# Flaner Fragrances ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2022 | | Origin | Australia | | Headquarters | Melbourne | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Melbourne (Fitzroy), Australia, London (Shoreditch), United Kingdom | | Distribution | Direct to consumer | | Website | https://flanerfragrances.com/ | Flaner Fragrances, styled Flâner, is an Australian niche perfume house founded in Melbourne by Mary Fox and Andrew Hardeman. It launched in December 2022 from a warehouse in the inner-city suburb of Collingwood [7] and makes gender-neutral eaux de parfum and candles. Each scent is built around a small, easily missed detail of city life, such as wet tram tracks, burnt timber or a dimly lit bar. The brand is active. After starting online, it opened a flagship store on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne, and in June 2026 opened its first international shop in Shoreditch, London [10]. Both stores contain a pouring studio, where the company says every perfume and candle is prepared and finished by hand. ## Origin & founders The name comes from *flâner*, a French verb for strolling through a city with no particular goal or destination. Fox and Hardeman took that idea of aimless urban wandering as the brand's founding theme, and the team describes its approach as "urban perfumery". The company's homepage opens with a line from the French poet Charles Baudelaire about the strange sights a great city offers anyone who walks it with open eyes. In its first year Flâner worked out of the Collingwood warehouse as an online business. Speaking to The Brag in 2023, the founders said that "as the world speeds up, it's more important to slow down", and explained that their fragrances were prepared over many months and then hand-filled, packed and mailed from Melbourne [7]. Hardeman later told Inside Retail that many customers in the area had supported the brand from the beginning. ## History & milestones Flâner's first physical space was a pop-up at 195 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, which ran until 27 August 2023. Inside Retail reported that it carried five non-gendered eaux de parfum in floral, wood, fresh and gourmand styles, together with an olive-wax candle called Firenze Leather [9]. Each perfume was named after a major ingredient or note and paired with a short "urban story". By December 2023 the brand had opened a permanent flagship at 191 Gertrude Street [7]. The building had been a neighbourhood barber shop for more than sixty years, and the fit-out by Chris Thompson Studio kept traces of that history. The original ceiling grid was restored and used to set the alignment of the whole interior. The old barber poles were wrapped in hand-stitched leather sheaths, and a marble counter sits at the centre of the room. The Brag noted that the shop stands on a stretch of Gertrude Street between Le Labo and Aesop. The flagship was also designed as a place to learn about scent. Visitors can open and smell a perfumer's palette of more than sixty oils kept in glassware, and several testing areas let people work through the range. The Brag compared the experience to a tasting at a vineyard cellar door. Co-founder Mary Fox told the magazine that customers are often surprised by which new smells they turn out to like. In March 2024 Flâner released Sonic Silver to mark the flagship opening. Time Out Melbourne described it as a perfume inspired by Melbourne's tram tracks, with notes of asphalt, tar and petrichor, the smell of concrete after rain [8]. Hardeman said the scent took two years to formulate. He explained that the asphalt and tar were meant to capture the city's raw grittiness and the petrichor its changeable weather. The London move followed almost a year of planning and site selection. TheIndustry.beauty reported that Fox and Hardeman relocated their family from Melbourne to London to set up the business there [10]. The shop at 52 Redchurch Street was again designed by architect Chris Thompson, using reclaimed and restored materials. According to the company, the site had been a neighbourhood pasta bar for almost fifteen years. Old floorboards were turned into cabinetry, and offcuts of leather and marble were reused throughout the store. Hardeman said the team chose the street for its design culture, creativity and neighbourhood character. As of June 2026, the founders said they were developing a fragrance inspired by their observations of London. ## Philosophy & positioning Flâner presents its perfumes as observations rather than escapes. Its homepage describes the range as fragrance observations of overlooked city textures, stories and moments, "made to be worn daily", and the brand's tagline is "Unseen details of urban life". On its About page the company says its scents are drawn from real observations, citing