# Rasei Fort ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2018 | | Origin | Australia | | Status | Active | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://www.raseifort.com/ | Rasei Fort is a niche perfume label created by, and named after, the self-taught perfumer Rasei Fort. It began in 2018 as a side-project next to his earlier house, Fort & Manlé, with a single fragrance called Kolonya [5]. The catalogue has since grown to around fifteen perfumes, mixing a standing collection with small numbered editions, and the label sells mainly through its own online store, which ships worldwide. The label is active. In October 2026 it brought back Kolonya, its first fragrance, after earlier retail and database listings had described the original as unavailable or discontinued. The company does not state a country of origin, and third-party sources disagree on it: fragrance databases place the label in Australia, while one retailer lists France. ## Origin & founders In a 2017 interview with Fragrantica, conducted at the Pitti Fragranze fair, the perfumer described himself as being from Melbourne and as self-taught, with about six years of experience in making fragrances at the time [6]. In the same conversation he spoke of his Turkish heritage and of having been born in Cyprus. He has said elsewhere that his interest in perfume began in 2005, during a visit to Saudi Arabia [11]. Before the eponymous label came Fort & Manlé, an indie artisanal house that, by his own account, had been launched about a year before that interview. He explained that its concept drew on the medieval world, with an empty-faced court jester on the logo. Not being classically trained, he said, he felt like a jester among the royals of the perfume world. The house's ranges included a medieval Harlequin series and a Sultanate series named after sultans of Turkey, such as Suleyman Le Magnifique and Fatih Sultan Mehmed. He also said he designed the packaging himself, from hand-drawn labels embossed on metal to the stoppers. The same interview explains the name. "Fort" is a translation of the perfumer's real surname, while "Manlé" honours the artist who drew the original sketches and who, Fort said, is not part of the business. The two houses share a founder and a creative hand, but no corporate link between them is documented. Where the Rasei Fort label itself is based is less clear. Its website names no country. Fragrantica lists the brand under Australia [5], as does Parfumo [8], which fits the perfumer's own statement that he is from Melbourne. The US niche retailer Luckyscent, by contrast, gives France as the country on its Rasei Fort page [10], without further explanation. ## History & milestones Fragrantica dates the label's start to September 2018, when Fort announced on social media that he had begun a new side-project. It was presented to the public in November 2018 with Kolonya. The company itself describes Kolonya as an original first created in 2018. The catalogue then grew in stages. Cielito Lindo and La Whatever followed in 2020, and Last Of D'Agar in 2021. Three fragrances arrived in 2023: Ismi, Qahwa and The Oud Caravan, with the fragrance site ScentAdvice listing Ismi as one of that year's releases [12]. The following year was the busiest so far. Parfumo dates six releases to 2024: Lost in Translation, Reina del Mar, Rose Otto Mobil, Son of a Mint, Silk Lantern and the numbered Russian Cologne [7]. Milky Bar Kid and the limited English Cologne came in 2025, the latter appearing on the label's store in August of that year. Kolonya's own story has been uneven. By June 2023 the retailer Ministry of Scent was showing it as currently unavailable [11], and Parfumo describes its production as apparently discontinued [9]. In October 2026 the label relaunched it on its own store as Kolonya – Original. The company frames the return in personal terms, saying the perfumer "returns to the fragrance that captured a piece of his own history" [1]. ## Philosophy & positioning Rasei Fort presents itself in a few short lines rather than a long manifesto. Its website calls the label a matter of craftsmanship, daring and individualism. It adds that the label routinely produces limited editions because its materials are rare, before inviting readers to "imagine that without the limits." A perfumer profile on Luckyscent describes an approach that draws on history and on varied cultures, including