HOUSE OF BARIAN
HOUSE OF BARIAN
Per fumum, through smoke
Before perfume came in a bottle, people wore it as smoke, drawn through the hair and into their clothes. House of Barian brings that ritual back, made with rare natural ingredients and modern craft, in London.
The idea
The oldest way of wearing scent
The word perfume comes from the Latin per fumum, "through smoke". In the Gulf, guests are still offered the censer to scent their hair and robes. At the Heian court, robes were draped over burning agarwood. In Somalia, women stand over the smoke of a clay censer to scent the folds of their dresses.
House of Barian takes this ancient way of wearing scent and makes it a modern luxury: real smoke from an electric censer, with no flame, charcoal or ash, layered with perfume oil and extrait.
The ritual
One perfume, built in three layers
Each Barian scent is worn in three steps. Each layer smells complete on its own; together they make the full perfume.
Ritual Smoke
Wafers of resin and wood smoulder on the Censer. Waft the smoke through your hair and over the body, or drape a garment over the lid.
Attar
An alcohol-free perfume oil on the pulse points anchors the smoke on the skin.
Extrait
The finishing layer of extrait de parfum, for projection and trail.
The First Rites
Five compositions to open the house
Each is built around a rare ingredient: shilajit from high mountain rock, Taif rose, beach-cast ambergris, mitti attar distilled from rain-baked earth.
The Censer
Real smoke, no flame
The Barian Censer heats Ritual Smoke on an electric plate. Lift it from its charging dock to waft the smoke, or drape a coat over its lantern lid. A separate Home ring scents the room with its own home range.
The Atlas of Smoke
How the world once smelled
A collectible series reviving the scents sixteen civilisations wore through smoke, from Rome and Byzantium to Heian Japan and the Maya. Each chapter has its own scent, sigil and censer.
Opening in London
Join the first list
Be the first to hear when the house opens, and to book a first ritual at the Smoke Salon.