Fragrance Du Bois

Fragrance Du Bois is a French niche perfume house specialising in fragrances built around oud, the resinous heartwood of the agarwood tree. It was founded in Paris in 2013 by Jonnie Swarbrick, who remains its founder and creative director [7]. The company presents itself today as a Paris house — its tagline reads "Born in Paris. Raised by perfumers. Adored worldwide." — and frames its work as modern French perfumery composed in Paris and produced in the fragrance town of Grasse.

The brand remains active and, by its own account, growing: an April 2025 press release reported that global sales had tripled over three years and that UK sales rose more than 600 percent in under a year after the company took direct control of its British operations in March 2024 [7].

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

The brand's own retelling describes the starting point as an idea to take the world's rarest and most precious ingredients — oud chief among them — and make them desirable to a wide audience rather than only to collectors. The company says it was among the first to commercialise oud in perfumery, pairing it with unexpected notes to build long-lasting compositions [1].

The founding year and founder are not stated on the brand's current website; they are documented through trade press and retailer descriptions, which independently place the launch at 2013.

The company's early development was tied to Asia Plantation Capital, a sustainable-agarwood plantation business. In a 2015 announcement of a sourcing partnership between the two, Asia Plantation Capital's European chief executive described the firm as a founding partner that had "invested heavily in the early seed capital and development of the brand" [6]. The same partnership was built around what the brand then called a "Soil to Oil to You" supply chain, drawing oud from plantations in Southeast Asia [6].

The present-day ownership picture is less clear. The current Fragrance Du Bois website no longer mentions Asia Plantation Capital or the plantation story, instead presenting a Paris haute-parfumerie narrative [1]. The historical relationship is therefore documented only through the 2015 partnership coverage rather than confirmed on the live site.

Fragrance Du Bois positions itself as a luxury niche house centred on oud. Its stated belief is that "fragrance should start conversations," and the company summarises its approach as craftsmanship without compromise. It markets its fragrances as unisex, stating that it believes "scent has no gender" [4]. Third-party retailers describe it in similar terms — a niche house, headquartered in Paris, that specialises in oud fragrances [8].

Oud and agarwood are the brand's signature materials. Its catalogue is organised into ranges and collections, with Sirène promoted as a best-seller and Lucius positioned as a leading men's fragrance. Other named products include Rude Oud and the Oud Intense line, whose individual scents — among them Oud Jaune — date to the brand's 2013 launch.

On sourcing, the company has described its oud as 100 percent pure organic oud drawn from its own sustainable plantations, and the 2015 partnership material stated that all the oud it used was CITES-certified and "guaranteed as to source, being both legal and sustainable" [6]. CITES is the international convention restricting trade in endangered species; agarwood is covered by it because the wild Aquilaria tree has been heavily over-harvested. On animal testing, the brand states it does not test on animals and requires the same of its supply-chain partners [4].

Oud Jaune was named Best Oud Fragrance at the Marie Claire Awards 2024 [7]. Coverage of the brand has otherwise centred on its 2015 sustainable-sourcing partnership and its more recent retail growth.

Fragrance Du Bois is active. It operates a live e-commerce site with current seasonal collections, reported strong recent sales growth, and as of 2025 sold through department stores in several countries alongside a boutique and fragrance-lounge presence in markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Dubai and Hong Kong [8]. Its manufacturing is described as French, with creations composed in Paris and produced in Grasse.