Fragrance house

Cloon Keen

Cloon Keen Atelier was established in 2001 by Margaret Mangan and Julian Checkley, whose backgrounds in the art departments of feature films influenced the brand’s story-led approach to perfumes and candles. The founders first experimented with candle-making at a Christmas market in Windsor, then continued in a workshop in Mangan’s parents’ garage before opening a professional workshop in Connemara. The business developed from candles into original perfume after Mangan studied fragrance ingredients and began working with perfumers. Rooted in Galway, Connemara and Ireland’s western landscape, Cloon Keen draws on Irish history, language, folklore, memory and belonging; its name comes from the Gaelic Cluain Caoin, meaning “splendid meadow.” Its fragrance identity is especially associated with Róisín Dubh, the brand’s first perfume created with Irish perfumer Meabh McCurtin and shaped by the Irish diaspora and Irish writers abroad. In 2019, Róisín Dubh won Best New Independent Fragrance at the Fragrance Foundation Awards, making Cloon Keen the first Irish company to receive the award.