Fragrance house

Ayu

Ayu is an Australian fragrance and beauty brand founded in 2014 by Alanna Quin and Madeleine Whitter after they studied Ayurveda and travelled in India, where they encountered traditional perfume distilleries. Its creative identity is grounded in Ayurvedic principles, with fragrance blends informed by the Vata, Pitta, and Kapha doshas and connected to everyday rituals of scent, memory, emotion, and balance. What began with the founders’ perfume-making experiments developed into a broader beauty and home-fragrance business spanning perfume oils, body oils, face mists, hair oil, candles, and incense. Their creative process is described as intuitive and organic, shaped by travel, discovery, and fragrance’s emotional effects rather than a fixed product plan. Souq was Ayu’s first fragrance; positive reactions from people asking what the founders were wearing helped prompt its commercial production. It is also identified as the brand’s first and best-selling scent, and its strong response became a catalyst for Ayu’s subsequent development.