Arquiste
Founded 2011
Founded in 2011 by Carlos Huber, a New York based architect and historic preservationist born in Mexico City. Each perfume recreates a moment in history, and the bottles are made in the USA.
Hours and prices change, so check with the shop before you go.
An architect's perfumes, each a moment in history
Arquiste is the perfume house of Carlos Huber, a Mexican-born architect and restoration expert based in New York. He chose a name that sits between architecture, history and archives, and that sounds like artiste, he told the perfume blog Persolaise in 2014. The house calls itself the first international niche brand created by a Mexican designer.
Each scent starts from a dated scene that the house researches and then turns into top, heart and base notes. Many are developed with the Givaudan perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, and the bottles are marked Made in USA. The house also makes scents for other companies, including St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, J.Crew and Trudon.
It has no shop of its own in New York. Its store list names stockists in Manhattan and Brooklyn, among them C.O. Bigelow Chemists at 414 6th Avenue. A 100 ml eau de parfum costs $225 and a 30 ml bottle $105. Try Boutonnière No. 7 first: one gardenia, as worn on a lapel at the Paris opera in 1899, shows the house idea in a single flower.
- NanbanJanuary 1618: a Japanese galleon crossing the Pacific after a mission to the West, its hold full of woods, leather, frankincense and pepper.
- MisfitMarseille in September 1877, when patchouli-scented Kashmiri shawls fell out of fashion and were taken up by bohemians and courtesans.
- A Grove by the SeaAugust 1508 on Lopud, an Adriatic island of fig and olive groves, pine, cypress and wild herbs.
- Boutonnière No. 7May 1899 in the foyer of the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where young men wore gardenias on their lapels.
- Anima DulcisNovember 1695 in Mexico City, where nuns at the Royal Convent of Jesus Maria made a spiced cocoa with chillies.
- L'Or de LouisApril 1687 in the Orangery at Versailles, where gardeners lit bonfires to keep the orange trees warm for Louis XIV.
Where to buy
- C.O. Bigelow Chemists, 414 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10011
- Stele, 179 Mott Street, New York, NY 10012
- Stele, 339 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
- The Conservatory NYC, 20 Hudson Yards, Suite 106, New York, NY 10001
- Alice + Olivia, 755 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10065
- Online at arquiste.com