rain on tram tracks, burnt timber and spring flowers, and that it prefers this to transporting people somewhere else. The company states its mission as creating "distinctive fragrances designed to become part of life and transcend occasions" [2]. It lists a short set of values, among them "We find beauty in the city", "Fragrance should be worn, not saved", "Human experiences matter" and "Confidence does not need to shout". Behind these sits an argument that perfume was originally meant to be worn regularly and generously, not kept for special occasions. Physical retail is central to that outlook. The company says that as life becomes more digital, its stores are meant to encourage curiosity, conversation and slowing down. It describes being drawn to independent, creative neighbourhoods and to working with what a building already contains rather than imposing a concept on it. Every fragrance and candle sold in the Melbourne and London shops is, according to Flâner, prepared, poured and finished by hand within the store itself [3]. ## Products & innovation By 2026 the perfume range had grown to a nine-scent eau de parfum collection designed for everyday wear. All scents are sold as unisex. Several titles carry the brand's idea of an urban story into the name. Vive la Fleur is presented as Paris in springtime, Manhattan Cherry as a dimly lit Manhattan cocktail bar, and Yakisugi Wood as a traditional wood-clad Japanese home, drawing on the Japanese practice of preserving timber through fire. Other perfumes include Oudh Nūr and Sonic Silver. The brand does not offer individual samples; a discovery set serves that purpose instead. Candles form the second product line. For Christmas 2023 the brand added Clouds of Cappadocia, a floral scent, and Oudh x Oud, inspired by Arabic music and agarwood. Flâner explains its choice of wax at some length. It argues that soy wax, often presented as the natural alternative to paraffin, carries a heavy environmental footprint linked to deforestation and industrial farming. Its candles instead use olive wax and a cotton wick, and the company says the olive wax comes from ethical sources without chemicals, palm oil or genetically modified plants. The glass vessels are meant to be reused. The company says its perfumes are fully vegan, never tested on animals, and free of parabens and phthalates [5]. The Brag added that the products contain no synthetic dyes or formaldehyde. No third-party certifications are documented. Flâner is open about using both natural and synthetic materials, and argues that "natural" does not automatically mean better. The flagship also runs private perfume-pouring sessions for groups of five or more. Participants explore the essential oils, choose a scent, and then pour, crimp and label their own bottle. ## Collaborations Flâner has worked with brands outside the fragrance world. For Peugeot it created a fragrance that translated the 3008 GT Premium Hybrid into scent, combining citrus, spice, leather and woods [4]. With The Standard X Hotel it made a candle themed on the stories that emerge after a day of urban exploration. With The Everleigh Bottling Co it developed a bespoke cocktail based on Vive la Fleur's picture of springtime Paris. A further event with the bar Eau de Vie paired a five-course cocktail degustation with five Flâner fragrances. The company does not give dates for these projects. ## Recognition Coverage of Flâner has come mainly from Australian and British lifestyle and trade press. In September 2025 the Melbourne guide Sitchu included it in a feature on perfume brands born in the city, naming Sonic Silver as its pick from the range [11]. The Fool Magazine profiled Daniel Biddle, who works at the Fitzroy flagship. The magazine argued that niche brands with a clear point of view have found an audience as interest in fragrance has grown online, and counted Flâner among them [12]. It also described a shift among buyers away from large conglomerates toward brands with a physical presence and a community, and said Flâner had both. ## Current status Flâner Fragrances is active. It operates two own stores, the Gertrude Street flagship in Fitzroy and the Redchurch Street shop in Shoreditch, and sells online. The range is sold mainly through these direct channels, though the New York boutique Stele also carries it [13]. In October 2026 the brand's website announced the London store as now open. