With ingredients sourced from South Korea, these founders aim to be a part of the 'evolution away from' Eurocentric standards of fragrance design.
For decades, perfumers came from Grasse, a small town in France, and were usually born into the job. Though corners of the perfume business have recognized and attempted to grapple with its homogeneous nature, much more can be done.
"In Korea, there's a history of people crushing flowers and spices to create their own unique smell," Lee says, adding that incense was also used in 5th-century religious rituals. "When you think about it, that's kind of the modern-day use of perfume today: as a self-identifier, to help you stand out."
Elorea's founders decided to use warm instead of "Oriental," which has been commonplace vocabulary in the fragrance world since the 1920s. There have beento retire this branding, which implies an exoticism and othering of non-western scents. "We're not using that term," Park says. "In the beginning phases of creating our brand, we didn't really understand how derogatory that term can be.