Amouage
Founded 1983 · Muscat, Oman
Amouage was founded by the royal house of Oman in 1983 on an explicit brief: make the most expensive perfume in the world, using Omani frankincense and paying no attention to cost. Four decades on it is still the house that best joins Gulf tradition to French technique.
History
The house was created in 1983 at the initiative of the Sultanate of Oman, with Prince Sayyid Hamad bin Hamoud behind it and the French perfumer Guy Robert — author of Madame Rochas and Calèche — on the first formulas. Its flagship raw material is Boswellia sacra frankincense from Dhofar, in southern Oman, among the finest in the world. For decades it was an expensive, minority house; the modern turn came under the creative direction of Christopher Chong (2007–2018), who reordered the catalogue into masculine-feminine pairs and gave the house the voice it is now known by. Renaud Salmon has directed it since 2019.
Iconic models
Interlude Man (2012)
Frankincense, oregano and leather. Dense to the point of excess; among the most discussed perfumes of its decade.
Reflection Man (2007)
A clean woody floral, the opposite pole from Interlude.
Gold (1983)
The house's first, composed by Guy Robert with Omani frankincense.
Worth knowing
The royal house's original brief was literally to make the most expensive perfume in the world. The frankincense still comes from Omani Dhofar, which produces the finest of the species.
