enya FASHION QUEEN

Text . Translation by Sherry Chen

「你昨晚去了哪裡呢?」「我在家點燃了所有 LE LABO 的香氛蠟燭，並在此奢華中陶然如醉，甚至連去酒吧的想法都揮發地蕩然無存。」這是一段以老舊的打字機紀錄全世界各地，店員與顧客們感性交流的秘密對話，收錄在 LE LABO 私密手帳中。透過文字的敘述締造嗅覺的遐想，以人與人的交流、城市的連結，LE LABO創造出一場場與香水「不完美」的際遇。

“Where were you last night?”“Oh, sorry, I lit all my LE LABO candles and became so intoxicated by luxury that the thought of going to a bar felt redundant.” This is a dialogue recorded on a vintage typewriter, capturing sentimental exchanges in the “Overheard LE LABO” account between customers and the boutique perfume technicians. Through descriptive and olfactive connotations, moments of genuine connections, and memories of the cityscapes, LE LABO creates imperfect encounters between individuals and perfumes.

LE LABO 高級手工香水是一個強調「有靈魂香氣」的品牌。沒有喧鬧色彩、憧憬不完美中的完美、追求事物質樸本色的品牌精神，來自「 WABI-SABI 侘寂」—日本慢哲學的啟發，讓每一瓶香水回歸調香本質，所用高級原料天然樸實，在強調無常的美學中卻富有工藝靈魂。品牌香水均以主原料命名，尾端再加上香水原材料的數量，例如 Santal 33 （檀木香）、Fleur d’Oranger 27（苦澄花）、Lys 41（百合）。

LE LABO handcrafted fine fragrance accentuates brand value on “soulful perfumery.” It is inspired by the wabi-sabi philosophy in Japanese culture, where simplicity, authenticity, and imperfection are the core concepts of perfumery. While creations are made with carefully selected, high-quality ingredients in their foremost original form, it is also the aesthetics of transiency and craftsmanship which makes LE LABO beguiling. The creations are each named after the primary essence, followed by a number that indicates the amount of ingredients used, for example Santal 33, Fleur d’Oranger, 27, and Lys 41.

香水革命藝術家

來自南法蔚藍海岸的小鎮—香水之都格拉斯，兩位法國創辦人 Edouard Roschi 和 Fabrice Penot 在2006年於紐約知名時尚文青區 (Nolita) 的伊莉莎白街創立了第一間 LE LABO 手工慢香水店。兩位創辦人同在亞曼尼香精有多年的工作經驗，他們在品牌量產的洪流中找到共鳴，認為市場上有太多瓶香水，唯獨缺少了擁有靈魂的香氣。 為了顛覆對於香水的價值觀，讓顧客與店員更加融入製程，LE LABO 暱稱他們的調香師為「靈魂」(soul)，希望屏除商業化的交流，讓顧客與調香師能靜下心一起慢慢探索，找到能撼動內心的那一瓶香水。

LE LABO 原意為法文的「實驗室」，因此顧客能像在實驗室一樣，現場選擇香氣，並由調香師調配香水。調香師從冷凍櫃取出原料，以精密的儀器測量成份與比例，並在原料倒入香水瓶後，貼上實驗室獨有的標籤，印上購買的日期、城市、顧客姓名、與想說的話。彷彿從踏入店面起，顧客將親身經歷一瓶香水誕生的儀式，擁有一段城市的回憶，真正成就那瓶香水獨特的靈魂。

Radical Perfume Artists

The two founders of LE LABO, Edouard Roschi and Fabrice Penot were born in Grasse, a city along the French Riviera, the capital of perfumery. They opened their first boutique in 2006 on Elizabeth Street, in the neighborhood of the chic Nolita. Edouard and Fabrice met while building a career with Giorgio Armani Parfums. In the rising tide against commercial conformity, the two founders found alignment in their attempt to create an eloquent brand. They believe “there are too many bottles of perfume and not enough soulful fragrances.” To overthrow the conventional perceptions of perfumery, LE LABO named their lab technicians “souls.” They wish customers could wander in the boutique at their own pace, and find a scent that would create a shock, “the shock of the new, combined with the shock of the intimately familiar.”

LE LABO is named after “the laboratory” in French, where customers could engage in the compounding of the scent. The essences are preserved in the fridge, and mixed with alcohol-based solution on a high precision scale. After essences are selected and blended, the bottled creations are labelled with name and words provided by the customer, the date, and the city where it is created. Inside every boutique, customers could indulge in witnessing the creation of their perfume. LE LABO’s bottled creations could capture the olfactive recollections of the city, and endow the creation with a soulful memory that is unique to the individual.

