The Perfumer’s Paradox
The last tobacco blend, Kasturi Cola — or as some affectionately called it, Cigar Cola — was quite a polarizing composition. Some fell in love with the entire arrangement. Others almost sang about individual notes they could pick out. A few found it too gourmand to wear. Such is the challenge of perfumery. I was discussing this recently with a customer. One of the difficulties I find — and perhaps other perfumers do as well — comes from working with materials in their raw form. Sometimes you lose the ability to experience them the way others do. Or perhaps more accurately, you stop meshing them together in quite the same way. After years of smelling the raw materials, you become intimately familiar with their individual character, while customers encounter the finished composition as a whole.
Why Genres?
Why did I gravitate towards Genres? And why are their formulas so elaborate—built like full compositions rather than simple accords? The answer is interaction. Materials don’t behave independently in a blend. Nothing is additive. Everything is contextual. Each addition reshapes perception—brightness, texture, diffusion, contrast. A material that seems minor on its own can rewrite how everything around it is read the moment it enters the structure. Formulation, then, is a system in motion. Every intervention changes the ground it stands on. You are not working inside fixed conditions. You are moving them as you go. In perfumery, a Genre is infrastructure—an environment of interacting conditions rather than a fixed formula. Some structures are too sparse to hold complexity. Introduce a material into a simple base, and it disappears or flattens. There is nothing for it to push against. But place it inside a Genre, and it meets resistance, contrast, and structure. It becomes legible through interaction. This is why Genres are built like full compositions. They are not placeholders for ideas—they are complete fields designed to absorb change without collapsing. Any blend built from a Genre carries that structure forward. The signature is already embedded—in the way tension holds, how contrast resolves, how space is carved. A Genre is ultimately a strategy for reintroduction without repetition. A way to return to a familiar climate, introduce a new variable, and let both the system and the material reshape each other in real time. This is the lure of Genres for me. They are more complex, more demanding to build, and carry higher risk—both in failure and in the risk of being constrained by their own internal logic. I don’t plan to build everything through this lens, but I think it is worth exploring in the next few projects.
Art Not Fiction
For some reason, it’s widely accepted that consumers can demand suppliers be “neutral”—usually expressed as “stay out of politics.” I’ve outlined my view on this in Art with Bias, but recent conversations make me feel I should be more direct: I reject that fiction, especially at a time when official channels continue to suppress, ignore, or shut down voices that don’t align with power. Neutrality risks becoming complicity, particularly when it is demanded by those uncomfortable with hearing the voices of the oppressed. Art has never been neutral. Commerce has never been neutral. Media, design, and entertainment are all saturated with ideology, even when they claim otherwise. So no, I will not strip the politics from my reality. If that makes people uneasy, it should. Recently, a few members of my small but growing community told me that some people had left my brand because I am “political.” I expected it, but I am indifferent. In fact, through the lens of basic human dignity, I am glad. I am glad my blends are not used to adorn their world—a world where justice is rationed to the powerful, and privilege is disguised as entitlement. For me, this is not about comfort or convenience. It is about whether I am willing to bow to the pressure of profit, or to the expectations of those whose moral compass only functions within what is comfortable. I sometimes wonder if those who argue for separating “politics and business” realize that taking a stance is itself political, just as much as refusing to take one. Silence is a choice. Indifference is a choice. I made mine. Others can make theirs. Yes, I have had customers leave. I have had social media accounts banned. I was let go from a job for my stance against war-for-profit and colonization. That is a price—but it is small compared to what is actually at stake. The cost of silence is far greater. This is about refusing silence, and standing with a collective voice that is pushing against the erasure of Palestine. Palestine was not “nearly forgotten.” The struggle did not begin in October 2023. It began over 75 years ago and has continued since—with more loss, more violence, more dispossession, and more denial. It is not a recent story. I am open to discussion. We can talk history, theology, logic, and more. But if the expectation is my silence, then I have nothing further to say beyond this: you are welcome to explore the work of other perfumers. For those who celebrate the independence of their state, I ask only this: do you also acknowledge the resistance that made it possible? Do you teach your children about the sacrifices of previous generations? Would you not speak against the exploitation or colonization of your own history? I am not asking anyone to take a stance for Palestine. I am simply stating that I will not abandon mine. If I have a voice, a platform, and the ability to speak, then, God willing, I will use it. For me, Palestine is worth it. EDIT Nov 11 2025. I came across this short today, which I felt very much speaks to the same irony: Maher
How I got here
