The Singapore duo behind third-generation Arab Street perfumery, Sifr Aromatics
Ad
People
The Singapore duo behind third-generation Arab Street perfumery, Sifr Aromatics
Accept a walk downwards Arab Street and chances are, you'll stumble upon Sifr Aromatics, an independent perfumery run past 3rd-generation perfumer, Johari Kazura, and partner, Lizzie You. Slightly over a decade since its inception, the pandemic has at present forced the business organisation to rethink its direction.
Lizzie Yous and Johari Kazura, co-founders of Sifr Aromatics. (Photo: Aik Chen)
12 Nov 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 12 November 2022 06:30AM)
Kampong Glam is known for its unique blend of hipster cafes, trendy stores and age-one-time eateries. And for 11 years, Sifr Aromatics has chosen this colourful district its abode.
The homegrown niche perfume shop was founded in 2010 past tertiary-generation perfumer, Johari Kazura, together with business partner, Lizzie You. Kazura hails from a family unit of perfumers. His gramps, Hanifa Kazura, opened a small perfume shop in Arab Street in 1933. The store was named Kazura Aromatics and was popular among Muslim congregants visiting the nearby Sultan Mosque.
Hanifa's son – Kazura's begetter – Jamal, eventually took over the shop and renamed it Jamal Kazura Aromatics.
Although the younger Kazura spent some fourth dimension working in his father's bazaar, he desired to branch out on his own.
A take a chance meeting with Lizzie You at Going Om, a buffet on Haji Lane, resulted in the pair deciding to travel to Grasse, French republic – also known as the perfume mecca of the world – to learn more than about fragrance making. At the time, You, who is from South Korea, had been in Singapore for a piece of work trip.
When the pair returned from their sabbatical in Grasse, they decided to open up Sifr. Arab Street was chosen every bit the bazaar's location due to its proximity to the family business concern. Kazura himself had besides grown up in the Kampong Glam surface area. "The principal perfume shop is located right side by side to the Sultan Mosque. My bedchamber window really looked out to the mosque," he recalled.
The area likewise brings back some nostalgic memories for the 46-year-old. "Some of the businesses in this area have been here forever. For instance, I grew up eating nasi padang at Warong Nasi Pariaman and prata at Victory Restaurant."
Sifr is Kazura's way of continuing the family legacy, albeit with a modern bear upon. For i, it allows Kazura the freedom of experimenting. The family unit perfume shop had get too established, which made it harder to explore new ways of perfume making.
"We still share a lot of suppliers, sometimes we even laissez passer customers over to each other," Kazura clarified on the ties betwixt his family'south perfume shop and Sifr. "Sifr was set up most like a test bed for anything that they might want to adopt later."
The bazaar'southward name was deliberately chosen to symbolise starting on a make clean slate. "Sifr in Arabic ways zero, or emptiness," explained Kazura. "Nosotros had no idea whether [the concept] would work or non, and so starting a make abroad from the family business meant that nosotros tin can larn from its success and its failures well-nigh independently. We as well wanted to see if without an established proper name, could we first from nothing?"
Sifr is no ordinary, run-of-the-mill perfumery. Stepping into its boutique, housed in a 19th-century shophouse, 1 would find an array of perfumes, body balms, essential oils, soy wax candles and more, all fabricated by manus. Both Kazura and Y'all can also create custom fragrances tailored to a customer'southward lifestyle and preferences.
"To create a custom perfume, we actually sit down with the customer for an 60 minutes-and-a-half. Nosotros become through their preferences, what do they like? We also innovate our perfume ingredients and walk them through how nosotros brand these perfumes. There'due south lot of back and forth consultation to differentiate how a customer would take in the world through odour," said Kazura.
On how the ii's creations differ, Y'all shared, "Johari's got the natural knack for traditional notes and blends. But I accept a love for natural ingredients that are subtle. So if y'all love smells that are subtle, I'm the ane to get to. Only if you like loud, but unique scents or notes, I will recommend Johari to exist your custom perfume maker."
