Fragrance house

Aesop

Aesop was established in Melbourne in 1987, when founder Dennis Paphitis began the business through his hair salon, Emeis, blending essential oils into hair products. In 1989, the company was renamed Aesop because Emeis sounded too similar to an established beauty brand. Paphitis’s aesthetic code, literary interests, and irreverent approach shaped the brand’s early identity, while its first in-store customer space, opened in St Kilda in 2003, became a reference point for its subsequent architectural approach. Aesop’s identity combines meticulous formulation, efficacy, sensory pleasure, plant-based and laboratory-made ingredients, and intelligent, sustainable design. Its personal-fragrance work began in 2001 in response to customers seeking perfumes and colognes that extended the aromas of its body-care formulations. Marrakech, first released as an Eau de Toilette in 2005, was Aesop’s inaugural fragrance and was later reworked as Marrakech Intense in 2014 and as an Eau de Parfum in 2020. Aesop is owned by L’Oréal, which completed its acquisition on 30 August 2023. In 2026, creative director Aï Kato oversaw a redesign of the perfume bottles launched alongside Unforeseen Aer, retaining Aesop’s established design philosophy.