I was a kid who couldn’t stop creating — filling school books with drawings of TV cartoons, hearing a theme once and playing it perfectly on a keyboard, both hands, no training, just by ear. I sketched life-like portraits of my teachers in class and went home after hanging out with friends to recreate a meal I’d tasted at a tiny street food shop in Sharjah. I’ve always been driven by curiosity, trying to understand how sound, flavor, or form come together to create a complete experience. That curiosity carried me into architecture, where my graduation project focused on decoding urban patterns and expressing them as abstract designs. I spent months observing how people moved through space, learning how structure can quietly shape experience in powerful ways. Later, I pursued graduate studies in computational design and generative systems, where I learned how small changes can create wide variations, how complexity can be explored, organized, and refined, and how systems can be modeled from a user-interaction standpoint. Taking those conceptual frameworks, I worked in startups and engineering teams across construction, automotive, and aviation. I had the opportunity to build tools for both large and small teams, for production operations as well as experimentation. This taught me the value of iteration: build, test, refine, repeat. I bring that same process to perfumery, where every release is a step toward a clearer, more precise expression of an idea. That same mindset eventually drew me into perfumery. I started by buying artisanal blends and often felt the desire to add a few notes I thought they needed. That impulse to adjust and refine quickly became something deeper. I began studying raw materials, experimenting with structure, and realizing how even the smallest tweak could change the entire mood of a scent. I view creating perfume as a problem-solving activity. I start with a goal inspired by an idea and explore different ways to reach it — sometimes taking the most direct path, and other times experimenting freely, with a subtle influence of optimization and search algorithms guiding my choices. A blend might serve as an extensible base to be built upon or reinterpreted, or it might be a singular, self-contained composition designed to shift perception — taking the front row in one edition and the back row in another. I’ve tried to bring this modularity directly to the end user through X-editions on my website, creating a system of mass customization where each person can shape and explore their own experience. Each blend becomes a deliberate exploration within a framework — a balance of design, experimentation, and taste. Even this website, elkhaldi.studio, reflects that mindset. I continuously rebuild and refine it — not just for design, but to make it a better reflection of how I work and think. That’s my story. Maher
Take On Perfumery
Perfumery as Intentional Improvisation I view perfumery as a dynamic art form—one rooted in intentional improvisation. Fragrances evolve as individual notes interact, accords emerge, and elements blend into a cohesive whole. True artistry, I believe, flourishes when it’s free from rigid formulas, constraints, or imposed expectations—when it’s created unscripted. I began crafting perfumes to evoke the scents I longed for but couldn’t find. To me, fragrance is like a puzzle—both a mental and olfactory challenge, balancing structure with adaptability. I often draw inspiration from systems theory, where modularity and flexibility guide my process. Each scent becomes an evolving base, open to reinterpretation. Other times, it’s pure experimentation—an exploration of possibilities in pursuit of a goal. It’s a challenge I welcome, every single time. Deterministic, Not Predetermined While recipes and formulas serve their purpose in replicating an idea, they can never fully capture the soul of an artisanal creation. Documentation alone cannot convey the nuance, intention, or flow of the creative process. Intentionality in my work isn’t about following a predetermined formula—it’s about deterministic exploration: making deliberate, thoughtful choices as a fragrance takes shape. My process prioritizes cultivating intuition—an essential skill in this craft. This isn’t just an artistic choice; it also serves practical purposes: Every batch is inherently unique—its limited nature defines its artisanal value. It fosters continuous exploration, encouraging adaptation to diverse preferences and evolving trends. It sustains a thriving secondary market, where scarcity and individuality make secondhand ownership just as meaningful as the original purchase. Personalization: Making the Scent Your Own Imagine dining at your favorite restaurant and being told you can’t have salt and pepper—frustrating, right? I believe fragrance should be just as personal. Whether you want to enhance a blend with complementary oils, experiment with oils I provide, or incorporate your own materials, I’m happy to assist. I charge only for the oils, shipping, and a minimal fee for my time—even for a 15ml bottle. What matters is that you receive a perfume that truly reflects your preferences. Think of it like a bespoke tailor—adjusting every detail to fit you perfectly. Transparency and Full Disclosure My descriptions focus on intent—what I set out to achieve with each project. I aim for them to remain objective, even quantifiable, grounded in experiences or sensory references others can relate to—almost like universal units of measure. I also provide pre-release samples to trusted reviewers (aka frag/oud-heads), allowing them to share independent impressions without interference. Trust is earned and fragile, so I never influence their assessments. Their credibility is on the line as much as mine. On Sample Sets Whenever possible, I offer samples—though availability is limited due to the small-batch nature of my work, and sometimes due to logistics and timing. I work iteratively and sequentially