Bond No. 9
Making Scents of New York
Laurice Rahmé, the first woman to head a New York perfumery, founded Bond No. 9 in 2003 and named the house for its original address on Bond Street in NoHo. Each fragrance maps to a New York neighbourhood — Chinatown, Nolita, the Hamptons — giving the line a civic specificity unusual in perfumery. Bottles are heavily decorated, inspired by the city's street signage, and are frequently cited as collectible objects independent of the contents. The compositions are unabashedly opulent. Prices run $200 to $600 or higher, positioning the house at the upper end of niche. Aurelien Guichard, Jordi Fernandez, and a rotating roster of commissioned perfumers contribute to the catalogue; releases are frequent, sometimes several per year. Quality is variable across the range, but the house maintains a devoted following among those drawn to the New York mythos and the dense, projecting style that characterises its best entries.
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.
