Fragrance house

What We Do Is Secret

What We Do Is Secret traces its roots to S-Perfume, established in Brooklyn in 2000 by sculptor and surfboard shaper Nobi S-, also known as Nobi Shioya, through Shaping Room LLC. The name first appeared in 2005 as a DBA for the art studio and was later used for a perfume blog. From that beginning, the house developed an art-led fragrance practice joining sculpture, olfactory experimentation, and French perfumery. In 2008, two of S-Perfume’s three fragrances were designated five-star masterpieces in Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez. A Lab on Fire became a later identity from 2011 to 2018, debuting at Paris concept store Colette with fragrances made and designed exclusively for the store. What We Do Is Secret launched in the United States in 2021 as a renewed identity, and the S-Perfume label was discontinued in 2022. Today, the contemporary perfume house focuses on small-batch extraits and Monoscent made in France. Its fragrance work includes What We Do In Paris Is Secret, created with Dominique Ropion and inspired by Helmut Newton’s Rue Aubriot photograph. Its published history records plans to relocate from America to Paris in 2026.