Heritage
A house, in its own words
The Coco de Mer tree produces the largest seed in the plant kingdom, and for generations it has been central to Seychelles folklore and identity. Sharon Bonne, a native Seychellois Creole, grew up immersed in this heritage and later became both a conservationist and entrepreneur. Her father established the family business in 1999, according to reporting in Forbes, navigating regulations that had been put in place around the Coco de Mer in the mid-1990s. The business originally focused on coconut products before evolving toward fragrance. Bonne eventually expanded the family enterprise into perfume creation, founding what would become the Coco de Mer Collection. The brand launched its initial five fragrances in 2020, with subsequent releases in 2025. In the same year, a separate corporate entity called Coco de Mer Fragrances Inc was incorporated in the United States under director Shane Hensinger, representing an expansion of the brand’s reach into the American market. The Seychelles-based operation maintains direct ties to the islands where the key ingredient grows, keeping production rooted in the archipelago despite international distribution. The brand’s approach centers on authenticity and place. Rather than synthesizing the scent of the Coco de Mer in a laboratory, the philosophy calls for using the actual extract of the nut in its formulations. Bonne has spoken about feeling a responsibility to honor the land and the traditions of the Seychelles through the products. The fragrances are designed to evoke the islands themselves, not merely to follow prevailing trends in the fragrance industry. This means prioritizing the ingredient’s natural character over artificial manipulation, and accepting whatever variations occur naturally across harvests. The brand explicitly targets a niche audience rather than mass market appeal, recognizing that customers drawn to rare botanical ingredients often value provenance and story over conventional marketing signals. Gender designations are treated loosely, with each fragrance intended to perform across the spectrum rather than adhering strictly to traditional categorizations.