No. 26Winter attarsKannauj → Lucknow

Perfume, the old Kannauj way.

Roses, rain-soaked earth, vetiver and oud, distilled in copper over a slow wood fire. No alcohol, just oil that warms on your skin and stays till evening.

Find my attar Shop all

Featured · No. 01

Rose

Country rose on sandalwood · 6 or 12 ml

from ₹1,450

[01]

The attar shelf

Attars in 6 and 12 ml cut-glass flacons, roll-on perfume oils and gift boxes. Open any bottle to see its notes, top to base.

[02]

Your scent, in four questions.

Answer by instinct. We match your answers against five notes (rose, oud, vetiver, wet earth, sandalwood) and pick three attars to try.

Question 1 of 4

[03]

Copper, steam and patience.

  1. 01 · Flowers in the stillPetals picked at dawn go into a copper still with water. The lid is sealed shut with wet clay.
  2. 02 · A slow fireWood and cow-dung cakes keep the fire low for six to eight hours. The still-maker reads the heat by touch.
  3. 03 · Through the bambooScented steam travels down a bamboo pipe into a copper receiver of sandalwood oil, cooled in a tub of water.
  4. 04 · Rest in leatherThe oil rests in camel-leather flasks, which breathe out the last water. Then it comes to us in Lucknow.
still receiver

[04]

A shop in Chowk.

Attar House is a narrow shop in Chowk, Lucknow, with a wall of glass flacons and a stool for anyone who wants to sit and smell. We buy from three families of still-makers in Kannauj who still distil the old way, and we bottle by hand in the room behind the counter. Ask for a cotton swab of attar on your wrist when you visit; nobody leaves without one.

3
distilling families in Kannauj
40
attars on the wall in Chowk
2009
first flacon sold
Concept by Brand Evolution