Ffern
Founded 2017
Ffern is a Somerset perfume house started in 2017 by siblings Owen Mears and Emily Cameron. It makes one natural, limited-edition perfume each season, blended in the English countryside and sent mainly to members on its waiting-list ledger. Its only shop, at 23 Beak Street in Soho, London, lets visitors sample the range and buy limited editions from the Ffern Archive.
Hours and prices change, so check with the shop before you go.
Ffern, a new Somerset perfume every season
Ffern was founded in 2017 by the siblings Owen Mears and Emily Cameron, and is a natural perfume maker based in Somerset, in the United Kingdom. Mears had started growing plants in his room at Oxford to bring back the smells of his Somerset childhood home. Its first fragrance came out on the winter solstice of 2018.
It makes four natural perfumes a year, one for each season, released on the solstices and equinoxes. They are made from plant materials, barrel-aged and bottled in small batches; Wikipedia places the blending in Brighton and the bottling in Somerset. The nose is Elodie Durande, a protégé of the perfumer François Robert. Each season Ffern makes one bottle for each member on its ledger, and new members join from a waiting list. A seasonal bottle costs £89, postage included.
Its own shop, and its only one, is at 23 Beak Street in Soho, London, open every day. Anyone can walk in, smell the range, sample natural raw materials at the back and buy limited editions from the Ffern Archive; stock is small and sales in the shop are final. Try the current season first: Autumn 26, Moonlit Heather, a fougère of lavender, orris, hay and violet leaf, shows how each edition tells one season.
- Autumn 26, Moonlit HeatherA moor under the harvest moon, as a hare might see it, in lavender, orris, hay and violet leaf.
- Summer 26A legendary land in the spirit of the Green Knight, with clementine, sun-warmed roses and blackcurrant bud.
- Winter 19Winter sun on the forest floor, with peppermint, sweet orange, clove, Douglas fir and oakmoss.
- Permanent CollectionFive members-only scents, such as Beltane and Samhain, each after an old folk festival and the seasons around it.
Where to buy
- Own shop, 23 Beak Street, Soho, London (Monday to Saturday 11am to 7pm, Sunday noon to 6pm; archive editions, stock is limited)
- Online, through the Ffern ledger membership and its waiting list