Founded in 1983 by His Highness Sayyid Hamad bin Hamoud al bu Said, Amouage is synonymous with Arabian opulence and the Omani tradition of luxury perfumery.
Over more than four decades, the house has distinguished itself on the global stage with its commitment to crafting rich, evocative scents that marry heritage with contemporary sophistication. At the heart of Amouage is the house’s dedication to the finest ingredients sourced directly from the Arab world. Rare treasures such as Omani silver frankincense, myrrh, rose, and precious agarwood define their scents, giving each fragrance an unmistakable depth and richness. With their signature complexity, Amouage perfumes evoke an exotic, timeless character.
Under the creative direction of Renaud Salmon, Amouage is evolving, infusing contemporary narratives into its heritage-rich roots. The brand has boutiques in London, Paris, Dubai, and beyond, embodying a contemporary elegance while remaining true to its Omani origins. We recently sat down with Salmon, to learn more about the heritage of the house, and his plans for its future.
Please could you tell us about the heritage of the house?
Yes, so Amouage was created in the early eighties, and it was established because His late Majesty Sultan Qaboos wanted to offer a gift to the visitors of Oman. And he wanted that gift to feel, personal and unique. So he sent his entourage around the country and they came back with the idea to create a fragrance and specific ingredients that they sourced around Oman. The frankincense in the south of Oman, the roses in the Jabal Akhdar mountains and then finally, ambergris that lands on the shores of Oman. They took all of those ingredients and they travelled to the south of France, to Grasse, in order to meet with Guy Robert, the famous French perfumer, who created two fragrances for Amouage. The two fragrances eventually became known as Amouage Gold Man and Amouage Gold Woman.
Interestingly, at first, you could not buy Amouage fragrances. You had to be gifted Amouage fragrances by His late Majesty and then around five years after that, as the demand for the products grew, the company started selling products and since then Amouage has been known as the “gift of kings”.
How does Middle Eastern culture influence your fragrance compositions and the wider brand?
So one, when it comes to the ingredients that we have in the fragrances, although we use a large range of ingredients, it is the ones local to Oman which are our signature notes in our scents. So particularly frankincense, but also the rose from the mountains. Also our creative facilities are based in Oman, in Muscat, which means that by definition, me and my team and all of the creatives actually working at Amouage are living in Oman. which has a direct impact on what we create, because just because like all of our inspirations and so on, they end up being rooted in Oman and in daily life in the country.
What role does craftsmanship play in creation at Amouage?
I think that often luxury businesses tend to separate craft and creativity. You’re either a house of craft and then you have a certain aesthetics that goes with it. Or you’re a house of creativity, and you talk less about craft or craft is secondary. So first of all, due to the physical setup of our offices, my whole creative office is on top of the manufacturing space. So it means creativity works hand in hand with craft.
It’s very agile as well. If we have a creative idea, like recently, for example, we wanted to change the closing mechanism of a design. I made a mock-up myself, and then I went down on the line, I asked the senior people on the manufacturing floor if they thought it was something that could be somehow replicated at scale and then they came back to me literally two hours later with feedback and a few modifications and so on and a few months later it the finished product was crafted. The symbiotic setup enables creativity in a way that I have never seen before.
What inspires you in your work at the house?
What I find really inspiring is the vision of the owners of Armouage. It’s a family-owned company and I was blown away by their vision when I joined Amouage five years ago because I asked them at the very beginning, “What do you expect from me”? And they told me, “Well, we want to be the best and the most desirable perfume house in the world”. Which is quite a bold vision if you think about it, but at the same time it’s really inspiring because it means that they really care about the quality and craft and so on. So that vision I think is super inspiring because a clear priority was set at the very beginning.
Then, obviously, Oman itself – its people and nature, are both a big source of inspiration. And I would say the overall desire to invent the future of perfumery is something that has become a key part of what we do at Amouage. I mean, we always say, “Why would we do something if it’s not worth telling a particular story and if it’s not going to raise some eyebrows in your traditional luxury capitals,” and this is something we are extremely proud of when we realize that major companies established in major luxury cities around the world all of a sudden actually have an eye on Amouage when it comes to the future of perfumery. This is something that really inspires us, I think. It’s exciting that the house does have that attention.
What is your view of the fragrance industry today?
I think first of all, there are more fragrances launched every day or every year than ever before in history. If I’m not wrong, the latest figures are above 2000 new fragrances every year, which means literally more than five new fragrances are launched every day. This is a bit worrying, but it shows that today more than ever, anyone can create fragrances. And I would push that to say that anyone with a computer can create fragrances. And unfortunately, many brands born today are just the consequence of chains of emails. Today you could virtually create your perfume not even actually touching or smelling your ingredients or your creations if you wanted to. And I think this is where the industry is potentially heading in the wrong direction which is the complete demystification and to an extent banalization of the craft.
I grew up seeing advertisements of the iconic fragrances, and they created this kind of magic and mystique of the category that I think needs to remain. I think the companies that are going to do well in the long term are going to be the ones actually investing in craft, investing in vertical integration of what they do, mastering the understanding of fragrance making, but also being quite bold when it comes to their creative direction and their creative choices and so on in order to stand out in the sea of noise that we tend to see these days. So it’s a little bit pessimistic, but in a way, I think I’m hopeful because I think people are becoming more aware of what is going on.
Going from the macro to the specific, are there any career highlights that you personally are particularly proud of?
You know, I think Amouage has successfully transitioned from a relatively remote, distant company to something that fully embraces contemporary dynamism and also transparency.
I think clients deserve more transparency, education and knowledge about perfumery. is going Educated clients are going to make educated decisions and ultimately it’s going to benefit the whole perfumary category and the brands that are doing the right thing.
So I’m very proud of driving transparency and credibility about perfumery with Amouage. I think the recent push for transparency about perfumers is super important. We are not the only ones, now everyone is doing that and I think it’s super important to credit the artists in what we do.
So it’s not only about the perfumers but also the architects, the people working on the visuals, the art and so on, all of that. I think it’s important. If you look at the future and the trends that are going to shape the category, one is definitely the transparency.
What is your vision for the future of the house? Are there any exciting projects or collaborations in the pipeline?
We just recently revealed a new collection that is called the “Amouage Essences”. It’s a collection I think has the potential to not only change the future of Amouage but also the future of perfumery. The reason being, is that it is a collection that focuses on ‘time’ as a key ingredient. I would say as a potent agent of change and of improvement of fragrances, it’s something that a lot of companies and people have been quite surprisingly silent about. Fragrances do age and interestingly enough when I talk to my ingredient suppliers, they tell me that companies are asking for ingredients that don’t need to age, that they can use as fresh as possible. Which leads to a bit of a standardisation when it comes to the individual scent profiles. Because ultimately it reduces the palette of possibilities. And I’m advocating actually for the opposite because that collection that we are releasing is a collection of fragrances that underwent a six-month double ageing process.
You need to take the time to age the fragrances in the right conditions. And this is, I think, something really exciting because the possibilities are endless. I hope that Amouage is going to be watched in that field, hopefully in a way copied. Ultimately, I think the role of Amouage in the industry is to pull actually the category up to and show its potential. You know, I think we are in a way, the guardians of the magic of perfumery. If perfumery becomes banal then we are going to lose a craft that is so magical. So that’s why I have big hopes from that point of view.
