A short history of perfume: from incense to the modern bottle
The word perfume comes from the Latin per fumum — through smoke. Long before bottles and sprays, scent was something burned, offered and shared. Its history runs through temples, trade routes and courtyards.
Smoke, oils and the ancient world
In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, resins such as frankincense and myrrh were burned in temples and blended into fragrant oils for the body. Scent was sacred, medicinal and a sign of status at the same time.
Greeks and Romans adopted these traditions and spread scented oils and unguents throughout the Mediterranean, trading for spices and resins that travelled from Arabia and India.
The Arab world and the art of distillation
The decisive step came in the medieval Islamic world. Scholars such as Al-Kindi wrote detailed books of perfume recipes, and the physician Ibn Sina refined steam distillation, making it possible to capture the scent of roses as rose water and essential oil.
Rose, oud, amber and musk became the vocabulary of fragrance from Baghdad to Andalusia and the Maghreb. That vocabulary is still the foundation of oriental perfumery today.
Europe, Grasse and alcohol
Distillation and alcohol-based scent reached Europe through Andalusia and the crusades. By the 17th and 18th centuries, Grasse in southern France had become the centre of flower growing and perfume making.
The 19th and 20th centuries brought synthetic molecules, which made new families possible — fresh, clean and abstract scents — and turned perfume into a modern luxury.
Coming full circle
Today many perfume lovers are returning to the older traditions: oud, rose, saffron and amber, worn as oils or high-concentration perfumes and layered on the skin. RÎAD's compositions sit in that space, between the heritage of oriental perfumery and a modern, restrained European style.