跨越時區的香氣

身處在陌生的城市，我們時常渴望能完整記錄當下銘心的時刻。在我們短暫的停留中，相機可以擷取城市的片段，而 LE LABO 的城市限定系列 (City Exclusives) 香水能描摹城市的細節。例如2023年最新推出的上海 Myrrhe 55（末藥），是以文藝的茉莉和廣藿香作為前調，伴隨著含蓄的沉香、龍涎香、和麝香的柑苔調香水。香調的變化像是將古典的底蘊糅入潮流，宛如上海的眴煥樓層與時光荏苒的老街近在咫尺。LE LABO 為多個城市調製了專屬氣味，如東京的 Gaiac 10（癒創木）、柏林的 Cedrat 37（香櫞）、巴黎的 Vanille 44（香草）、和紐約的 Tubereuse 40（晚香玉）。它們只在所屬城市販售，無法在其他城市取得。但在每年的九月份，全部的城市香水將會在各城市巡迴販售。若想要購買特定城市的香氣，此時無需飛到該城市即可選購。

Scent with Time Zones

As we travel to an unfamiliar city, we cherish the ways we hold onto our travel memories. While cameras can only capture fragments of the city,  the LE LABO City Exclusive Collection portrays the olfactive characteristics of the city. LE LABO’s new 2023 classic perfume,  Myrrhe 55, for example, is a chypre with poetic top notes of jasmine and patchouli, enveloping hints of oud, ambergris, and musk. The transition of scents weaved tradition with contemporaneity, where opulent edifices and timeless old streets converge right upon the eyes, resembling the characteristics of Shanghai City. LE LABO has exclusively blended scents for several cities around the world, including Gaiac 10 for Tokyo, Cedrat 37 for Berlin, Vanille 44 for Paris, and Tubereuse 40 for New York. These city exclusives are only available in the labs of the city they belong to. However, in every September, city collections would be on a world tour available for purchase at every LE LABO boutiques.

夏日夜晚的小酌

LE LABO 最熱門的香水經典款為 Santal 33（檀木香）、Rose 31（玫瑰）、Another 13（別樣）、Bergamote 22（佛手柑)、Thé Noir 29（黑茶），其中最為耐人尋味的便是 Thé Noir 29（黑茶）。Thé Noir 29 如同一杯醇厚的紅茶，濃縮在小巧的實驗瓶裡，茶香撩人內斂，被譽為最有深度的香氣。這一款中性淡香，以黑茶乾燥處理後沉穩的韻味，融合著微甜的菸草香，餘韻則隱約散發月桂葉和佛手柑輕盈的香氣。主調在時間的淬鍊下，慢慢提出了柔和的無花果及雪松香。香根草與麝香則作為後調，帶出深沉性感、柔美與堅韌的氛圍。在炎熱的夏日夜裡，與清新的 Bergamote 22（佛手柑）相比，Thé Noir 更加持久，更適合喜歡低調蘊藏神祕感的人。

Summer Night Sip

LE LABO’s most popular scents are Santal 33, Rose 31, Another 13, Bergamote 22, and Thé Noir 29. “A bottle of condensed black tea in a bottled creation,” Thé Noir 29 is a gender neutral fragrance blended with black tea but with an intriguing twist. It is a scent most favoured because of its depth; it has an alluring dried leafy note with subtle sweetness of tobacco. The mid notes are an oscillation of bergamot, fig, and bay leaves. As it lingers longer on the skin, hints of cedar, vetiver, and musk unveils. Thé Noir 29 cultivates a low-profile yet mystical facade on a summer night compared to Bergamote 22, because of its longevity and depth, softness and strength.

古今蘊香的交織

除了城市限定款，LE LABO 更為 EDITION 飯店量身訂做了飯店專屬特調，名字也被EDITION 飯店買斷，只為了入住於 EDITION 飯店的旅客能使用到限定款的 EDITION 特調香味。EDITION 的香味以紅茶為基底，搭配清甜的佛手柑和淡雅的雪松木香、富有層次感的胡椒、以及帶有優雅花香的月桂葉。

座落於日本京都的高瀨川畔，全球第三間 LE LABO CAFE 在 2024年3月20日 悄悄開幕。在今年遲開的櫻花樹下，古色古香的京都町屋顯得格外典雅別致。兩層樓高的小店建於1879年，由清酒釀酒廠改建而成。所謂町屋保留了原有的橫樑、斑駁的磚牆、老舊的窗台，將復古的歷史及傳統之美與慢香水糅合。穿過日式庭園後的 Cafe 也提供外帶素糕點、咖啡、京都抹茶等餐點；二樓則是調香師的空間，安放著數百種精油筆記，也會不定期的邀約日本傳統工匠及藝術家進駐。在濃厚禪意的侘寂風建築內，LE LABO 香氛與古老木造町屋交織的馥郁木香悠悠湧動，浸潤人心。

Interwoven Scents from Past to Present

Other than the city exclusive collections, LE LABO has also customized a signature scent for Edition Hotel. The name, fragrance, and amenities are exclusive to guests staying at the Edition Hotel. It is a version of blended black tea, sweet bergamot, cedar, pepper, and bay leaf which carries tints of floral.

Beside the Takase River in Kyoto, the late-blooming cherry blossoms and the antique machiya quietly unveiled on March 20th, 2024. It is the world’s third LE LABO cafe, beautifully built in the heart of the artisan capital in Japan. The new flagship machiya is a traditional sake brewery townhouse renovated and preserved to keep its crossbars, raw unfinished walls, and archaic windows. It blends slow perfumery with the historical and traditional beauty of Kyoto, chiming the evanescent aesthetics of wabi-sabi. Treading down the miniature garden, the rear cafe serves vegetarian desserts, coffee, and matcha tea. The second floor is an atelier dedicated to exhibit traditional artists and to preserve hundreds of essential oil notebooks. In the wabi-sabi inspired architecture, the fragrance of LE LABO perfumes and the wooden notes of machiya intertwines, infusing the air with aromas that resonate deeply within the souls.