The story of Byredo
Ben Gorham, a former basketball player born in Sweden to an Indian mother and a Canadian father, did not come from perfumery. He founded Byredo in 2006 to turn memories, places and images into scent, handing the formulas to professional perfumers. Jérôme Epinette wrote much of the catalogue, including Gypsy Water (2008), Bal d'Afrique (2009) and Mojave Ghost (2014). The graphic identity, cylindrical bottles, magnetic caps and minimalist labels, did as much as the juices to make the brand an emblem of 2010s niche perfumery. Byredo went on to candles, leather goods and make-up. In 2022 the Spanish group Puig took control, while Gorham kept a creative role at the house. The house has since become a reference point for a whole wave of minimalist, design-led fragrance brands.
An olfactory signature
Byredo practises a perfumery of transparency. Blonde woods, sandalwood, cedar and musks form a recurring base, topped with powdery florals, violet above all, which appears in Bal d'Afrique, Mojave Ghost and Blanche. Gypsy Water adds incense and pine needles, Rose of No Man's Land a peppery rose over papyrus. Super Cedar strips things back as far as they go: rose, cedar, vetiver, musk. The whole range suggests clean linen, skin and bare wood.
Which Byredo perfume to choose?
Gypsy Water, an aromatic wood of incense and pine, is the most iconic way in. Bal d'Afrique suits lovers of bright florals over vetiver; Mojave Ghost those who like soft musks and magnolia. Blanche is the smell of white, aldehydic laundry. Rose of No Man's Land and Super Cedar suit anyone looking for a modern, barely sweet rose.
