Fragrance house

Borntostandout

BORNTOSTANDOUT was founded by Jun Lim and launched in Seoul in April 2022. Before starting the brand, Lim worked in investment banking, then left in 2021 to create fragrances and sold much of his art collection to fund the venture. As founder and creative director, his collecting, painting, design, and storytelling shaped a visual and olfactory language centered on resistance to standardized social expectations and fragrance as self-expression. White bottles draw on traditional Korean porcelain, set against stark or crimson-red accents associated with taboo in Korea. The brand’s first fragrance, Dirty Rice, interprets steamed rice in a sensual, avant-garde form that Lim described as symbolizing Korea; in the United States, he identified Indecent Cherry as the top seller, followed by Drunk Saffron and Dirty Rice. In February 2025, BORNTOSTANDOUT completed a Series A round led by Touch Capital and L’Oréal’s BOLD corporate venture fund, marking a move from founder funding to institutional minority investment. By 2026, its public creative identity remained centered on provocative, unconventional concepts rather than immediate consensus.