Heritage
A house, in its own words
Hez Parfums emerged from the perfumery education of its founder, Hez Binkowitz, who learned the craft under David Falsberg at Phoenicia Perfumes, an established fragrance house. This mentorship provided Binkowitz with foundational training before he established his own brand dedicated to capturing New Orleans through scent. Binkowitz is a native of the city, and his work reflects a deeply personal connection to the culture, history, and daily life of the Big Easy. He appeared as the 174th subject in ÇaFleureBon's American Perfumer Series, a long-running editorial project profiling independent perfumers in the United States. The brand has developed a catalog that spans culinary references, musical heritage, neighborhood geography, and the city's complex relationship with its environment and history. Binkowitz has described perfumery as a practice that bridges physical and spiritual worlds, using scent as a medium for expression. The house operates independently in New Orleans, with releases appearing annually since at least 2022.
Binkowitz approaches fragrance creation as a way to translate lived experience into olfactory form. His work prioritizes personal narrative over trend-following, building scents around memories, places, and sensory associations specific to New Orleans culture. He has spoken about growing up in the city, noting that most of his creative material comes from New Orleans-based experiences. This commitment to personal authenticity shapes both the selection of fragrance themes and the composition process. The brand does not appear to follow seasonal release patterns tied to industry calendars, instead releasing fragrances as they are developed. Binkowitz's background, which includes what he has described as a connection between Hasidic tradition and perfumery, informs his sense of fragrance as something operating between the material and the spiritual. His philosophy positions scent as a vehicle for storytelling rather than purely commercial product.