Penhaligon's
Founded 1870 · London, England · William Henry Penhaligon
Penhaligon's is a London perfumery from 1870 with two royal warrants, and its Portraits collection — bottles topped with animal heads — turned a Victorian house into an object of contemporary desire without betraying its archive.
History
William Henry Penhaligon, a Cornish barber settled in London, opened his salon beside the Turkish baths on Jermyn Street and in 1872 launched Hammam Bouquet, drawn from the steam and the wood of those baths. The house received royal warrants and crossed the twentieth century with a catalogue of classical English cut: fougères, citruses, lavenders. The modern turn came in 2016 with Portraits, a satirical collection about the British aristocracy — Lord George, Lady Blanche, The Tragedy of Lord George — with bottles topped by animal heads. It now belongs to the Puig group.
Iconic models
Hammam Bouquet (1872)
Rose, lavender and wood; drawn from the Turkish baths on Jermyn Street. Still in the catalogue.
The Tragedy of Lord George (2016)
Cognac and tonka bean, with a stag's head on the stopper. The house's best seller today.
Halfeti
Rose and oud, after the Turkish town of the black roses.
Worth knowing
Hammam Bouquet has been in the catalogue since 1872 and still smells of what it set out to be: the steam and wet wood of a Turkish bath in London that no longer exists.
