Small Talk BEN GORHAM
The founder of Byredo Parfums talks to Doris Lam about his latest creation and how the brand is moving towards sustainability
Tell us about Mumbai Noise. Mumbai Noise is an intensely personal fragrance for me. From almost the moment I was born, I would travel to India to spend time with my grandmother in Chembur, Mumbai. This fragrance is born from the vivid childhood memories that I have, the experience of sensory overload you feel as soon as you step off the plane. After she passed, it took me a long time to return, and when I did, it had radically changed yet felt inherently familiar. The scent, to me, really captures the overwhelming power of a place.
What’s your to-go scent at the moment?
Palermo will always be my goto. There is something about Sicilian bergamot that feels at once fresh and complex. I wear it every day.
Out of all the Byredo collaborations that you’ve done recently, which are your favourites?
Collaborations are one of the best parts of my job and each one inspires and marks me in different ways. Most recently, I was able to work with my friend Jen Atkin, of The Ouai, to continue our collaboration on its leave-in conditioner with the scent of Mojave Ghost. I was also able to bring to life a makeup universe in collaboration with Isamaya Ffrench, which has been three years in the making, finally realising my visual representation of Byredo. We were able to bring something truly disruptive to the beauty industry and defy conventions of colour, gender and self-expression. I felt this had been missing in a space that has long defined what can be beautiful.
How do you make fragrances that appeal to both men and women?
The idea of gender in fragrance or even make-up doesn’t make any sense to me. I always found this idea somewhat absurd and exclusionary. Beauty, and what individuals find to be beautiful or smell beautiful, are completely subjective, therefore being prescriptive has never been my objective. We make products we are proud of, and whoever wants to use them can use them.
How does Byredo incorporate sustainability in the brand and its products?
It’s something we are constantly looking at, and sustainability is a tricky word as the world has a really long way to go. We do all that we can, and are constantly reviewing our ingredients and our packaging to make sure nothing we use is virgin material. As much as possible, we aim for vegan products. We don’t use a lot of tech and video screens in our stores. But I think we all have to be aware that it’s a project that will be in constant motion as we learn more about alternative ideas and solutions.
Any exciting projects you’re working on?
Too many to name as always. But something I’m really proud of this year is Byproduct, which is a range of items from vases to beach towels and sunglasses that has become my way to express all the creative ideas I have that don’t fit specifically into fragrance or make-up. I am conventionally a beauty outsider and my ideas don’t always fit into a bottle or a compact, so to have a platform to express those ideas is one of the most satisfying things about Byredo.