From Taiwan to the World: Aichi Liu's Scented Journey with OM Parfum

OM Parfum was founded in 2021 by Aichi Liu, who is called Archie by her friends. Based in Taiwan, she draws inspiration from media, places, personal experiences and moods to create her unique fragrances. Archie personally designs each bottle and ensures that the bottle itself reflects the essence of the fragrance, setting it apart from conventional labels. 

Please tell us about yourself and your journey into the world of perfume. What was your first fragrance and what was the idea behind it?

I would say that the journey started when I was little. Two things have always fascinated me: Smells and moving images. When I turned 16, I bought my first bottle of perfume. At that time, perfumes were not very popular in Taiwan, and I still remember that CK One and Be were the hits of the cool kids. With my pocket money and the money I earned from part-time jobs after school, I slowly started collecting perfumes. This kept me going for years until niche perfumes became more and more popular in Taiwan.

One day a feeling hit me like a bolt of lightning - I had smelled and collected so many of these perfumes, but in the end they all seemed to be the same. None of them resonate in my in my heart, and the ones that really caught my attention became fewer and fewer - and I became disappointed in the fragrance world, haha. Then COVID came along and I had more time for myself. That's when I started looking into the aroma chemicals, oils, blends and formulas behind each fragrance. Why not try something that really evokes my childhood memories and at the same time create something that means something to me and is different from the market?

I have to admit it was a hell of a pain learning from scratch. I had no background in chemistry, nor was I good with numbers, and everything seemed to me like coded codes. It was such a nightmare! After about a year of working hard around the clock, I was finally able to overcome this learning block and "Aftermath" was born, my first fragrance. It's moldy and perfectly captures the humidity, rain and damp ground to interpret the weather during the rainy season in Taiwan! My dad gave me a comment after I sprayed it in the air that I will never forget: "Something must have rotted somewhere in this house". Haha.

You categorize your fragrances as the "7 Sins Collection" - why? Pride also has a special add-on called "Winter Pride". Were you not satisfied with the original "Pride" fragrance?

I'm a Buddhist myself, and in the mantras we read we believe in everything, including the universe. I wouldn't say that I agree with all the doctrines that are explained in different religions, but the sins that we carry are something that I find relatable, and it's something that all of us bear. Everything is a choice of state of mind, whether it's committing a crime or helping an old person across the road, it's simply two sides of the same coin.

"Pride" was originally inspired by a friend I used to be close to. She was very into the scent of roses, she mentioned something dewy and the morning breeze in a London garden with roses. Of course, I'm not the kind of person who creates dewy scents, haha, I like them hardcore. I sometimes find "Pride" too light to wear on colder winter days, so "Winter Pride" was born. It focuses more on the resins and labdanum at the base.

What are your sources for new ideas?

Ideas are everywhere! They're in the air, in movies, on TV, on the street, in the people you meet - they're all around us.

Do you work with special materials, such as botanicals or anything else?

I work with materials from natural extracts, absolutes to beautiful materials produced by big companies like Mane, IFF (their LMR series are amazing), Symrise, Robertet and places in India, UK, Italy and so on, so many other places in the world! Some are very hard to get and limited, even pure essential oils and some pure attars, but I always blend formulas with aroma chemicals, they are a must in perfumery for projection, longevity and magical happenings, heehee.

You recently announced "Memento Mori". Could you please give us some impressions? Your bottles seem to be handmade; who made them and is there an idea behind them? Does each fragrance have a specific bottle design?

I'm going to upload a short video explaining the development of the scent. The idea behind it was inspired by the movie "The Witch" (2015) and Robert's personality, which I captured during my last visit to Berlin. You can already find the breakdown of the notes on the website. All the bottles were made by me. I find stickers a bit boring, but if I have to make more bottles one day, I might not be able to have fun with the drawings anymore, haha. I do it for my own taste and passion. Most of the bottles get their own design, except for some bottles, like "Mate-O", for which I use regular stickers.

I like your unconventional ideas, like mixing ingredients that most perfumers don't use together. Can you explain how you make a perfume?

Whenever I start a perfume, I find an idea with images in my head, the most important thing is "how do I feel" about the images, can I relate to them? Do I feel strongly about them? And how should the idea reach other people? I always try to go for scents that smell similar at first and work with them until a point where I have to add the "twist", the twist and the main scent are always made to contradict each other, for example the famous rose and oud combo, oud is something funky and rose is not considered funky (well if you use the absolutes it could be haha). And I really enjoy creating contrasts in fragrances.

We can track which ingredients you use most often on Parfumo; at the moment it's patchouli. Does that surprise you?

That's not surprising at all! I love patchouli, and I have different varieties from different regions.

What are your plans for the future? New collections or the expansion of existing collections such as your new "Cinema Line"?

Every year there's a focus series; last year it was the 7 sins, this year it's Berlin (the "Maps Series"). And yes, I also expand "Cinephile", the movie series, from time to time. It's not a must for every year, but I have plenty of ideas up my sleeve. "Memento Mori" is one of them.

It seems that the city of Berlin has a special place for you. "Berlin Underground" was one of your fragrances, and now you're releasing "When the Linden Blooms", which also has to do with Berlin. What is so special about Berlin for you?

Berlin is like a second home to me. Back when I was doing my Master's, a third of my fellow students were German, and through them I got to know German culture better. After that, I lived in both Cologne and Berlin. "Berlin Underground" was inspired by my first visit, but I abandoned it because I felt it lacked the true spirit of Berlin. "When the Linden Blooms" is my romantic gesture to the city of Berlin.

I don't know if you've ever felt this way about a place? You've only been there once, and at first you hated it so much that you wanted to leave as soon as possible. Then suddenly you fall in love with the city. That's what happened to me in Berlin 11 years ago. Since then, the magic of the city has stayed with me. Maybe I was a Berliner in a previous life, heehee.

You have released several fragrances inspired by movies. Which are your favorite movies that could get a fragrance and why?

One of my favourite movies is "The Wicker Man" (1973). I made a bottle of it and gave it as a gift. It was listed under the name "King of Summerisle". I might bring it back, we'll see. "Suspiria" (1977) was also a good movie. I've already outlined it in my formula notebook. It's by Dario Argento, and the 2018 remake was pretty good too. "Cztery noce z Anna" (2008) by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski was a beautifully portrayed movie about depression and loneliness; it's so intense. If you ask me about more recent movies, I'd say I liked "The Whale" and "The Dream Scenario", but I'm not sure I'd turn them into fragrances, haha. I mean, there are so many movies that I like!

P.S.: We will be making some small (simple) sample sets in pouch bags in the future.

This interview was conducted by Parfumo user Chizza, edited by Mikayla.