IMOGEN Russon-Taylor set up Scotland’s first perfume house Kingdom Scotland after working in the whisky industry and discovering the similarities between the two. Inspired by Scottish legends and the natural landscape, the unisex fragrances have surged in popularity since lockdown and there are plans to expand the business across Europe, the US and Canada.

Name: Imogen Russon-Taylor

Position: Founder

WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CALLED?

Kingdom Scotland

WHERE IS IT BASED?

Edinburgh

WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?

I HAVE always had a fascination with scent. I had a glam grandma and I watched her get ready when I was a little girl. I went on to work in the whisky industry. I got sent to the House of Guerlain where I met with archivists and I saw the parallels with whisky.

It’s a similar process in choosing the best ingredients and distilling. I gained an appreciation for the complexity of the mid, base and top notes. I wondered if Scotland had a perfume house. I then got a grant from Interface [which connects businesses to academics and is run by Scottish Enterprise] to look at Scotland’s perfume past with St Andrews University history department. I couldn’t find a brand selling perfume so I founded Scotland’s first fragrance house. My research diverted into ingredients, stories and how to bring scent to life. I turned to the Royal Botanic Gardens because Scottish botanists are so prolific and I wanted to work with them. Isobel Wylie Hutchison was a Scottish Arctic explorer and botanist and her work inspired me. The Albaura scent is in tribute to her.

I love that creative part of it and I’m trying to find stories that people haven’t heard of. I have Scottish-French heritage and some of my ancestors worked in the whisky industry and others imported perfume and luxury goods into Scotland from France during the Auld Alliance. The vision for this is to be a Scottish luxury brand so I needed a foundation of classic stories. I work with classically trained perfumers. It’s 15 years’ worth of training involving a chemistry degree with a slant towards perfume and the cosmetic industry. I found Stephanie Anderson who trained with some of the best perfumers in the world.

Producing the perfume during coronavirus has been fine as lots of distillers also make sanitiser but things took longer due to social distancing. Our site has had amazing traffic during lockdown as I think people are looking for British brands closer to home.

WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?

PEOPLE who love scent. It’s something a little bit different. Making whisky is like bottling Scotland and it transports the consumer. I wanted to do that with scent. I did geography and geology at Edinburgh University and wanted to bring my love of the Scottish landscape into scent. People are interested in that. Our customers are quite diverse. It’s gender inclusive. We get requests from the US and Canada asking to buy products.

People love the scents as they are so different. We had some Scottish rugby players choosing scents and I thought they would go for Metamorphic, a rock that can be found on the Isle of Lewis. It’s smouldering to represent heat and the pressure rocks create. Instead they went for Albaura which is a fresher, more classic fragrance Arctic poppies and Scottish pine. Metamorphic has a more avant garde fashion aspect and people who love whisky are intrigued by it. I wanted Portal to be utterly transporting.

When I worked in London and Paris I would think of my girlhood on a farm. It’s very green and fresh and is a portal to the Caledonian woodland. The latest release celebrates 350 years of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. It’s a project that I’ve been working on for two years so I’m excited about it.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?

THERE are lots of perfume houses in the UK like Creed and Penhaligons. They were set up mainly in the Victorian era. The industry has changed in the past 10 years. People are looking for more unique individual scents that are a bit more of a statement. If you go to scent halls in places like Harvey Nichols there are lots of brands but no one is talking about scent in Scotland, despite the fact it is worth £7.2 billion to the UK economy and whisky is worth £5bn.

The ingredients are the best I can find in the world and the natural oils will smell different on different people. I have Celtic skin which is quite dry so the top notes disappear quite quickly but on someone with oily/Mediterranean skin the top notes will last longer.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?

IT is different every day. I love storytelling and I love the creative aspect to it. I learn something new every day.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?

THERE are positives and negatives to being the first to do this in Scotland. It’s a novelty but there are challenges to setting it up. It was a whole process and applying for funding was hard.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?

MY vision is for it to be a luxury brand that will be globally recognised. We have had a lot of interest from the US, Germany, Scandinavia and Canada.