Fragrance house

Shisedo

Shiseido traces its beginnings to Ginza, Tokyo, where it was founded in 1872 as Japan’s first private Western-style pharmacy. It entered cosmetics in 1897 with Eudermine, and in 1916 opened a design department while separating the cosmetics business from the original pharmacy. The company’s visual identity developed around the Hanatsubaki camellia trademark, adopted in 1915, alongside a distinctive typeface and karakusa arabesque pattern. Shiseido also established the Shiseido Gallery in 1919 and published Hanatsubaki, which evolved from Shiseido Geppo in 1924 and Shiseido Graph in 1933 before taking its current name in 1937. From 1980, Serge Lutens worked on Shiseido’s image development and global visual identity; in December 2015, Shiseido agreed to purchase his trademark while retaining his direction of the brand. Shiseido’s fragrance heritage is especially associated with Hanatsubaki, introduced in 1917 as the first authentic Japanese-made perfume. In January 2022, Shiseido Creative Co., Ltd. formalized the creative function rooted in the 1916 design department.