JHP wins brief to expand Omani HQ of perfumery brand Amouage

The project involved masterplanning the entire 10 000m2 site and interiors. This included creating a visitor reception and viewing experience overlooking the factory laboratory and production areas (pictured), and extending and developing the retail, storage and staff areas and new administrative offices.

The consultancy has been involved with the project since 2007, having previously worked with the brand on developing flagship stores in Muscat, Dubai and London, and on international concessions.

Raj Wilkinson, joint managing director of JHP, says, ’Amouage identified that there’s a big potential to expand the brand in terms of world sales, and it needed an infrastructure to support that.’

JHP was appointed without a pitch to build a large, two-storey extension to the existing factory building, which is clad in Omani marble, and to create a more modern factory production area.

A water fountain and sculptural wave canopy at the entrance aim to illustrate the brand name’s Omani meaning of ’waves of emotion’. The reception area will have an ’exhibition’ feel, says Wilkinson, with a visual narrative of the brand presented to visitors to familiarise themselves with the perfume-making process.

Visitors will be able to see the ’story of Amouage’ through a tour of the perfume factory, which will show the fermenting and packing of the perfumes. The route will then lead visitors back to the retail area, where they can buy Amouage products at factory prices.

Building work began on the development about three months ago, and it is hoped to be complete in 2011.

Fragrant notes
JHP joint managing director Raj Wilkinson says key considerations in the project are light filtration, shade and solar panels, due to the 50-degree heat in Oman The building will have traditional Omani architectural elements, such as arches and white rendering
Amouage is owned by the Omani royal family
In creating Amouage’s latest fragrance, Memoir, creative director Christopher Chong was reportedly inspired by Baudelaire’s poem Les Fleurs du Mal and the German philosophy of the doppelganger