Heritage
A house, in its own words
Galleria Parfums emerged in 2020 through the efforts of its founder, who announced the brand directly to an audience through a YouTube video titled 'THE LAUNCH OF MY FRAGRANCES + A HUGE SALE.' This personal announcement format signaled a founder-led venture rather than a corporate fragrance launch. The founder reportedly worked on all seven debut fragrances before bringing them to market simultaneously, an approach that allowed the brand to present a complete artistic vision from its inception rather than building a collection incrementally. The company established its base in Dubai, a city known for its significant role in the global fragrance trade and luxury goods market. The leadership structure reflects an international dimension, with CEO Hayan Merchant overseeing operations from Dubai while Creative Director Ashton Kirkland reportedly handles creative direction from the United States. This dual-location structure suggests a brand designed to appeal to fragrance enthusiasts across multiple markets from the start. The name 'Galleria' invokes the tradition of art galleries and exhibition spaces, signaling the founder's intention to position fragrances as works to be experienced and appreciated rather than simply purchased. The timing of the 2020 launch placed the brand amid a period of significant disruption in the fragrance industry, yet the simultaneous release of all seven scents represented a bold entry strategy. The founding philosophy, reportedly centered on the belief that fragrance has long inspired visual art, appears to have guided the brand's naming conventions and conceptual approach to each scent. Research indicates the brand maintains a presence on major fragrance platforms including Fragrantica, where collectors can access detailed information about the composition and character of each release.
The core philosophy of Galleria Parfums rests on a reciprocal relationship between fragrance and the broader visual arts. The brand operates from the premise that scent has historically served as a wellspring of inspiration for painters, sculptors, and other artists, and Galleria Parfums inverts this dynamic by treating fragrance itself as the artistic medium. Rather than creating perfumes that simply smell pleasant, the brand aims to craft olfactory experiences that evoke specific moods, memories, and aesthetic sensibilities drawn from art historical traditions and everyday sensory encounters. Each fragrance in the debut collection carries a title suggesting a particular atmosphere or narrative, from the Japanese citrus grove evoked in By the Yuzu Grove to the smoky warmth of Cognac Cafe. The founders reportedly view the collection as a gallery exhibition where each scent represents a distinct piece to be experienced sequentially or individually. This curatorial approach distinguishes Galleria Parfums from houses that emphasize house signatures or consistent olfactory families across their releases. The philosophy extends to how the brand presents itself, using language that connects fragrance appreciation to art appreciation and positioning the act of choosing a scent as a personal aesthetic decision. The Dubai-based company reportedly believes that like a painting or sculpture, a fragrance can communicate beyond language and create subjective responses that vary by wearer and context.