only fragrance house that can boast we know the exact source of our oud, which is also guaranteed to be both legal and sustainable; certified by both CITES and now IFRA”.

The development of Fragrance Du Bois into an international brand is an exciting development and Jacinta provides additional insight to the roots and future direction of Du Bois. “Although we have a fascinating and very ethical story we knew that this was not enough to compete with the global mega brands such as Dior, Tom Ford and Chanel. As a large part of our business is actually supplying some of these brands with raw ingredients for their own creations we did not want to compete at the same level. Our passion is to be niche, to compliment the industry with innovation, something new and different. Our founders have invested time and energy visiting the fine fragrance houses in France, meeting international perfumers and discussing our oud; what they all agreed was the fashion and trend for oud based fragrances was growing with no signs of slowing down. At the end of the day Oud is one of the oldest and most mystical ingredients of fine fragrances, used since pre biblical times, a unique natural ingredient now found in more and more fragrances”.

Visiting the old fragrance companies in Grasse and Eze, France, the founders of Du Bois stumbled upon and were inspired by Galimard, one of France’s oldest master perfumeries whose origins as a fragrance house date back to 1747 and past clients included King Louis XVI. Here the master artistry of old fragrance blending captured their imagination. A bespoke perfumery service was available as well as the usual on-the-shelf products, an exclusive arrangement where visitors could spend time with a master perfumer “nose” being taken through the artisan world of fine fragrance and their notes; top, middle and bottom; which go into creating a bespoke fragrance. Working with these perfumers over time the creation will be a fine fragrance, unique, bespoke, matching the desires of the client, delivering a truly personalised fragrance. Inspired by this traditional artistry Du Bois, working with International fragrance houses Givaudan and Firmenich, have developed “Shades Du Bois“ a unique process where the clients’ mood and desires are matched with their own natural fragrance, allowing them to sample and discover a personalised Du Bois fragrance; a custom blended scent for our individual clients.

“All Du Bois exclusive hand blended fragrances contain our own organic oud, taking on a beautiful character of its own, a fragrance evolving on skin; the creation of a truly unique fragrance experience”.

La Maison Du Bois offers a personalised consultation at one of their fragrance lounges which allows the client to be involved in the preparation and blending, a process taking just under one hour. A consultation service is also available in the privacy of the client’s home. A number of exclusive events featuring Du Bois’ Fragrance Bar are also available, featuring a luxury handmade trunk complete with all of the perfumer’s necessary equipment and fragrance notes required for the creation of bespoke fragrances.

The Du Bois team of trained fragrance profilers has now created and delivered over 18,000 personalised fragrances across Asia.

Jacinta continues “Later this year we will launch an exclusive limited edition range of fragrances which we have developed in consultation with international perfumer Francois Merle-Badoin, whose own roots in the fragrance industry can be traced back four generations in Grasse, the world renowned fragrance capital nestled on the French Riviera.

The first limited edition “London Oud” will encapsulate the spirit of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities with the mysteries of the orient. Available from September as a limited production of only 1000 pieces ensuring the consistency and individual origins; all ingredients will be organically sourced and the base oil produced from a special batch of oud distilled and processed using the finest artisan copper stills at our distillery in Thailand. A raw material that can be traced back to the actual trees the oil came from, each bottle certified as an original. “London Oud” will be packaged to include details of the specific trees used to produce this unique fragrance and, being sustainable, information on how many trees have been replanted to ensure the continued supply of our organic Oud oil”.

There is no doubt that Du Bois is developing as a niche brand advocating sustainable business practices. A brand helping to protect endangered forestry, and a tree species already wiped out in the wild in some parts of Asia. The growing brand has recently expanded into bespoke jewellery; handmade and personalised featuring rare and ethically sourced precious woods, gold, silver and rare gems; Bijoux Du Bois.

The Du Bois team are participating in a series of road shows across the Middle East after Ramadan to help promote sustainability and educate local users of agarwood and on the importance of ensuring their sources are not only sustainable but legal.“As a luxury brand all at Du Bois feel it is our responsibility to do our part to educate users of Oud on the importance of being responsible users” clarified Jacinta. “As part of our pledge to the people and the planet we undertake to plant at least two trees for each bottle of fragrance sold, additionally we will now plant two further trees for each individual item sold from our Bijoux Du Bois jewellery range”.