Anka Kus Parfuem
Single-perfumer Melbourne house leaning on naturals and storytelling.
Ali Erkeli is a Turkish-Australian perfumer who spent years as one half of Fort & Manlé Parfum before the partnership dissolved, leaving him without a name, a creative platform, or a professional identity. He spent two years rebuilding and launched Anka Kuş Parfüm in Melbourne in 2018, taking the name from the mythological phoenix — a choice that was neither metaphorical decoration nor brand strategy but a frank account of what the project represented. The fragrance work is made almost entirely from naturals and absolutes sourced globally, hand-composed and hand-illustrated, and shaped by a personal archive that draws on Turkish history, Australian landscape, faith, sport, literature, and film in roughly equal measure. The result is a small catalogue of left-field compositions with a whimsical but exacting intelligence — the kind of perfumery that requires the wearer to meet it halfway. Anka Kuş has built a following among specialist retailers in Australia and internationally who recognise Erkeli's work as among the more distinctive artisan voices operating in the current market.
DNA over time
Each column is an era. Each colored band shows that family’s share of accord weight across every perfume the house released in that window. Bigger band = the house leaned harder on that family.
