Offering “a subconscious journey in blue,” BIBBI Parfum made a chromatically striking entrance to the luxury fragrance market. While there is always a touch of subconscious interpretation to scent—sometimes we simply dislike a fragrance and can’t explain why, or we get drawn into another perfume only to later realize it holds a deep emotional memory connection to our past—this brand is putting its own unique spin on the premise.
Launched in October 2023 after four years of development, the brand is the brainchild of Swedish-born creative designer Stina "Bibbi" Seger and her husband Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren, the founder of Vilhelm Parfumerie. Each unisex scent is the result of concepts born from Seger’s meditation sessions (during which she also sees the trademark blue hue that has become the brand’s signature).
“It all really came very naturally to me to translate the meditations into experience because I think both experiences are very personal for everyone. Both the fragrance experience and my meditations transport me into another universe or another realm,” Steger tells BeautyMatter. To interpret these visions, the duo brought Robertet perfumer Jérôme Epinette on board. “He's such an amazing perfumer. He has a Scandinavian touch in his style of creating perfumes. He understood the brand instantly. He was also inspired when he got the first brief. We work well together,” she enthuses.
BIBBI Parfums debuted with six fragrances. Ghost of Tom, a citrus amber, is dedicated to the invisible beings among us, containing notes of Ceylon black tea, mate, papyrus, and black amber. Pistachio Game, a woody aromatic, named after an ancient game played in the Persian empire, is a smoky vetiver scent with kumquat, eucalyptus, apple blossom, and an espresso accord. Santal Beauty, a woody floral, is inspired by a captivating woman in a velvet dress in the Paris metro. The eau de parfum carries notes of saffron, violet, magnolia, and sandalwood.
Radio Child, a fruity musk, tells the story of a child in 18th century Vienna with extraordinary piano skills who disappeared into thin air. Its notes include jasmine, fig, cashmere woods, and oakmoss. Iris Wallpaper is a fruity floral in honor of the favorite flower of Giuseppina Strepponi (muse of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi). Upon her death, Verdi decorated the entire home with irises. The creation contains notes of orris butter, peach, carrot, and a leather accord. The Other Room, a woody floral, tells the story of attending a masked ball free of any societal constructs. The sensual creation contains carnation, saffron, vetiver, and labdanum.
“In creating BIBBI, I didn't look at the market. I didn't look at trends or what's selling. I wanted to create this from myself and to be true [to that]. Creating together with Jerôme, the fragrances are deeply layered with surprises. That also really reflects the meditation experience,” Steger adds.
The sophomore collection in 2024 contained four further scents. Boy of June, dedicated to Ahlgren and their meeting in Copenhagen, is a spicy amber with bergamot, black pepper, green apple, and patchouli. Soap Club, a floral woody musk, tells the story of an exclusive club with the scent of soapy leather. Its notes include vanilla orchid, mimosa, and tonka bean. Rainbow Rose, a floral scent which came to Steger meditating in the Vatican, contains upcycled rosa centifolia, magnolia, and orris butter. Swimming Pool, crafted around the concept of a natural swimming pool in the south of Italy with healing abilities, is an aromatic green scent with ginger, basil, spearmint, geranium, and ambroxan. Next to Ghost of Tom, it is also one of the brand’s best-selling fragrances.
“There were high expectations because the first original launch was well received. There is a pressure to maintain the same level of quality, but also to bring something fresh and new to the table while staying true to the brand's identity, which is crucial,” Steger reflects.
BIBBI Parfums launched exclusively at Liberty London and has since expanded to over 80 doors across France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the Baltics, and Italy. “It's going very well. It's a lot of determination and grit just to create a brand and then to be able to choose wisely and say no more than you say yes. To be selective and only choose real brand-building partners,” she comments on their retail strategy. “Liberty is definitely a brand-building partner; maybe probably one of the best in the world, to be honest, because it's such an iconic store. They're very intelligent in choosing brands that are something else and helping to build them. To be able have the support from them has been crucial for BIBBI, and I'm very grateful that they believed in the brand. I’m so grateful for all of our partners that we have right now because they are really the top in this industry.”
