Heritage
A house, in its own words
Courtney Rafuse established Universal Flowering in 2016 after years of dedicated practice and study in perfumery. Based in New York, the house emerged from Rafuse's personal exploration of scent as a medium for storytelling. Rather than positioning herself within a traditional perfumery lineage, she built her craft through independent study and experimentation, eventually formalizing her work under the Universal Flowering name. The brand's early years saw the release of several founding fragrances including Summer Sauna, Daddy, and Pleasure Portrait, all from 2016. Rafuse has described her perfumes as romantic observations of her memories, both past and future, suggesting a deeply autobiographical approach to composition. The house operated initially through direct-to-consumer channels, building a following through independent retailers like Luckyscent and social media engagement. Community feedback from platforms like Reddit's indie makeup community has noted the brand's distinctive natural-smelling quality across its offerings. Universal Flowering has maintained a relatively small production scale, with Rafuse serving as the sole perfumer behind the collection, lending continuity to the house's artistic vision across its expanding catalog. Universal Flowering operates from a conviction that beauty in scent should not conform to predetermined expectations. The brand explicitly aims to challenge perceptions of what constitutes a beautiful fragrance, suggesting discomfort with conventional industry standards as a starting point for creative work. Inspiration derives primarily from cultural figures rather than olfactory trends, with female artists, writers, and fictional characters serving as muses for individual compositions. This approach treats each fragrance as a tribute or interpretation rather than simply a product. The autobiographical dimension is central: Rafuse speaks of her perfumes as extensions of herself and as records of memory, positioning scent creation as a form of self-expression rather than commercial output. The brand rejects easy categorization, with fragrances ranging from the earthiness of porcini mushroom in "Daddy" to the floral complexities of "Venus in Tuberose" to conceptual explorations like "Death Of A Ladies Man" and "Seduction Theory." This breadth indicates a philosophy that fragrance should serve emotional and intellectual purposes alongside sensory ones.