Pernoire

Pernoire is a Swiss niche perfume house founded in Basel in 2020 by childhood friends Robin Dünner and Nico Mannino [1]. The company builds its identity around the idea that a fragrance should express a wearer's personality rather than simply smell agreeable, and it develops its scents in collaboration with the Swiss perfumer Andreas Wilhelm. Pernoire sells directly through its own multi-currency webshop and through partner perfumeries internationally, and it remains active, with site content and new fragrance editions dated to 2026 [14].

The house operates as pernoire AG, a Swiss corporation registered in Basel, and prices its full-size extraits between roughly CHF 195 and CHF 240. It drew wider attention in Switzerland in 2023 through an appearance on the television investment show Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz, after which it closed an outside investment round [13].

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

According to the brand, the two founders grew up in the same Basel neighbourhood and describe themselves as complementary personalities, with Mannino cast as the rational half and Dünner as the emotional one. Mannino is listed as co-founder and Dünner as co-founder and chief marketing officer [10]. Independent fragrance sources record the same founding year and founders and place the house in Basel [11].

The name combines the Italian phrase per noi, meaning "for us", with the word noire, a pairing the company says reflects its tone and aesthetic [1]. Development began with a different perfumer, but after that collaborator stopped working with the founders, Pernoire partnered with Andreas Wilhelm, a Swiss perfumer the brand credits across its range [12].

Pernoire launched in 2020. By its own account given on Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz, the company had built a network of about 40 partner perfumeries and some 2,500 customers within its first years, reporting turnover of roughly CHF 70,000 in its first year and about CHF 200,000 in its second [13]. In an interview published in late 2023, the founders recalled developing what became their bestselling fragrance, Amoral, on a three-month deadline ahead of the Esxence niche-perfume trade fair [12].

The 2023 television appearance ended in an accepted investment offer, though the reported terms differ between sources. The Swiss business magazine Organisator, drawing on the full broadcast, states that the founders accepted CHF 240,000 for 12 percent of the company from an investor group of Roland Brack, Lukas Speiser and Anja Graf [13]. A separate secondary account instead describes a CHF 350,000 investment for 15 percent from Roland Brack alone [16]. The company remained independent after the round.

Pernoire is privately held and independent; no parent company is recorded in the harvested sources. The 2023 round brought in minority investors rather than an acquirer, and the sources identify no controlling owner beyond the two founders.

Pernoire frames each perfume as an "olfactory personality" rather than a pleasant scent. Its stated aim, in the company's words, is that "every perfume is created to help you become your best self", with each fragrance reflecting a distinct character so wearers can "explore who you are and who you want to be" [2]. The house markets itself with the line "a Swiss perfume house that transforms your personality".

The founders have described a target audience of niche-fragrance enthusiasts between roughly 20 and 35 years old, stating a goal to become the most popular niche fragrance brand for that age group. Pernoire organises its perfumes by an in-house system that assigns each scent a "personality" and an olfactory family, and it emphasises regular dialogue with customers and content creators as part of its approach.

Pernoire's range is grouped into two main collections. The Anima collection is composed as extrait de parfum at 25 percent concentration, while the Odus collection is built at 30 percent and positioned as the more intense of the two. Amoral, described by the founders as the brand's bestseller, sits in the Anima line and is classified under the house's own scheme as a smoky, woody scent with a "Defiance" personality. Anelo, in the Odus collection, is a fruity, fresh composition whose name the company describes as a contraction of "pineapple" and "pomelo". Other named fragrances include Yuma, Oudian, Vitias, Mansa, Tierra and Naki.

All full-size scents are formulated as extrait de parfum in 50 ml bottles, with the Anima fragrances priced at CHF 195 and the Odus fragrances at CHF 240. Discovery sets and travel sizes are offered alongside the full bottles.

The company states that development and production take place in Switzerland, and its About page attributes this work to "Swiss craftsmanship in Zurich" [1]. Its registered legal seat, however, is in Basel, where pernoire AG is listed in the commercial register of the Canton of Basel-Stadt [10]. Fragrance references likewise describe the house as "based in Basel".

Beyond the 2023 Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz appearance and the Organisator coverage that accompanied it, Pernoire has been the subject of a two-part founder interview on the fragrance publication alzd.de and has been profiled by Fragrantica, which describes it as a Swiss niche perfumer and lists its perfumes in circulation.

Pernoire is active. Its direct-to-consumer site operates with multi-currency checkout in Swiss francs, euros, US dollars and pounds; its legal notice was last updated in March 2026; and Fragrantica records the newest fragrance edition as dating from 2026 [14]. Distribution runs through the company's own webshop and partner perfumeries described as being located internationally.