Roja Dove

Roja Dove’s relationship with perfume began long before it became a career.

As a child, the scent of his mother’s face powder and perfume as she kissed him goodnight left an impression he would later describe as his first understanding of fragrance’s ability to turn a moment into a memory. Around the same age, Roger Dove began spelling his name Roja – an early act of defining himself on his own terms.

That fascination eventually led him to Guerlain.

Persistence got him through the door, and what followed was two decades immersed in one of perfumery’s great historic houses. Dove developed training programmes, learned from leading perfumers and became the first person outside the Guerlain family to represent its perfumery internationally.

Then, in 2001, he left.

Three years later, Harrods invited him to create the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie – a space built around his own judgement rather than the usual convention of stocking complete fragrance ranges.

The bigger leap came in 2011, when he launched a fragrance house under his own name.

The opening collection started at £295 a bottle, at a time when Dove says the industry average was closer to £30. Six months of stock sold out in ten days.

For Dove, putting his name on the bottle was always about more than building a luxury brand. He has spoken openly about wanting to create a legacy through the one thing he knew how to make.

After 20 years interpreting another house’s heritage, he decided to create one of his own.