Date of birth: 2006.

Place: New York.

Parents: Fabrice Penot and Edouard Roschi.

Distinctive features:

The fragrances are intentionally imperfect, as if unfinished; there is room for surprise — even for their creators. The fragrances are "packed" into bottles in the perfumery on the day of sale. The customer decides whom to dedicate the scent to (however, the inscription on the label cannot contain more than 23 letters). The sparse, near-minimalist design, raw materials and method of presentation emphasize the brand's laboratory concept.

Professional experience:

Fabrice Penot and Edouard Roschi looked like contemporary hipsters before the rest of the world even began to wonder what that meant. The first is Swiss, the second French. Together they worked for a large cosmetics conglomerate, promoting new fragrances signed by Giorgio Armani.

Each year they launched four to five new releases — at least three too many, they claim. During one of their pilgrimages to Milan (for inspiration and a wise word from the designer) Fabrice confided in his colleague that he was fed up with the corporation; he would gladly do the same work he was doing now but on his own terms and on his own account. Edouard enthusiastically embraced the idea — he himself had been thinking about his own brand and about restoring healthy proportions to the perfume industry: less marketing and advertising, more heart and creativity in the product itself.

They invested their own savings and money borrowed from friends in creating Le Labo. In an interview for Business of Fashion Edouard says that he is not a perfumer, he does not compose fragrances, although he could — after all he studied chemistry and worked for four years at Firmench (editor's note: an international laboratory developing scents for perfumes, body balms, dishwashing liquids).

"Fabric and I practice the profession of a developer" — Edouard jokes.

"We have a clear vision of the scent, but we commission its creation to professional noses. We take care of its subsequent fate, ensuring it reaches customers in perfect form."

Notable achievements and successes:

Santal 33

In November 2015 an article appeared in The New York Times titled The Perfume You're Smelling Everywhere Now Is Santal 33. By "everywhere" the author, Olivia Fleming, meant the artistic quarters of Manhattan, people in media and fashion, including Alexa Chung, Justin Bieber…

Griffin Funk, a graphic designer for GQ, on Twitter: "It feels somehow strange when someone isn't wearing Santal 33 Le Labo today."

Fabrice Penot: "Several of our fragrances are big hits, but Santal 33 is an absolute, total, absurd hit."

Rose 31

At the founders' request Daphne Gugey stripped the rose of everything that makes it smell predictable and classical. The often aggressive notes of dry grass and lychee she tamed with spices and musk, which is why men willingly buy Rose 31 for themselves.

Rose 31 is made using hand-picked rose petals from Grasse in France (a kilogram costs several hundred thousand dollars). Edouard emphasizes that the best, most expensive ingredients are only half the recipe for Le Labo's success: "Nobody cares how much Picasso's or Hopper's paints cost. If we are unable to create anything exceptional, it means the money spent on the components was wasted."

Bergamote 22

The supply of Bergamote 22 ran out the day after Le Labo's premiere at Galilu on Mokotowska 26.