Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah’s innovative perfume house, The Fragrance Kitchen (TFK), launches in the UAE, exclusively at Bloomingdale’s-Dubai
Exclusively in the UAE, Bloomingdale’s-Dubai invites consumers to experience the art of fragrance with Sheikh Majed AI-Sabah’s innovative perfume house, The Fragrance Kitchen (TFK). Inspired by his ‘East meets West’ philosophy, Sheikh Majed has conceived TFK’s scent collections by uniting traditional aspects of Middle Eastern perfumery with the unrivalled expertise of a laboratory in Grasse.
Sheikh Majed credits Tom Ford – with whom he worked closely while opening Villa Moda’s Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent boutiques – as an inspirational force behind TFK. Arabian Wood, a perfume Sheikh Majed blended upon Ford’s request as an exclusive scent for the 2009 opening of Kuwait’s Tom Ford boutique, became a bestseller and was lauded as an original because of its elegant aroma.
Sheikh Majed’s grandmother has also influenced TFK’s direction because, at the heart of its scents, are rare ingredients, indigenous to the Gulf region, from which she has always created her own perfume at home and also taught him to do so.
“My grandmother taught me how to mix oils from the souk and source precious ingredients from India,” explains Sheikh Majed. Centuries-old family perfume recipes, he adds, “are closely guarded secrets” among Middle Eastern families and “handed down through generations. I have hundreds.”
The allure of his own custom blends also became evident to Sheikh Majed, when, after flaunting them at the ready-to-wear shows in Paris and Milan, he was periodically stopped by his fellow front-row fixtures and asked the same question. “What are you wearing?” he recalls.
A laboratory in Grasse has analysed, executed and bottled TFK’s three unisex perfume collections.
The first is the ‘Signature Line’ of unisex scents which are versatile and their numeric names reflect the philosophy that they are meant to be worn “just like ready-to-wear every day,” explains Sheikh Majed.
The ‘Exclusive Line’ features opulent scents which are narrative-driven. “It is almost like my diary,” says Sheikh Majed, explaining that the perfumes he has composed for this collection evoke his memories, journeys and personal experiences.
“If TFK is to be in Dubai, Bloomingdale’s is THE PLACE to be!” exclaims Sheikh Majed. TFK’s shop-in-shop can now be found in the UAE, exclusively in the newly re-launched Fragrance Hall at Bloomingdale’s-Dubai, The Dubai Mall.
