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Monsoon Atelier

A house built from one travel journal

In 1931 a botanical illustrator followed the monsoon through five ports. We turned her pages into perfume.

Adelia Santoso, Banda to Manila

The voyage

Adelia Santoso boarded a cargo ship in Banda with paints, paper and one change of clothes. For a full monsoon cycle she painted whatever she was handed in port, and wrote down how it smelled.

  1. 12 April 1931

    Banda

    Nutmeg on the drying racks, and clove still warm from a roof in Ternate.

    Read the entry

  2. 3 June 1931

    Malacca

    Tea chests, tarred rope, and a sliver of gaharu burned on a coin.

    Read the entry

  3. 19 August 1931

    Siam

    Marigolds in the old capital, and iced tea that turned violet.

    Read the entry

  4. 27 October 1931

    Hội An

    Silk lanterns at dusk, and tea that slept inside a lotus.

    Read the entry

  5. 14 December 1931

    Manila

    Sampaguita at the church doors, ylang-ylang in a copper still.

    Read the entry

The atelier today

Five perfumers each compose the chapter of the place they come from. They work from Adelia’s margin notes and from the growers who still farm the same plants.

  • Ratna Wijaya

    Yogyakarta

    Ratna trained in Grasse and came home to work with Javanese jasmine. She composes our first chapter and keeps the spice cabinet.

  • Mei Lin Tan

    George Town, Penang

    Mei Lin grew up above her family's tea shop. She builds with woods, resins and the smell of things carried by boat.

  • Anan Srisuk

    Bangkok

    Anan began as a botanist cataloguing orchids. He writes formulas the way he once wrote field notes: short and exact.

  • Linh Phạm

    Hội An

    Linh studied tea before perfume. Her compositions are quiet and patient, made to be noticed up close.

  • Isabel Reyes

    Manila

    Isabel spent ten years distilling ylang-ylang in Anilao. She composes the last chapter, where the voyage turns toward the Pacific.

How we grow, make and refill

Route, not region
We tell the story of movement between places, so no single culture is flattened into an “exotic” backdrop.
Grown, then made
Every scent names its growers and harvest region on its page. We buy from the same farms each season.
Small batches
Each bottle carries its batch number and the month it was distilled. When a batch sells out, we wait for the next harvest.
Refill, don’t replace
Our glass is made to be kept. After your first bottle, refill pouches are $150 for 100 ml, sent in paper.
Paper that feels like a sketchbook
Boxes are folded from recycled board and printed with the plate that inspired the scent.

Where the monsoon goes, we follow.

Adelia, her ship, the journal and the perfumers are invented for this portfolio piece. The places, plants and the monsoon are real.