Fort's Turkish heritage. According to that profile, he searches widely for raw materials and combines them with his inspirations to evoke "the pomp and pageantry of the Empires of old" [10]. Two threads run through the label's own product descriptions. One is personal memory: Kolonya is framed as a recollection of the perfumer's grandfather, and Milky Bar Kid as a tribute to childhood sweets. The other is history and empire, a theme that links the Turkish sultans of Fort & Manlé to the Russian and English colognes of the limited series. The label sits in the upper price tier of niche perfumery. Its standing collection comes in 50ml bottles, while the numbered colognes are produced in runs of a few hundred and priced well above the core line. ## Products & innovation Kolonya remains the label's central fragrance. The company describes it as born from one of the perfumer's earliest memories: sitting beside his grandfather among jasmine in bloom and sunlit lemon trees, with the scent of classic eau de cologne on a crisply starched shirt. In the brand's telling, the perfume opens with citrus and moves gradually into spices, delicate florals, woods, mosses and resins, and is meant to read as one continuous impression rather than a set of separate notes. The relaunched version is sold as a set: a 60ml splash bottle, a refillable 10ml bottle already filled with the fragrance, and a small funnel for topping it up from the larger bottle. The Limited Edition Cologne Series holds the label's numbered releases. Russian Cologne, limited to 300 bottles worldwide, opens its product story with a fairy-tale image of an empire stretching from the beaches of Crimea to the Siberian forests. English Cologne, limited to 555 bottles, is presented as a tribute to the English Royal Guards combined with rare oils from the Sultanate of Oman [3]. Its listed notes run from orange blossom, cassis, eucalyptus and warm spices through rose, jasmine, lavender, black tea, tobacco and birch tar to a base of amber, civet, oakmoss, vetiver and cedarwood. The company says each 210ml bottle is individually handcrafted. Both numbered colognes were shown as sold out on the label's store in October 2026. Fragrantica lists a further limited edition, Silk Lantern, separately from the cologne series. The standing collection leans on storytelling. Lost in Translation is set, in the company's description, in a sun-drenched citrus orchard in Lefke, Cyprus. Son of a Mint tells the tale of a rebellious lavender plant in Provence, a member of the mint family that grows upward while its cousins stay low, and combines several lavender varieties with clary sage and oregano. Milky Bar Kid pairs white chocolate and milk with ripe mango, iris, orris butter and roasted cocoa over vanilla, musk and sandalwood. Reina del Mar and Rose Otto Mobil complete the current classic range. Beyond the label's own store, The Oud Caravan is carried by Luckyscent, and Ministry of Scent stocked the original Kolonya. Fragrantica counts 15 Rasei Fort perfumes in total, all composed by the perfumer himself. ## Recognition The most prominent claim of recognition comes from the company: it says that Kolonya received a five-star "Masterpiece" rating from the critic Luca Turin [1]. A 2020 question-and-answer piece published by Ministry of Scent covered the story behind the fragrance and quoted a remark by Turin about it. Earlier, Fragrantica's 2017 interview introduced the perfumer to its readers, though that coverage concerned Fort & Manlé and predates this label. ## Current status Rasei Fort is an active label. Its online store is live, ships worldwide and added Kolonya – Original in October 2026. New fragrances appeared every year from 2023 to 2025, with Milky Bar Kid and English Cologne the most recent new launches. Accounts of Kolonya's availability depend on their date: older retail and database listings describe the 2018 original as unavailable or discontinued, while the label's store has offered the relaunched version since October 2026. Both numbered colognes are listed as sold out. The label remains a small operation built around one perfumer, selling through its own store and a few niche fragrance retailers. