Eugene Au and Emrys Au

• Growing up was scent a large part of your lives? 

Definitely yes. Malaysia is a hot and humid country, therefore we grew up smelling a lot of rain and soil. Malaysia also produces many types of tropical fruits and flowers which have strong and unique aroma, namely, Durian, Jasmine, Frangipani etc.. This allows us to appreciate and perceive scents from a different perspective.

• How do you think that smell in general, affects the growth of a child into a adult?

Although smell would leave an impression in one’s mind as a key form of memories from the past, we think that smell in general does not impose much influence to the growth of a child into an adult.

• What is your background and how did you begin working within the fragrance world?

We have background in food and beverages industry before we ventured into the fragrance world. As autodidacts, we learned to create perfumes by referring to resources such as books and the Internet. We founded Auphorie, the first independent perfume brand in Malaysia in 2015.

• Tell us about your work and your brand?

We employ a large proportion of rare natural ingredients into our work which results in fragances that are "shibui", sophisticated, and hard to duplicate or mass produce. We insist on blending unique fragrances using many of the precious and rare natural extracts, supported by a touch of advanced aroma molecules. In this way, our perfumes would eventually smell different from others and leave a strong impression in the mind of people who encounter them. We love creating unusual fragrances that induce reminiscence, or that create connections. Inspired by the rich history and heritage of the Eastern world, we combine the golden legacy of the past with modern technology, to create East-meets-West scents.

We embrace social responsibilities, where at the heart of our brand is charitable giving. 10% of the profits will be donated to carefully selected charitable organization, hoping that it will help towards improving the lives of the underprivileged. With such initiative, we offer our clients an opportunity to scent themselves and improve their own lifestyles by wearing our handcrafted fragrances and, at the same time, giving the roses of charity to those in need.

• What are your thoughts on how the fragrance industry is changing?

In modern perfumery, many perfumes in the market nowadays tend to have a certain degrees of similarities to each other. Independent brands like us, however, are producing bold and unique scents that serve as an interesting alternative to the mass-market products. It is also a trend now that customers are buying from independent perfume brands.

• How does background or culture play a large role in your work?

We are heavily inspired by Eastern cultures, and therefore our scent compositions contain many Eastern elements and are strong in cultural reference.

• What would be your favourite smells?

We do not specifically have any favourite smells, we simply adore anything that smells nice.

• Where can we purchase your scents?

Our scents can be purchased from our official website, www.auphorie.com , and we ship worldwide. US customers can also sample and purchase our scents from Tigerlily Perfumery and Indigo Perfumery.

• At the moment fragrance is a artform, how do you feel about arts in all forms importance in the life of a person.

Art allows people to connect and touch others’ souls beyond the boundaries of time and space. We believe that such “connections” would make our life better.

• How would you describe your work?

East-meets-West; Strong in terms of olfactory impact; Composed from many precious and rare natural extracts with a touch of genius aroma molecules; Backed by strong cultural influences.

• Is there anything else that you would like to say?

No at this moment. If there is anything I would like to add afterwards, I will let you know again. Thank you!