The Maison
A perfume house in Nairobi
We believe a fragrance should be made close to the people who wear it, with materials that mean something here, and finished with the patience of a tailor.
The studio
A bench in Westlands
Scents Central began in 2019 on a single bench in a Westlands flat. Today our studio sits above Westlands Road: a compounding room, a maturing cellar, and a small salon where clients sit and smell slowly. Every bottle is filled and inspected there.
The composition
One place, one perfume
Each fragrance begins with a place we know: Kenyan black tea from Kericho, jasmine strung on Lamu wedding garlands, first rain on red murram. We compose in small batches of two hundred bottles and mature each one for six weeks before it is released.
The finish
Engraved by hand
Initials are cut into the glass by hand, one bottle at a time, and every gift box is tied in the studio. This takes a day longer, and it is the part of the work we are proudest of.
- Sixteen
- compositions in the collection
- Six weeks
- of maturing for every batch
- Two hundred
- bottles in a batch, never more