Niche Show 2025 @ N0.9 Cork Street Gallery, Mayfair, London, founded by Lee Martin

London’s first trade facing perfume exhibition, Niche, felt like it might already have outgrown its venue by 1pm, for on arrival, it was busy; like, stand in the street and wait 10 minutes for someone to leave before entering, kind of busy. And so the No.9 Cork Street Gallery was packed over two floors with people sniffing and nodding along intently as the selection of showcasing brands informed them about their products and overall creative outlook.

Gallery and sniffing© Oli

The unit’s white gallery walls and wooden floors were routinely punctuated by booths both inconspicuous and elaborate – where one brand’s splashy presentation was immediately contradicted by their neighbours’ pared back simplicity. If anything it offered a very stylised overview of those contemporary brands coming to – and already at – market. The air inside was thick, over-saturated with perfume but the room was full of laughter, the excited squeals of reunions and the soothing cooing of pleasant olfactive discoveries.

 

Paris based Ode Ona’s serene presentation 

I’m positive that you’ll read (or watch) a number of think pieces proclaiming that the Paris-based Ode Ona was the highlight of the show. And rightly so. It really was. The brand’s grace and olfactive ideas were fully some of the most unique on display. Dawn Earth is a forest bathing, a pointed exercise in letting the woods around you calm you with earthy tones and mossy elements. Teapot Sonder is a savory tea fragrance that uses gourmand facets to create an almost sesame biscuit impression and Moonkissed Rhapsody re-introduces lavender in a wholly unique way. The level of quiet confidence apparent in the brand was honestly inspiring. UK readers won’t have to wait too long at all to smell what I mean – the brand is launching imminently at Liberty in London and Wild Iris in Brighton.

 Moe Khalaf of Kajal Perfumes 

 Kajal’s booth was hidden in the Annex behind the main gallery hall but the Art and Olfaction Award Winning brand was constantly busy as they presented their latest fragrance Topaz– which launches officially at the end of the month. Topaz’s unique citrus forward, golden rum, grey amber backed sillage is alluring and attracted many; their reflective, Day-Glo orange bags adorned many a visitor’s shoulders.

The Gate’s Golden Hour

 Also in the Annex, The Gate, whose latest fragrance Golden Hour showcases mango in all of its characteristic glory was awarded the ‘Best New Launch’.

Victor Wong’s sprawling display of Zoologist

It was also a pleasure to reacquaint myself with some of Zoologist’s weird and wonderful compositions. T-Rex remains as genius as I remembered and Antoine Lie’s Portuguese Man O’ War is vividly odd and electric in a confounding but wearable kind of way. The yet to be released Toucan was a big hit for a colleague and frankly the sheer scope of presentation the brand offered left me smiling – I love people that commit to just doing their art, olfactive or otherwise.

The clean typography led design of RNDL

The new British brand RNDL who’s debut fragrance, Midnight I covered recently, were exhibiting two forthcoming compositions, Circus and Together, although it was Circus that stood out as I can  be a bit of a sucker for almond tones when they’re done right.

 

FUMparFUM’s booth at Niche 

The wanton leather tones of Taxi Driver from FUMparFUM caught my nose, set as it was amongst their presentation of quite literal perfumes (i.e. Hot Milk smells like hot milk, Whiskey smells like whiskey and Olive smells like olives).

The exceptionally smooth wares of Korean brand Organ Tale

Korean brand Organ Tale was quietly presenting their five fragrances of which I was most taken with Herencia Fragrante, a perfume that perfects the blackcurrant, jasmine and vanilla trifecta, delivering something that smells a little bit like most alluring vacuum packed plastic in the world, ever.

 

There’s something about the shoulders of these Neshama bottles, just looks enticing

 Neshama’s extraits were a pleasure to discover too, a quartet of artistic perfumes that delivered on the promise of reviews I’d read (like wearescentient’s review of Souls On Fire) with the perfumer Simon Shaer putting quality raw materials firmly in the front and centre.

From then on it almost becomes a bit difficult l to start to try and list details of everything I smelled as my mind starts to pick out the kind of ideas or aromas that were wildly different from everything else, I tried. I mean, Memoirs Of A Perfume Collector’s new Les Senteurs exclusive, Belgravia Iris is a wonderfully composed, moreish fragrance that hits upon fresh and floral touchpoints but something like Neandertal’s insanely mineral smelling Is, just leaps out much further in my recollection because it was so wildly different. As does Tulpa Club’s Midnight Rider which – in the best way possible – smells like the aftermath of a forest fire and an assault with a spice rack.

With 35 brands on show – most of whom don’t have excessive representation or any presence at all in the UK yet – it’s super straightforward to note that this type of exhibition was welcome and very well received. Enabling these newer brands with a platform that puts them in front of the industry players can only be a good thing. Perhaps there’s already a call, after just a single edition, to expand the venue and the event’s timescale to accommodate even more?

– Oli Marlow, Senior Contributor

Disclosure:  Oli was gifted a bottle of Topaz , and received sample from other brands; opinions his own

All photos by Oli, unless otherwise stated.

What captured your attention? Which do you want to get your nose on?

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