In July 2024, the brand secured an undisclosed amount of investment from Natura &Co venture arm Fable and JamJar Investments to fuel growth and further product innovation. “Meeting founders Stina and Jan and discovering their brand, which is rooted in its time, has depth, a strong visual identity, and exceptional products, was truly inspiring. The unprecedented early commercial success of BIBBI is a testament to its uniqueness,” commented Thomas Buisson, Managing Director, and Sophia Sun, Vice President at Fable Investments.
Emily Bullman, investor at JamJar, and Richard Reed, co-founder at JamJar, added, "We’re super excited to partner with Stina and Jan whose unique creativity and fresh approach to luxury parfum is clearly borne out by BIBBI's immediate cult status. At JamJar we look to back founders disrupting categories and bringing consumers joy in new, inspiring ways—we believe BIBBI does just that, through the brand’s stunning visuals, unique scents and messaging.”
“Fable and JamJar are a perfect blend of commercial expertise, retail know-how, and also a luxury built experience. They’re a great blend for us to have with the different competences that we can pick. They are extremely knowledgeable in their fields. What was very important for me is that they understand the creative process and that a brand building phase needs to take time,” Steger says. “The most important question to ask yourself before doing anything is who and what you need. What you need in terms of competence in your company and not the other way around. Also to see and understand your value and explore different options. It can be tempting to go with the first one that offers you money, but to me, to be able to say no, it's not always easy, but it's crucial.”
Most recently the brand unveiled Fruit Captain, a nod to an untouched fruit garden at the dawn of existence. The fruity floral creation contains strawberry, plum, green apple, gardenia and jasmine. BIBBI Paris also expanded into home fragrance with the launch of three scented candles: Birth Country (a woody gourmand with mandarin pulp, cinnamon, blackcurrant nectar and brandy milk); Magic Melancholy (a woody floral with tangerine, saffron, white leather, and rose); and Wolf Mother (an herbal green mix of basil, peppermint, petitgrain, and brown sugar cane). The glass vessels were created in partnership with a specialist Swedish producer.
It also collaborated with one of its Dutch retailers Skins Cosmetics on a collection of two fragrances: XSantal and XVanilla, the former marrying sandalwood with cardamom, shea butter, and warm amber “to craft the ultimate santal perfume; the latter a sweet, earthy, and rich take on its namesake note, complimented with midnight plum, jasmine, galbanum, and patchouli.
The brand’s visual identity presents itself in astronomical orbits on the bottle caps, circular and grooved Art Deco-esque glass bottles, and minimalist yet striking campaign images of close-up portraits drenched in blue. “It's another universe that we want to step into and to be able to have a cohesive connection between all of the different elements. The disruptiveness of the visuals are connected to the mind-shifting ability of the brand,” she explains.
Steger admits that translating the immersive nature of the brand into a retail setting is a big challenge. There are ambitions to create a standalone store in the future. “I want to take customers from this world that we have here, just for a moment, to experience something else. What we're doing now is trying to have personalized spaces as much as we possibly can, to give some feeling of the brand universe. The in-store staff are key, those are the people who will translate the brand's story to the clients and invite them to the brand. This is something that I value very highly,” she explains, noting that she meets retailer staff for training as much as possible.
With a large retail network, heaps of press coverage, and a growing catalog of fragrances for its customers to indulge in, BIBBI Paris has made a big impact on the industry landscape in a short period of time. “I was very happy and overwhelmed by the beautiful response to the brand, how it's been embraced by the audience. Maybe it was about timing, maybe the fragrance world was open to something new,” Steger reflects. “I don't know if it would have been the same if it was launched ten years ago because the story behind the brand, it's a flirt with the spiritualism and futuristic art. That might have been too early ten years ago. I'm also a female creator from Scandinavia. That gives another element to the brand having another view of creating perfumes.”
As for the year ahead, the brand is focusing its expansion efforts on Europe to solidify its foundations, but Steger sees the US market as a natural progression in the near future. “When going there, we need to have a bigger team and be able to give the attention to the market because it's a huge and very important one. We already have a lot of questions from the US and that's the next, very exciting step,” she states.
