Memo Paris fetes its 10th anniversary and launches new scent

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 21, 2017

“The DNA of our brand is travel and a sense of adventure. Just like Eau de Memo,” explained Clara Molloy, Memo Paris' founder. The scent is the 22nd developed by Memo Paris, which Barcelona-born Clara launched with her Irish husband, John Molloy, in 2007.
 

Like all Memo Paris scents it does naris ot come cheap: a 100 ml flacon costs 200 euros. Though this has not stopped Memo Paris developing into a much sought after label, which is currently the top selling prestige perfume marque inside Harvey Nichols, the famed London shopping emporium.
 
Memo Paris' latest developments comes at a time when major luxury groups are busy purchasing niche perfume labels. On Monday, LVMH announced the acquisition of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, a brand only born in 2009. In February, Estée Lauder picked up Kilian, after acquiring Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle and Le Labo. While in January 2016, Spanish beauty giant Puig bought Penhaligon’s and L’Artisan Parfumeur.

Asked about a possible sale of her brand, Molloy smiled and said: “Oh, we have had plenty of offers, but I really don’t want to sell.”
 

A blend of jasmine and green tea with a hint of leather, Eau de Memo, like all the houses scents was developed by Aliénor Massenet. This French-born nose, a cousin via marriage of Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter and Far Fetch fame, has already nabbed a prestigious FIFI award for Shams Oud, one of Memo’s scents.

Eau de Memo’s gold flaçon follows a house tradition, though the pattern is based on an antique wallpaper that Clara found for her home in Geneva. Its ad features the bottle before an image of a bird flying before the Eiffel Tower, just like the view from the L’Oiseau Blanc restaurant on top of the Peninsula Hotel at the launch lunch.
 
Next month, the house will a debut free-standing store in Moscow; and add two further boutiques in Dubai - inside the Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates. The brand now retails in over 100 sales points worldwide. Last year, Memo opened its first Paris store, located at 24 rue Cambon, opposite Chanel’s world headquarters, where Eau de Memo will start retailing on April 17.
 
“Every scent we create is related to places we know and have visited,” said Molloy, pointing to a Memo Pad of 10 destinations that shaped certain scents - from Marfa, inspired by the cinematic landscapes of Texas, to Kedu, created after seeing a sacred temple on the pains of Java.
 
Her husband, the former boss of L’Oreal Switzerland, John Molloy was even inspired by his native land. After witnessing his brother in a horse race in his home county of Tipperary, he named one scent 'Irish Leather.'