The Heritage
The Story of Tulpa Club
Tulpa Club is an independent perfume house that operates out of the United Kingdom. The label treats scent as a narrative device, releasing collections that follow a loose storyline rather than a single, static product line. Its 2025 “Wild West” series, for example, strings together six fragrances—Gunsmoke Saloon, The First Date, The Last Call, The Long Way Home, High Noon Heat and Midnight Rider—each meant to be experienced in a prescribed order. The brand’s founder, Ajay Sameer, also serves as the in‑house perfumer, guiding every step from concept to bottle. Tulpa Club’s releases appear at niche trade shows such as the London Niche Show, where the brand first attracted attention from collectors and critics alike.
Heritage
Tulpa Club emerged in the early 2020s, reportedly founded in 2022 by Ajay Sameer, a former graphic designer who turned his attention to fragrance after years of collecting niche scents. The brand’s first public showing took place at the London Niche Show in 2023, where a small batch of experimental compositions caught the eye of a handful of boutique retailers. In 2024 the house announced its inaugural “Season 1” line, a trio of scents that explored urban nocturnes and quiet interiors. The following year, Tulpa Club expanded its storytelling ambition with Season 2, a Wild West saga that introduced six new fragrances, each named after a moment in a fictional frontier narrative. The collection debuted at the same London Niche Show venue, reinforcing the brand’s connection to the UK niche community. Throughout its short history, Tulpa Club has maintained a lean operation, producing all formulas in a modest laboratory in East London. The brand’s growth has been organic, driven by word‑of‑mouth among fragrance enthusiasts rather than large‑scale advertising. By 2025 the label had secured distribution through a curated network of independent boutiques across Europe and North America, while still handling most of its logistics in‑house. Each milestone reflects a deliberate pace, allowing the founder‑perfumer to refine his craft without compromising the narrative focus that defines the house.
Craftsmanship
All Tulpa Club fragrances are blended in a modest laboratory located in East London. The house sources raw materials from both established suppliers and small‑scale farms, prioritizing ingredients that can convey the intended scene. For the Wild West series, the perfumer selected a mix of synthetic accords—such as a clean, metallic note to evoke gunfire—and natural extracts like Texas cedarwood and desert sage to ground the compositions in a recognizable landscape. Each batch undergoes a three‑stage stability test: a short‑term room‑temperature trial, a controlled‑humidity assessment, and a final field test where the scent is evaluated on skin over several days. The brand caps production runs at a few hundred bottles per launch, allowing the perfumer to monitor quality closely and make adjustments before the next batch. Bottles are hand‑filled using glassware sourced from a family‑run manufacturer in the South of England. Labels feature minimalist typography and a matte finish that reflects the brand’s understated visual language. The entire process—from raw material procurement to final packaging—remains under the direct supervision of Ajay Sameer, who reviews each step to ensure the narrative intent translates into the final product.
Design Language
Tulpa Club’s visual identity mirrors its narrative focus. Bottles adopt a clean, cylindrical silhouette with a narrow neck, allowing the fragrance to be held like a storybook token. Labels are printed in a muted palette—often charcoal, deep amber or desert sand—paired with a simple sans‑serif typeface that conveys modern restraint. The brand’s logo, a stylized silhouette of a lone rider, appears only on the cap, reinforcing the idea that the scent itself tells the story. Seasonal marketing material uses monochrome photography, frequently depicting solitary figures in expansive landscapes that echo the fragrance titles. Packaging for the 2025 Wild West series includes a small, leather‑bound booklet that outlines the intended sequence of wear, complete with brief prose sketches of each scene. The aesthetic avoids overt luxury cues; instead, it leans on functional elegance, letting the scent and its narrative take center stage. This restrained visual approach has earned the brand recognition among niche collectors who appreciate a cohesive, story‑driven presentation.
Philosophy
Tulpa Club treats perfume as a medium for storytelling, a belief that shapes every decision from scent architecture to packaging. Ajay Sameer describes the approach as “perfume as a series of dates,” where each fragrance represents a chapter in an imagined relationship or adventure. The brand avoids generic claims of luxury, instead emphasizing the capacity of scent to capture specific atmospheres—whether the heat of a high‑noon desert or the quiet of a midnight ride. Tulpa Club values transparency; ingredient lists are published alongside each launch, and the house openly discusses the limitations of synthetic versus natural components. The label also encourages listeners to experience its scents in a prescribed order, arguing that the narrative impact deepens when the olfactory journey follows a curated sequence. Community feedback informs future releases, but the creative direction remains firmly in the hands of the founder‑perfumer, who insists that each new season must feel like a fresh chapter rather than a repeat of past formulas. This philosophy positions the house as a niche storyteller rather than a conventional fragrance retailer.
Key Milestones
2022
Ajay Sameer establishes Tulpa Club in East London, beginning development of narrative‑driven fragrances.
2023
Tulpa Club makes its debut at the London Niche Show, presenting a limited experimental batch to boutique buyers.
2024
Season 1 launches, introducing a trio of urban‑themed scents and expanding distribution to select European boutiques.
2025
Season 2 Wild West saga releases six new fragrances—Gunsmoke Saloon, The First Date, The Last Call, The Long Way Home, High Noon Heat, Midnight Rider—at the London Niche Show.
2025
Tulpa Club secures a partnership with a small‑scale cedarwood farm in Texas to source a key natural note for the Wild West collection.
2026
The house opens a limited‑edition pop‑up shop in Shoreditch, offering personalized scent consultations and showcasing its narrative approach.
At a Glance
Brand profile snapshot
Origin
United Kingdom
Founded
2022
Heritage
4
Years active
Collection
1
Fragrances released
Avg Rating
3.7
Community sentiment