Heritage
A house, in its own words
The story of SARANGHAEYO begins not with perfume itself, but with a camera lens. Founder Sung Soo Kim spent 16 years immersed in the luxury goods industry, working at LVMH and Samsung before embarking on an independent creative path. Photography had trained him to identify the precise moment when light, composition, and emotion align, and he brought that same sensibility to fragrance creation when he established the brand in 2020. The name itself carries deliberate emotional weight: saranghaeyo translates to I love you in Korean, signaling the brand's core belief that fragrance should celebrate meaningful human connections and treasured memories. Kim's transition from executive to independent creator represented a broader shift occurring within Korean luxury goods, where professionals with deep industry knowledge began building brands that reflected personal vision rather than corporate mandates. The studio's location in a 1969 building near Dongdaemun speaks to another aspect of the brand's approach: preserving and reimagining existing structures rather than starting entirely from scratch. This philosophy of layering new meaning onto established foundations mirrors how the fragrances themselves work, building complex scent narratives on classical perfumery foundations. The brand released its first collection in 2020, establishing a portfolio of distinctively named fragrances that resist easy categorization. By 2023, the collection had expanded to fourteen perfumes, with new releases like Flower S. joining established compositions such as Latitudinal and D. Garh Palace. International recognition followed through partnerships with specialty retailers, most notably Merz Apothecary in the United States, which brought SARANGHAEYO's Korean perspective to American fragrance enthusiasts.
SARANGHAEYO operates from a conviction that fragrance should function as memory made tangible. Rather than constructing perfumes around abstract concepts or seasonal marketing narratives, the brand encourages wearers to identify specific moments, places, and emotional experiences that particular scent profiles evoke for them. This approach reflects founder Sung Soo Kim's background in photography, where the challenge involves capturing not just visual appearance but the felt experience of a particular instant. The Korean cultural context shapes this philosophy in subtle but significant ways. Korean aesthetics traditionally emphasize the transient nature of beauty and the importance of emotional resonance over material permanence. SARANGHAEYO's fragrances align with these values by prioritizing authentic emotional connection over ostentatious complexity or trend-driven formulations. The brand's name itself embodies this commitment to emotional substance, directly translating to an expression of love and affection. The working process at SARANGHAEYO reportedly involves extended development periods, with each fragrance receiving considerable time before finalization. Kim has described approaching fragrance creation as similar to developing a photograph in a darkroom, gradually revealing the precise combination of elements that captures the intended feeling. This patient methodology contrasts with faster production cycles common in commercial perfumery, suggesting a commitment to refinement over rapid market expansion. The brand's storytelling emphasizes personal memory and individual experience rather than universal messaging, positioning each fragrance as an invitation for the wearer to complete the narrative with their own associations.