Heritage
A house, in its own words
Sharini Parfums Naturels traces its origin to the relocation of its founder, Nicholas Jennings, to the South of France, where he established his workshop in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, a UNESCO-listed abbey village in the Hérault department of the Occitanie region. Jennings, described in independent profiles as an artisan perfumer and self-taught nose with a deep affinity for nature, built the house from the ground up, handling composition, sourcing, and production personally. The brand's formal debut came in 2016, when an initial collection of around eleven fragrances was released simultaneously through its own channels and select niche retailers. Unlike houses that grew through corporate investment or celebrity endorsement, Sharini emerged as a one-person operation, with Jennings operating as perfumer, founder, and creative director. The choice of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert as a base placed the house within the broader Grasse-influenced ecosystem of Southern French perfumery, while remaining deliberately removed from the commercial concentration of the Côte d'Azur. This geographic choice has shaped the brand's identity: rural, plant-focused, and personally overseen. The guiding principle of Sharini Parfums Naturels is a commitment to natural raw materials as the exclusive building blocks of perfumery. Nicholas Jennings has stated in independent interviews that he works only with natural ingredients, rejecting synthetic aroma chemicals entirely. This position places Sharini within a small minority of contemporary houses that pursue a strictly naturals approach, a path that imposes significant constraints on creativity, longevity, and sillage but also demands a more nuanced understanding of botanical materials. Jennings describes himself as an artist and nature lover, and the brand's name itself, combining 'Sharini' with 'Parfums Naturels,' signals an intent to merge personal artistic vision with ecological awareness. The philosophy extends beyond ingredients to process: each fragrance is composed and finished in small batches, with no industrial outsourcing. The creative vision favors clarity over complexity, allowing individual naturals such as iris, jasmine, sandalwood, rose, and osmanthus to occupy the foreground rather than being layered into conventional accord structures.