A slender bottle of serge lutens' Fleurs d'Oranger, Sophia Coppola's favorite orange blossom scent; an apothecary jar of chartreuse-colored Absolute Absinthe, with hints of cannabis, black tea and lotus flowers; a faceted Art Deco bottle of L'Artisan Parfumeur Passage D'Enfer, evoking sweet roses and ginger until something slightly dark and intriguing creeps in, a whisper of frankincense, a smidgen of cedar. They're all on the shelves of Apothia, the jewel box of a fragrance boutique at Fred Segal on Melrose that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. Apothia offers more than 200 scents crafted with rare ingredients--Tunisian opium, Bulgarian rose, vetiver from Java. The mastermind behind it is Ron Robinson, the boutique's owner. He's a kingpin in the niche scent world, scouring the globe from Hong Kong to the Grand Caymans for little-known perfumes such as the intoxicating Yosh collection, a recent discovery that blends Moroccan cedar, Egyptian tuberose and dozens of other exotic notes. As far as Robinson is concerned, the more mysterious the ingredients, the better: "I'm always intrigued when I smell a fragrance and I'm challenged as to what it is."
A Nose for Niche
Ron Robinson, who founded the fragrance boutique Apothia 25 years ago, is L.A.'s reigning prince of perfume
Robinson, 58, finds scents in unexpected places, and when he uncovers one he loves, he pursues it relentlessly. On one memorable scouting mission in London in the '90s, he stumbled on Czech & Speake, an Edwardian fixtures shop that happened to craft a few boutique scents on the side. One whiff of No. 88, an evocative floral and smoky concoction with a talcum-y finish, and he knew he had to bring it to Apothia. The unique combination of traditionally feminine and masculine ingredients was like nothing he had ever smelled. Czech & Speake's owners were reluctant to let him import it to the U.S., but after six months of conversations, they acquiesced. It soon became one of Robinson's bestsellers.
His flair for sniffing out the next big eau de parfum has made him a hero among the most finicky fragrance connoisseurs, including Karen Dubin, founder of Sniffapalooza (a website as well as an organization of perfumistas that sponsors events). In the '90s, she would call Apothia to ask for samples of cult collections. "It was the only place in the country where you could find a really interesting line like the People of the Labyrinths," she says. "It smells a little bit like Play-Doh. That's what I love about Ron. He's not afraid to take chances."
Robinson's influence extends far beyond the clubby world of serious scent enthusiasts; it has reached what's sold at the Gap and Banana Republic. According to Gary McNatton, former senior vice president of Gap personal care (and who still works on projects for the Gap's owners), scouts from the mega-retailer often descended on Apothia to find emerging trends: "Not what's commercial but what's new," he says.
Robinson moved to L.A. from El Paso in 1968 when he was 19, lured by the Beach Boys, the salty air and free love, and landed a sales job at Fred Segal. Ten years later, he had his own apparel shop within Fred Segal, and it dawned on him that he could run a fragrance business too, operating it on the business model of a fashion boutique. Apothia--a combination of "apothecary" and "utopia"--was born. "There was no place in Los Angeles, and probably anywhere in the United States," he says, "that a cool, hip person could go to find an edited selection of beauty and fragrance and bath products."
At first, he stocked Dior, Lancome and Coty in a small corner of his shop, but then saw that clients responded well to niche scents such as Antonia's Flowers, a freesia-note floral. It's a perfume he still carries. He quickly ditched the major brands, featuring instead Gendarme and other independent labels. Cult followings soon formed for these hard-to-find fragrances, and Apothia bloomed.
In 2000, Robinson launched his own line of fragrances and candles under the Apothia brand, now carried in more than 100 stores around the world. Working with artisanal scent makers such as L.A.-based Sarah Horowitz-Thran, he dreams up fragrances that challenge wearers to think beyond Calvin Klein Eternity. Robinson's first perfume, If, was created using an unconventional method: He sent samples to 100 clients, asking for feedback at various points in the perfume-making process. The result was a crisp, citrusy blend with hints of frangipani, gardenia and other white florals. One woman who responded said it made her feel like "a heroine in an Ayn Rand novel."
"Niche perfumes are taking off because they are able to do things that are very out of the box," says Mary Ellen Lapsansky, executive director of the Fragrance Foundation, a nonprofit organization that educates consumers about the scent industry. In recent years, L.A. has seen several other perfume boutiques open, such as Melange Apothecary, Beautyhabit and Scent Bar.
