Heritage
A house, in its own words
In 2023, two friends from the South of France, Alice Gensse and Pierre-Junior Menana, established Notes de Bas de Paje in Paris with a conviction that fragrance could function as text. The name itself carries deliberate meaning: in French publishing, notes de bas de page refers to the footnotes positioned at the bottom of a page, those annotations readers often skip yet which sometimes contain the most illuminating details. The founders drew inspiration from this literary convention, proposing that the most compelling stories might be found in what others overlook. Their initials combine to form the word Paje, embedding personal identity into the brand's very name. The house launched its first three fragrances in 2023, each conceived as a discrete chapter contributing to a larger olfactory manuscript. By 2025, the brand had expanded its collection with Carambolage, continuing its literary framework while introducing new olfactory territories. Though young, the house has positioned itself within a tradition of Parisian perfumery that includes establishments like Jovoy Paris, which was founded in 1923 and later re-emerged after decades of dormancy.
Notes de Bas de Paje approaches fragrance as a form of written language. Rather than constructing perfumes around conventional marketing narratives or ingredient hierarchies, the founders treat each composition as a paragraph or chapter that contributes meaning to a larger whole. This literary metaphor shapes not only how the brand conceptualizes individual scents but also how it understands the relationship between creator and wearer. The footnote motif suggests an alternative reading of fragrance culture: instead of spotlight compositions that demand attention, the house gravitates toward scents that reward sustained engagement. The philosophy implies that beauty in fragrance, like in literature, often resides in subordinate details rather than dominant themes. Wearers are positioned as readers who return to texts repeatedly, discovering new layers with familiarity. This approach distinguishes Notes de Bas de Paje from houses that prioritize immediate impact or signature-note marketing, instead offering compositions designed for contemplation and re-interpretation over time.