Sifr's customers come up from all walks of life, the pair shared. "For a while, we were getting people who would wing in to Singapore but to come here," said Kazura. "To become this kind of feel of creating your own scent, it's quite rare. Locally, our customers are people who are interested in scents, and this cuts beyond all historic period groups. We've had parents bringing in their kids," he added.
For more than than a decade of its existence, the business ran primarily from its physical bazaar. Intimate in-person interactions with the perfume makers, after all, were part of its charm.
With marketing largely done through give-and-take of oral cavity, having a digital platform, naturally, was not one of the brand's priorities, until the circuit billow period forced Kazura and Y'all to launch a website and e-commerce platform.
"Our business organization model was based on an experiential, in shop experience. Our products were geared that way. Nosotros were non focused on how well our products ship. That'southward a very different model, so we've had to rethink everything," Kazura said.
"East-commerce has always been something that we had in the back of our minds. Merely we make our own products and run our ain workshops, and then our piece of work was quite labour intensive in a fashion. When circuit billow happened, it was the perfect time to finally make our e-commerce platform happen," added You.
According to its website, Sifr now ships worldwide. Customers who are unable to visit its physical boutique tin also request for a custom scent to be remade via an online grade. "Information technology makes sense for united states of america to focus on our online presence now, so our customer base tin can extend to the world," Kazura said.
There are silver linings for the business organization, notwithstanding. While the make'due south traditional style of working is no longer sufficient in pandemic times, on the flipside, information technology has allowed the concern to experiment with new projects.
Every bit part of the Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) Made With Passion initiative, Sifr is currently expanding its product range by working on brand collaborations with other local brands.
Together with local piece of furniture and homeware shop, Ipse Ipsa Ipsum, Sifr is working on a range of dwelling diffusers and candles inspired by four iconic attractions and neighbourhoods in Singapore – Joo Chiat, Arab Street, Marina Bay and Singapore Botanic Gardens.
These inspirations will be translated into the shape of the diffusers too as their scents. For instance, as the Singapore Botanic Gardens is home to the earth's largest orchid display, the shape of the diffuser draws inspiration from the orchid flower, its scent bringing out natural, floral notes. The Joo Chiat diffuser draws inspiration from its colourful shophouses, while the Arab Street diffuser will pay homage to the Sultan Mosque. The Marina Bay diffuser represents the modernisation of Singapore, inspired by attractions such as the ArtScience Museum.
The collection is targeted to launch in mid-January. "Nosotros're starting with these four locations first. In the future, we hope to pick more locations in Singapore to go along this series," shared You.
The company has besides been working on creating a shoe aroma diffuser together with local artisanal shoe and leather care store, Mason & Smith. The product will launch this month.
"[These brand collaborations] have given us a new direction. We are a pocket-sized store in Singapore, on a small-scale office of Arab Street, and so it has been very exciting," said You.
The company is likewise looking at bringing its products to overseas markets. There has been interest from potential partners in countries such as Australia, Republic of austria and Republic of kazakhstan. "These potential partners are our previous customers who take great memories of our products," said You.
In Singapore, Sifr continues to welcome guests into its quaint little boutique on Arab Street. Another issue of the pandemic, Kazura believes, is that more locals take been exploring and shopping at heritage neighbourhoods such as Kampong Glam. "The idea of being cooped upwards inside a gigantic mall can be constricting," he said. "At that place's a kind of randomness that goes on in a place like this, when you walk down Haji Lane, Arab Street, and you don't know what you're going to notice. Information technology'due south kind of refreshing."
In that line, don't count of Sifr expanding into Singapore malls anytime before long. "Kampong Glam is a identify where people can go a squeamish handcrafted cocktail besides every bit a good cup of teh tarik, all inside walking distance from each other. A lot of our customers here are people that enjoy both things, and we tin can't get that if we ever move to a mall," Kazura believes.
Contempo Searches
Trending Topics
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/singapore-arab-street-perfume-shop-sifr-aromatics-287576
0 Response to "The Singapore duo behind third-generation Arab Street perfumery, Sifr Aromatics"
Post a Comment