Fragrance house

Black Fades

Black Fades is a Hong Kong fragrance and lifestyle brand that was publicly identified in 2023 as being led by founder Herman Ma. Its early plan was to become a wellness centre offering yoga and mind-body-spirit services, but the pandemic interrupted that direction. The name reflects the idea that black can fade toward grey, white, or colour, while fragrance and candlelight frame darkness as something that can lead toward light and hope. Its creative language combines a predominantly black visual system with Japanese wabi-sabi and mono no aware influences, alongside religious, philosophical, and spiritual-wellness ideas. Black Fades describes its identity through “beauty of mindfulness” and “functional olfactory wellness,” expressed across perfume, candles, home fragrance, and body care. By 2024, it also presented fragrance-making workshops, bringing participatory scent education alongside its finished products. Hong Kong serves as an inspiration in its fragrance work; Ming4, for example, incorporates bergamot and chrysanthemum. In 2026, the brand announced the sensory exhibition “In the Presence for Love: Zhen’s Confession,” accompanied by the limited JAN1 home-fragrance work.