Many travellers enjoy buying perfumes on their travels for the associated memories, to gift as souvenirs, or to own unique scents linked to the region they visit.
In Seoul, homegrown perfume brands such as Nonfiction, Tamburins and Granhand have attracted international customers with fragrances that reflect the city's modern side.
Two other Seoul-based brands, however, have decided on a different approach: drawing on traditional Korean culture to explore what makes a scent distinctly South Korean.
Chwi incorporates elements of South Korean cultural heritage into its fragrances, bringing the visual and olfactory aesthetics into everyday familiar spaces.
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Its Sachal hand and body wash was inspired by the scent of Buddhist temples and launched to celebrate the Buddha's Birthday in May.
The packaging is based on Goryeo celadon, a style of South Korean pottery produced between the 10th and 14th centuries known for its distinctive blue-green glaze.
It received an award in the souvenir category of the Korea Tourism Contest hosted by the Korea Tourism Organisation and the country's ministry of culture, sports and tourism in August.
Chwi's perfumes also draw on familiar elements of South Korean life and nature with fragrances such as Ssal, meaning rice; Daenamu, meaning bamboo; Odii, meaning mulberry; and Ssook, meaning mugwort.
Ssal is perhaps the most Korean of Chwi scents, beginning with cedarwood, tobacco and amber top notes, followed by rice, musk and maltol and a vanilla and iris finish.
The perfume bottle's rounded top and cubic body are based on the gama, a traditional Korean palanquin.
Born To Stand Out also draws on Korean traditions, but takes a more provocative approach.
Its slogan, "Rebel Against Standards", reflects its philosophy that reinterprets traditions, including South Korea's clothing, embroidery, and Joseon-era white porcelain through colors and forms.
The brand uses bold red in its store interiors and designs and chooses striking names for its scents such as Durian Custard, Cola Addict, Drunk Lovers, Dirty Rice and Fig Porn.
The brand's latest fragrance, Saint Petal, is aged for three months in onggi, Korean earthenware, to develop what the brand calls a raw, intoxicating character.
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The fragrance opens with top notes of orange blossom, cumin, bergamot and dust, followed by violet leaves, jasmine sambac, coffee, incense and akigalawood in the middle. Amyris, vetiver, cistus, oud and leather form the base.
Born to Stand Out opened its third flagship store in Seoul this year in Seongsu, following locations in Hannam and Samcheong.
The brand also positions itself against what it sees as a loss of art in the niche perfume market, saying originality has given way to commercial appeal.
"Niche used to value originality over commercialism, tension over comfort and instead of making it more likeable, rather more yourself. Now it's more ripped off. It is more of a finely crafted product," the brand says on its website. – The Korea Herald
