Moth & Rabbit

Moth & Rabbit is a niche perfume house based in Berlin, Germany, that builds its fragrances around arthouse cinema. It was founded by Elke Filpes and Christian Choi and operates as an international project split between Berlin and Paris. The company describes itself as a contemporary perfumery with an experimental approach, and says its aim is to "translate stories and emotions into olfactive products and experiences."

Its sources give two different founding dates. The brand's own about page states the house was founded in 2019 [2], the year it launched its first collection. Several retailers instead date the founding to 2016 [14], which most likely reflects the registration of the parent company rather than the first product. The house remains active, with recent releases extending the catalogue into 2024 and 2025.

Moth & Rabbit was started by Elke Filpes and Christian Choi, with creative work divided between Berlin and Paris [14]. Filpes is also listed as managing director of the company behind the brand. The founding idea, as the company frames it, was to treat scent as a storytelling medium and to draw on the work of filmmakers, artists and other storytellers as raw material for perfume.

The two namesake animals carry that intent. According to the company, "transformation and reproduction, symbols of Moth and Rabbit, define the way we produce and communicate the fragrances."

Moth & Rabbit makes fragrance only. Its central line is the Blind Vision Series, sold in a 50 ml format alongside a 12 ml travel range. Each scent in the series is a perfumer's personal interpretation of a specific arthouse film, named after the film it responds to. The catalogue runs through sixteen numbered entries, among them No1 Mood Indigo, No5 La Haine, No11 Single Man, No12 Parasite and No16 Challengers, with titles referencing directors such as Bong Joon-ho, Lars von Trier, Tom Ford, Gaspar Noé and Luca Guadagnino.

Most of the perfumery is the work of Mark Buxton, who serves as principal perfumer; some editions were created with Geraldine Ignesta [18]. Buxton, born in Derby, England, is known for transparent woody compositions and for earlier work with Comme des Garçons. The company presents the scents as olfactory readings of cinema rather than conventional perfume releases — Parasite, for instance, is described as "a clever mixture of high class green perfumery mixed with low class wet and dirty aromas" [18].

The line is positioned as high-end, with the company citing high-quality materials, minimalist design and what it calls luxury "tempered with irony." The numbered fragrances sit in the upper niche price range, and the later extrait editions slightly above the rest.

Moth & Rabbit treats cinema and perfumery as paired mediums of sensory storytelling. The company says its mission is to "translate stories and emotions into olfactive products and experiences" that support human expansion and broaden how people understand fragrance. Retailers have described it more plainly as an art-house perfumery whose stated brief is to make scent with cultural and artistic value, merging film and perfume into a single sensory form.

The brand sells through a network of niche perfumery boutiques rather than department stores. According to the company, its fragrances are available in around fifteen countries [2]; its own store locator lists independent retailers across Europe — with the heaviest concentration in Italy — along with stockists in the United States, Canada and Japan.

Coverage of the house is limited and tied to its film concept. In 2019, it held a joint fragrance-and-film evening with the US perfumery Fumerie [20]. In 2024, the Armenian outlet Style.News.am reported on its fragrance inspired by Sergei Parajanov's film The Colour of Pomegranates [19].

Moth & Rabbit is active. Its most recent numbered releases, No15 I Am Love and No16 Challengers, extend the catalogue into the period around 2024–2025, the latter named for a 2024 film. The brand's MAR Diary blog has not been updated since March 2022, but new fragrances have continued to appear since then.