on multiple blends in parallel, but not all of them mature at the same pace. I won’t include a blend in a discovery set just to complete one; if a fragrance isn’t ready, it waits. Likewise, I can’t always delay ready releases, as revenue from sales often helps fund and complete ongoing projects. On Pricing Cost does not disappear when growth becomes a goal. Here’s why: When I’m small, I purchase ingredients in small quantities—often at higher prices. As production scales, I can source materials in larger volumes and reduce certain costs. However, this shift introduces new layers of expense: producing more bottles, managing logistics, hiring help, handling shipping, marketing, and distribution. In other words, a lower material cost does not directly translate into a lower bottle price—because other operational costs rise in parallel. Liquidity is also essential. Each project I work on requires time and financing—sometimes months of preparation before a single drop is ready. Cash flow sustains that cycle. Think of it like the rhythm of the seasons: periods of creation, maturation, and release, each requiring resources to bring the next to life. Then there’s the question—why are good oils expensive?The answer lies in the nature of the materials themselves. These are often rare, labor-intensive ingredients, sourced through long and delicate supply chains that involve skilled, often seasonal workers. Each drop represents the collective effort of many hands and the unpredictable conditions of nature. Unlike gold, whose price is based on a universally recognized and measurable purity, perfumery materials exist in a much more complex world. Quality is subjective, and value is shaped by artistry, rarity, and interpretation. This is why prices vary widely from one perfumer to another. Ultimately, a customer chooses a perfume not for the raw material cost but for the artistry—for the creative vision that gives those materials form and meaning. Much like how you don’t buy a phone merely for the metal or the pixels that make up its display, but for the experience it offers—the years of refinement, the skilled hands, and the collective expertise that brought that experience to life. You are not just paying for what exists today, but also for the craftsmanship, research, and growth that will shape what comes next. In conclusion.. I’m deeply grateful that my work has resonated with members of the perfume community. Maher
Escaping Signature
One of the most difficult aspects of any self-expression—whether art, perfume, or otherwise—is being aware of the elements that make up your signature, so that you can either continue shaping it or consciously break away from it. I choose the latter. Conceptually, this is like approaching every new project with a beginner’s mindset. That becomes increasingly challenging the more projects you undertake, because whether you realize it or not, you are simultaneously developing your intuition. For me, the surest way to break away from familiar patterns is to never write down a recipe and, from time to time, to collaborate with others. I also hold to a self-imposed rule that I’ve kept so far: never keeping samples of my own work. Maher
Art with Bias
I’m often asked why I speak publicly about Palestine and politics—and why I don’t just “stick to perfume.” This is my response. It’s short-sighted to believe that business can or should exist apart from human values—whether religious, political, or environmental. Business doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it is shaped by the same systems and structures that govern every part of our lives. Rather than pretending it can be separated from these realities, we should recognize it as part of the broader human experience. We accept this connection when businesses support causes we agree with. We feel proud to back them, we buy from them, we share them—especially when those causes are safe or endorsed by institutions like the UN. In those cases, we rarely question it. But that comfort often leads to what I would call ethical laziness. When a brand supports a “safe” cause, no one flinches. Yet when someone speaks about something more uncomfortable or politically charged, we suddenly expect silence—a return to neutrality. But neutrality isn’t neutral. Silence is a position. Choosing not to speak is itself a political act, one that upholds the status quo. Every business makes a statement, whether it intends to or not. Every consumer response—every purchase, every boycott—is also a statement. I believe in voting with my dollar, and I expect the same awareness from others. We all carry the ethical weight of our choices. For me, this is not theoretical. I am Palestinian, from Gaza. My parents were displaced in 1948 during the Israeli colonization of Palestine. I grew up a refugee. I do not have the privilege of separating my work from my identity. I cannot—and will not—set aside my lived reality when I create, speak, or simply exist. When I speak out—especially about the genocide in Gaza that unfolded in 2023—I am not offering a political “opinion.” I am bearing witness to an urgent, brutal, and deeply personal reality. To ask me to compartmentalize, to divide my work from who I am, is to ask me to erase myself. I refuse. My perfumery is a reflection of who I am. Like any creative work, it carries bias. It carries history, emotion, and perspective. This is not something to hide or apologize for—it is something to acknowledge. To create is to express. And to express is to speak through the lens you live within. So yes, my work is political. My voice is political. My existence is political. That is not a flaw—it is the truth of being human. And I embrace it fully. Don’t compromise who you are. It’s not worth it. Nothing is. Maher
Post Mortem 2025
