Heritage
A house, in its own words
Oaken Lab was founded in 2018 by Chris Kerrigan, an independent perfumer, and his wife Cynthia Wirjono. The couple built the brand from Jakarta, drawing on Chris's background in fragrance creation and a shared interest in Indonesian craft traditions. From the outset, the label positioned itself outside the conventions of mainstream commercial perfumery, favoring a family-owned, small-scale approach rooted in local identity. In its early years, Oaken Lab introduced a core lineup of signature fragrances, including Sanctum, Batavia Barber, Conservatory, Earth of Mankind, Serious Moonlight, Before Moonrise, Plein Air, and Far Afield, all released in 2018 and still anchoring the catalogue. The brand later opened a presence in Ubud, Bali, extending its engagement with Indonesia's artisan communities. A feature in Monocle Magazine helped bring the founders' story to an international audience, and subsequent collaborations, including a partnership with Sufól, marked Oaken Lab's expansion into curated retail. In 2025, the brand participated in JIA Curated, presenting an immersive scent installation tied to themes of fragrance, geology, and ritual, signaling its continued evolution as a design-forward creative studio. Oaken Lab approaches perfumery as a form of place-making. Each composition is conceived as a response to a specific environment, memory, or cultural thread within Indonesia, rather than an exercise in market-driven trend forecasting. The brand treats scent as a vehicle for storytelling, with fragrances named after moments, places, and states of mind such as Moonrise, Plein Air, and Conservatory, inviting wearers into a particular atmosphere rather than a generic olfactive category. Collaboration with architects, designers, and artisans runs through the brand's creative output, suggesting a philosophy that values cross-disciplinary dialogue over solitary authorship. Sustainability and respect for raw materials are framed as practical commitments rather than abstract ideals, guiding decisions about ingredient selection, small-batch production, and the development of body care and home scent lines as extensions of the same creative vision.