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2005 | Pre-brand: perfumer Rasei Fort says he discovered his passion for fragrance while visiting Saudi Arabia (perfumer biography, not the label). | https://ministryofscent.com/blogs/news/q-a-with-rasei-fort-the-preternaturally-talented-perfumer-of-fort-manle | | 2016 | Pre-brand: the perfumer launched his separate house Fort & Manlé (in a 2017 interview he said it 'was launched about one year ago'). | https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Fort-Manle-Oriental-Perfumes-from-Melbourne-10429.html | | 2018 | Rasei Fort label begins: side-project announced September 2018, first fragrance Kolonya presented to the public November 2018. | https://www.fragrantica.com/designers/Rasei-Fort.html | | 2020 | Cielito Lindo and La Whatever released (Fragrantica database years). | https://www.fragrantica.com/designers/Rasei-Fort.html | | 2021 | Last Of D’Agar released (Fragrantica database year). | https://www.fragrantica.com/designers/Rasei-Fort.html | | 2023 | Ismi, Qahwa and The Oud Caravan released (Parfumo database years). | https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Rasei_Fort_ | | 2023 | Kolonya marked 'Currently unavailable (June 2023)' at retailer Ministry of Scent (end of the original 2018 run). | https://ministryofscent.com/blogs/news/q-a-with-rasei-fort-the-preternaturally-talented-perfumer-of-fort-manle | | 2024 | Six releases dated 2024 in the Parfumo database, the brand's busiest year: Lost in Translation, Reina del Mar, Rose Otto Mobil, Son of a Mint, Russian Cologne (300 worldwide), Silk Lantern. | https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Rasei_Fort_ | | 2025 | Milky Bar Kid and the limited English Cologne (555 worldwide only; published on the brand store 2025-08-24) released. | https://www.raseifort.com/products.json | | 2026 | Kolonya relaunched on the brand store as 'Kolonya - Original' (60ml splash set with refillable 10ml bottle; published 2026-10-01). | https://www.raseifort.com/products.json | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Kolonya** — Originally released in 2018, Kolonya received a 5-Star “Masterpiece” rating from Luca Turin. — https://www.raseifort.com/ - **English Cologne (555 Worldwide Only)** — Every bottle of English Cologne is individually handcrafted, ensuring that each piece is not just a perfume, but a work of art. — https://www.raseifort.com/products.json - **Russian Cologne (300 Worldwide Only)** — Once upon a time there was a vast Empire stretching from the beaches of the Crimea to the deep Siberian forests. — https://www.raseifort.com/products.json - **Lost in Translation** — Step into a sun-drenched orchard in Lefke, Cyprus, where the air is thick with the intoxicating scent of citrus blossoms. — https://www.raseifort.com/products.json - **The Oud Caravan** — The Oud Caravan — https://luckyscent.com/perfumers/281/rasei-fort ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} oud (oudh) Source: https://luckyscent.com/perfumers/281/rasei-fort ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Fragrantica** (2017) — Interview with Rasei Fort at Pitti Fragranze 2017 about his Fort & Manlé house; background on the perfumer (from Melbourne, self-taught, Turkish heritage, born in Cyprus). Predates the Rasei Fort label. — https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Fort-Manle-Oriental-Perfumes-from-Melbourne-10429.html - **Ministry of Scent (retailer blog)** (2020) — Q&A with the perfumer, including the story behind 'Kolonya Rasei Fort' and a quoted remark by critic Luca Turin about it. — https://ministryofscent.com/blogs/news/q-a-with-rasei-fort-the-preternaturally-talented-perfumer-of-fort-manle - **ScentAdvice** (2023) — Release listing for Ismi (2023) under RASEI FORT. — https://scentadvice.com/ismi-2023-rasei-fort/ ## Sources 1. (T1) https://www.raseifort.com/ 3. (T2) https://www.raseifort.com/products.json 5. (T4) https://www.fragrantica.com/designers/Rasei-Fort.html 6. (T4) https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Fort-Manle-Oriental-Perfumes-from-Melbourne-10429.html 7. (T4) https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Rasei_Fort_ 8. (T4) https://www.parfumo.com/PerfumeBrand/Rasei_Fort_ 9. (T4) https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumes/Rasei_Fort_/Kolonya 10. (T4) https://luckyscent.com/perfumers/281/rasei-fort 11. (T4) https://ministryofscent.com/blogs/news/q-a-with-rasei-fort-the-preternaturally-talented-perfumer-of-fort-manle 12. (T4) https://scentadvice.com/ismi-2023-rasei-fort/ --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-17 Please cite with a link to the article URL.