Jo Malone's labour of love

THE very British fragrance house Jo Malone continues to explore its founder's revolutionary vision and sensibility.

Dinner at Jo Malone's London headquarters.

WHEN does a scent transcend being something that merely smells nice and become an encompassing way of life?

When it's a brand such as Jo Malone London, which last year set up headquarters in its own chic, vertiginous four-storey Georgian townhouse in the heart of London's West End, and threw its doors open to guests from all around the world. "Jo Malone London is really more than a brand - it's a lifestyle," says the brand's vice-president global creative director, Matthew Parr. "The bow, the wrap, the box is what people buy into because they know what to expect just by looking at it: a scent that feels finely crafted, a story that speaks of understated elegance, extremely good taste, a generosity of spirit and, above all, the finest attention to detail."

On this occasion - an official declaration to the world that the fragrance house is literally a house and a lavish dinner to celebrate the launch of its newest scent, Peony & Blush Suede-the house has been transformed to embody all the things that "come with the box". Take the walls, says Parr: "It took seven coats of different paints to achieve the same colour and texture of that iconic cream and black box; forget Farrow & Ball or Pantone, this is Jo Malone Cream," he laughs.

The interiors, designed by Rose Uniacke, "honour the classic elements of the house with a lightness that fits with the brand's ethos", says Parr. The best of the listed mansion's 18th-century details - the sweeping staircase, Portland stone floors and detailed cornicing-create an atmosphere that feels timeless yet warm, welcoming and modern. The slightly raw, grainy oak floors, billowing linen curtains and barely-there hand-blown glass lighting are the perfect physical embodiments of all the brand stands for today.

After all, it wasn't easy to lose the guidance of the founding namesake, the visionary who gave the brand a back story and sense of soul, and continue to thrive. Jo Malone started the business from her kitchen table with husband Gary Wilcox before they opened their first shop at 154 Walton Street in 1994 (she remained creative director, after selling the business to Estee Lauder in 1999, until 2006). Since then, the brand's task has been to create an enduring identity that reflects all that the founder put into it but to also take it well into the 21st century in its own right.

"The brand Jo Malone London [as it is now known] has had to grow from being about the person to being about the experience," says Parr. "We've focused on showing how scent can 'infuse' every inch of our everyday lives."

The team has capitalised on revolutionary ideas such as the brand's trademarked art of fragrance combining (from scent on the neck to candles on the table), to creating an upmarket magalogue (no longer in production but a game-changer in the mid-2000s) and not being shy of trying new scents. In a stroke of genius, the brand's soul now comes from a British sensibility rather than a British person; at its core lies the charming, slightly old-fashioned and quirky notion of Britishness. "This is now the starting point for everything we do," explains Parr. "It is about capturing an understated elegance yet with a distinct English humour and whimsy."

Inspiration comes from imagery such as old and new photography - Cecil Beaton and Norman Parkinson to Tim Walker - and the quirks of British life, such as its infamous wet weather. "It's great to bring a little bit of the eccentric into fragrance - it makes it more modern and accessible," says senior vice-president, creative director James Gager.

And there certainly can't be anything more British than London rain (Burberry must regret not having thought of it first). The latest "Rain" collection mixes the scent of rain falling on concrete (bergamot and lemon for freshness) with the muskier, luscious scent of rain in the countryside (angelica root, black cedarwood and juniper), reflecting the moods it creates in different spaces.

"It's all about finding new ways of storytelling and bringing the feeling of 'home' to our customers - and fragrance is just part of how we tell that story," says Parr of the collaborations the brand has forged with designers and artists. These include Ashley Hicks (son of legendary British interior designer David Hicks), illustrator Michael Angove (whose work will adorn the packaging of a limited edition collection of candles, soaps and scent sachets, due out in April), and the sought-after fashion stylist Charlotte Stockdale (married to Australian designer Marc Newson).