My Path as a Perfumer My journey as a perfumer has been one of deliberate, deterministic growth, with nearly every release serving as a test of new ideas—progressing from establishing a foundational identity, to productization (determining the optimal breakdown of what a product is), to exploring mass personalization and modularity, and finally to mastering pricing strategies and strategic scaling. Early Releases to Ghazali The initial phase was defined by cohesion—aligning scent, presentation, and vision with precision. Establishing the Profile: Releases such as Sapphire, Purple Sandalwood, Musk Rose, and Oud Motiya laid the groundwork for a foundational aesthetic and nascent visual identity. Modular Experimentation: The following wave—Musk Mélange, Castoreum, and Civet Cola—served as a calculated market experiment. By offering two variants of a single blend, I could observe how consumers responded to modularity. The Ghalia Principle: Ghazali marked a pivotal shift in material philosophy. Built around a premium, aged base from Al Hashimi, it required me to work with the material rather than merely construct from it—honoring its nuances and allowing the base to guide the composition. Iteration, Spectrum, and Refinement This period focused on pushing the limits of each concept, exploring multiple interpretations, and introducing refined customization. Parallel Exploration: After Ghazali, both it and the Ambergris project underwent successive iterations, giving rise to the Ambergris Spectrum series (Cacao, Nicotina, Myanmar, Bouquet), as well as Ghazali attars, pastes, and sprays. Technical Challenge and Customization: The delicate nature of Blue Lotus demanded careful attention to projection. The solution emerged as X Editions, an early guided customization experiment allowing patrons to amplify select notes. Intentional Modularity and Acclaim: Qinan Rose and Crimson Cambodia exemplified deliberate modularity, offering curated, precise enhancements for each blend. Among my most celebrated creations, Qinan Rose, Ghazali, Musk Mélange, and Civet Cola continue to resonate with audiences. Atmospheric Blending: This period culminated with Oud Session, a tribute to raw material, and Dukkan, my first tea-inspired floral blend. Dukkan sought to evoke an atmosphere—a garden in full bloom. Operational Optimization I have concentrated on refining the customer experience, iterating rapidly while continuously elevating standards: Logistics & Infrastructure: I designed product boxes that received widespread acclaim and cultivated essential collaborations with fellow perfumers. Current objectives include launching a new website for improved navigation, relocating operations to Oman, securing reliable material suppliers, and ensuring fast, dependable shipping. I am also engaging third-party shippers and exploring regional stock availability in the EU and UK. Social Media & Community: I am nurturing a focused Facebook community, envisioned as a “radio station” for the brand. By minimizing irrelevant noise, every notification maintains value, creating a trusted, informative space for enthusiasts. A Strategy for Creativity I believe the greatest challenge in self-expression is resisting the inertia of a developing signature. I deliberately disrupt my own habits, approaching each project with a beginner’s mindset. I am not always successful, of course, but it is a practice that remains at the forefront of my mind. Over time, I have identified a few simple mechanisms that help push me forward: never keeping recipes, collaborating with other perfumers, and avoiding samples of completed work. A Strategy for Scale Fifteen years in startup companies have taught me a disciplined approach to investment and growth. I pursue measured investment, avoiding large capital injections that prioritize revenue over sustainability. Gauging Market Footprint: Increasing batch sizes to accurately measure demand while ensuring sufficient market presence to absorb production without financial strain. Expanding Material Portfolio: Designing blends across a spectrum of price points while maintaining distinctiveness. Curated Offerings: Continuing to source and present rare, unique materials and editions. elkhaldi’s Perfumer Identity My deepest motivation is artistic exploration. While I cherish the act of creation, my true passion lies in the relentless pursuit of new ideas—uninterrupted by tasks that do not directly contribute to this process. Recording recipes for replication holds little value; what matters is learning, intuition, and the continual progression of the next creation. I value the experience of the moment itself—the ability to think, perceive, and interpret scent, both literally and abstractly—more than tracing the path that brought me there. This approach mirrors my earliest expression: painting what I could not possess. Perfumery is the same—it is a tool for self-fulfillment, a means of creating what does not yet exist in the world. It is this drive for solitary exploration and expression that fuels me as a perfumer. elkhaldi’s Maher Identity I believe that business exists within a framework of principles. I also believe in separation of concerns, but not identities. While my Facebook community is strictly devoted to brand discussion, my personal posts outside of that space are guided by my convictions as a Palestinian, a descendant of refugees, and a Muslim. My values are non-negotiable, irrespective of mainstream sentiment. I strive to align my actions with a compass greater than economy, comfort, or convenience—one that is guided solely by my faith. In Conclusion These reflections trace the operational and artistic journey of Elkhaldi Studio, a process of knowing both the business and myself more fully. For me, 2026 is make it or break it. Until the next post-mortem, I hope you remain part of the journey. InshaAllah (إن شاء الله), Elkhaldi Studio will continue to thrive.