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2022 | Launched in December 2022 from a warehouse in Collingwood, Melbourne (initially an online brand). | https://thebrag.com/flaner-fragrance-brand-melbourne-store/ | | 2023 | First pop-up opened at 195 Gertrude St, Fitzroy (ran until 27 August 2023), stocking five non-gendered eaux de parfum and an olive-wax candle. | https://insideretail.com.au/sectors/perfume-brand-flaner-opens-pop-up-in-victoria-202308 | | 2023 | Flagship store opened at 191 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, in a converted sixty-year-old barber shop designed by Chris Thompson Studio (reported 6 Dec 2023). | https://thebrag.com/flaner-fragrance-brand-melbourne-store/ | | 2024 | Launched Sonic Silver (notes of asphalt, tar and petrichor) to mark the flagship opening (reported 26 March 2024). | https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/a-local-perfumery-has-bottled-the-essence-of-melbourne-in-a-new-fragrance-so-you-can-smell-just-like-our-beloved-city-032624 | | 2026 | Opened first international store at 52 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London, with an in-store pouring studio (reported 24 June 2026). | https://theindustry.beauty/flaner-opens-shoreditch-fragrance-store-london/ | | — | Collaboration with Peugeot: a fragrance translating the 3008 GT Premium Hybrid into scent (date not stated). | https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/collaborations | | — | Collaborations with The Standard X Hotel (candle), The Everleigh Bottling Co (cocktail) and Eau de Vie (cocktail degustation event) (dates not stated). | https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/collaborations | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Manhattan Cherry** — ## Signature Frangrances Manhattan Cherry — https://flanerfragrances.com/ - **Vive la Fleur** — Vive la Fleur — https://flanerfragrances.com/ - **Sonic Silver** — Flâner has launched the new fragrance, named Sonic Silver, to mark the opening of their flagship store — https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/a-local-perfumery-has-bottled-the-essence-of-melbourne-in-a-new-fragrance-so-you-can-smell-just-like-our-beloved-city-032624 - **Oudh Nūr** — Oudh Nūr — https://flanerfragrances.com/ - **Yakisugi Wood** — inspired by the ancient Japanese art of preserving wood through fire — https://thebrag.com/flaner-fragrance-brand-melbourne-store/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} olive wax (candles) Source: https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/faq-1 ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Inside Retail (Australia)** (2023) — News item on the brand's first pop-up in Fitzroy; describes five non-gendered eaux de parfum and the cruelty-free, vegan-friendly, paraben- and phthalate-free positioning. — https://insideretail.com.au/sectors/perfume-brand-flaner-opens-pop-up-in-victoria-202308 - **The Brag** (2023) — Feature on the Gertrude Street flagship opening, naming co-founders Mary Fox and Andrew Hardeman and the December 2022 launch from a Collingwood warehouse. — https://thebrag.com/flaner-fragrance-brand-melbourne-store/ - **Time Out Melbourne** (2024) — News story on Sonic Silver, a Melbourne-inspired fragrance based on the smell of tram tracks (asphalt, tar, petrichor). — https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/a-local-perfumery-has-bottled-the-essence-of-melbourne-in-a-new-fragrance-so-you-can-smell-just-like-our-beloved-city-032624 - **Sitchu** (2025) — Listed in 'Signature Scents: The Best Perfume Brands Born in Melbourne'; recommends Sonic Silver. — https://sitchu.com.au/melbourne/shopping/melbourne-perfume-brands - **TheIndustry.beauty** (2026) — Trade news on the opening of the first international store at 52 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London. — https://theindustry.beauty/flaner-opens-shoreditch-fragrance-store-london/ - **The Fool Magazine** — Feature 'The Invisible Layer: Fragrance As Personal Style' profiling Daniel Biddle, the brand's 'Bosun', at the Fitzroy flagship (undated). — https://thefoolmagazine.cargo.site/the-invisible-layer-fragrance-as-personal-style ## Sources 2. (T1) https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/about-falner 3. (T2) https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/store-locations 4. (T2) https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/collaborations 5. (T2) https://flanerfragrances.com/pages/faq-1 7. (T3) https://thebrag.com/flaner-fragrance-brand-melbourne-store/ 8. (T3) https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/news/a-local-perfumery-has-bottled-the-essence-of-melbourne-in-a-new-fragrance-so-you-can-smell-just-like-our-beloved-city-032624 9. (T3) https://insideretail.com.au/sectors/perfume-brand-flaner-opens-pop-up-in-victoria-202308 10. (T3) https://theindustry.beauty/flaner-opens-shoreditch-fragrance-store-london/ 11. (T3) https://sitchu.com.au/melbourne/shopping/melbourne-perfume-brands 12. (T3) https://thefoolmagazine.cargo.site/the-invisible-layer-fragrance-as-personal-style 13. (T4) https://stele.nyc/collections/flaner --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-17 Please cite with a link to the article URL.