Stockdale, appointed Jo Malone's style editor in 2012, is astonishingly well-connected - Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour are on speed dial. She is the perfect candidate to lend the brand some personality without replacing its history, thanks to her own quintessential Britishness. (Her grandfather was a lord mayor of London, her father a second baronet and her new collection draws on her childhood picking tomatoes from her mother's conservatory and lighting big fires to keep warm at Hoddington, her family's 18th-century home.) But back at the Jo Malone London house, it is late afternoon, and the house is alive with calm but brisk efficiency as the spacious rooms become the setting for a magnificent "olfactory inspired" dinner for more than 50 editors, journalists and the brand's PRs flown in from around the world. The next day, for the launch of its latest scent, Peony & Blush Suede, 10,000 flowers will transform the space into an exquisitely scented hanging garden oasis.

The attention to detail here exemplifies not an obsessive need to control but simply the team's desire to be the ultimate hosts. You are in their home and they want you not only to feel welcome but have a jolly good time too.

Who better therefore to call than Bertie de Rougemont, founder and managing director of Cellar Society, one of the city's leading caterers (whose fans include Kate Moss, the rapper Tinie Tempah and every fashion house you can think of)? At Gager's insistence, the custom-made tablecloth needs to be lined with black ribbon, just like the boxes. The flowers are arranged by another hot London talent, floral installation artist Rebecca Louise Law. "The physical experience of scent is what makes this table setting so special," says Law.

Lime Basil & Mandarin candles scent the table and small boxes of the brand's candles adorn each setting as gifts.

The evening's menu juxtaposes salt and sweet to bring out the flavours in the food, much as Jo Malone does with fragrance combining, explains de Rougemont.

Notes such as rhubarb and lemongrass accompanying a slow-roasted dish of Gloucester Old Spots pork reflect notes often used in one of the brand's scents. By working closely with the house's award-winning master perfumer, Christine Nagel, and director of global product development Celine Roux, de Rougemont wanted to show how working with different ingredients could be both interesting and understated. "We wanted to challenge the mind and caress the palate on both a gastronomic and fragrance level," he says.

Jo Malone London is now sold in 34 countries and has more than 20 permanent scents as well as an ever-evolving wardrobe of limited-edition fragrances for body and home such as Oud & Bergamot and Saffron to White Lilac & Rhubarb and Iris & Lady Moore.

"It can take two to three years in the concept, always looking athowto capture British nuances in a contemporary scent," says Roux. "With Peony & Suede Blush, a full floral was missing in the collection but we like to do something unexpected too. It needed a twist - at first we thought about combining it with leather but it was too harsh and not very Jo Malone. Then Christine suggested mixing in some red apple." Nagel explains that the red apple was for its juice and crisp bite rather than for sweet fruitiness. She then added fresh almond "to lend it a velvetiness that felt like suede". Nagel is like a couturier, says Roux, "in the way she deconstructs scent and then puts it back together into a fragrance-her sense of craftsmanship is very much a part of the ethos so important to Jo Malone."

This extends to every element of the brand, including the candles, which are all made in a converted dairy on Lord Cowdray's estate in Sussex. "Each one is made entirely by hand, using both age-old skills and the latest technical knowledge to translate Christine's olfactory genius into our candles," Roux says. Each candle will be handled by 16 people; even the glass holders and silver lids are hand polished and fitted.

Yet it seems strange for a fragrance house so proudly British to rely on two French scent specialists. "Our ideas are always inspired by British culture and everyday life, from blackberry picking, peonies growing in the garden to English desserts," says Roux, recalling their travels around the country to taste the best of English desserts, from Betty's fat rascals (rock cakes) in York to Eton Mess at Claridges. "Fragrance is emotional, it's not a perfect science, and we are both curious about everything in life so we use that sensitivity to inspire the details of a new fragrance. We use the latest ingredients with the newest technology but that's not the only reason for our fragrance success; it's the obsessive detail and time we put into them too," she says.

Jo Malone is available from 110 Queen Street, Woollahra, NSW 2025, [phone], or from David Jones stores nationally.