Heritage
A house, in its own words
Nicole Bordeaux began her career as a fashion model in 1984, when photographer Guy Bourdin reportedly discovered her on a subway platform in Paris. Her modeling career immersed her in the world of image-making and sensory aesthetics before she transitioned into fragrance creation. Bordeaux grew up at theosophical camps, environments steeped in spiritual practice, meditation, and alternative communities. These formative experiences shaped her approach to scent, drawing on memories of incense, plant medicines, and the distinctive aromatics associated with communal living. In 2016, she founded Photogenics + Co in Los Angeles, establishing a brand that channels those childhood associations into a cohesive fragrance collection. The brand name itself references the photogenic properties of certain plants, those that respond dramatically to light exposure. Within its first years, the house released a series of numbered scents that form the backbone of its identity, with releases spanning 2016 through 2020. The theosophical connection informs not just the scent profiles but the meditative, introspective quality the brand seeks to create in living spaces and on skin. As a model-turned-creator, Bordeaux brought an editorial sensibility to fragrance, treating each release as a visual and olfactory statement rather than simply a product. The brand remains small and creator-driven, with Bordeaux maintaining direct involvement in the creative direction and the limited product range.
Photogenics + Co operates from a belief that scent carries memory and can transport the wearer to specific times and places. The numbering system for the core collection reflects an archival approach, treating each fragrance as a discrete document of olfactory research rather than a mass-market product designed to appeal broadly. The cannabis-inspired nomenclature serves as a botanical taxonomy, organizing scents by their presumed character rather than by conventional fragrance family categories. The brand positions itself toward gender neutrality, with many of its scents described in third-party fragrance databases as appropriate for all wearers regardless of gender. This reflects a broader aesthetic philosophy that prioritizes sensory experience over demographic targeting. The theosophical roots of the brand translate into an interest in altered states and heightened perception, with names like Psilo referencing psilocybin mushrooms and the No. 1 Hashish explicitly invoking the aromatic associations of cannabis culture. The approach treats these references as poetic rather than literal, exploring the sensory territory these plants occupy without necessarily replicating their effects. Home and personal fragrances exist side by side in the Photogenics + Co universe, reflecting a unified philosophy that scent should permeate daily life rather than remain confined to the body.