A man full of contradicting surprises, we converse with Ben Gorham, founder of Byredo, about his inspiration, challenges, nostalgic childhood memories and creation of Mumbai Noise
By: Tripti Jangpangi
Posted on: April 14, 2022
You can never judge a book by its cover. Ben Gorham is the perfect example of that.
Born in Stockholm to an Indian mother and a Canadian father, Mr. Gorham is a melting pot of diverse cultures. And while being emotionally attuned to his surroundings, his tattooed, tough appearance is complete opposite of his sensitive personality.
His fragrance brand Byredo hits the nail with its niche placement. Each of his fragrances manifest a special memory. And he recently launched the Mumbai Noise fragrance, dedicated to his memories of India, and to express the complexity and the beauty of India’s contemporary reality. He says with great nostalgia, “I would travel to Chembur in Mumbai when I was a kid to visit my grandmother. Growing up between Europe and North America, India seemed like a fantasy land. Mumbai is a sensory overload, it literally hits you the moment you get off the plane. The smells, the sounds, it’s a cacophony in the truest sense of the word. But what we see of Mumbai in the West is so one dimensional, an idea of India that probably visually originated in the 1970s.”
To understand Mr. Gorham’s sensitivity towards his craft, it is important to dwell into his unique past.
A Rollercoaster Ride
Mr. Gorham dreamt to play basketball professionally as a young athlete. He certainly excelled at the game as he played for his high school in New York and then college in Canada before leaving to play professionally in Europe. Unable to obtain the correct paperwork to continue professionally, Mr. Gorham reluctantly gave up the game.
“Long story short, Byredo wouldn’t be the same brand if I had have begun my career in the beauty industry instead of basketball or if I was living in a bigger city.”
“As an athlete, you have and you develop a competitive drive that’s all consuming and there is nothing more important than basketball and when that stops, it leaves a huge hole. I felt completely lost but like everyone else I had to earn money to live. Actually, working on a construction site wasn’t my low point; this was more to do with where I was in my life, having stopped playing all together. That drive was a part of me that I found strength in and so it wasn’t long before I felt I could start again. I’m thankful for my training in that respect,” Mr. Gorham expressed.
He eventually found solace in the arts and enrolled in art school in Stockholm. Upon graduating, a chance meeting with a perfumer convinced him that he’d rather express his creativity through fragrances than paintings. With no formal training in the field, Mr. Gorham sought out the services of two world renowned perfumers. He explained his olfactory desires and let them create the compositions. As an outsider in the beauty industry, Mr. Gorham is somewhat of an anomaly and has been recognized for his personal style and connection to fashion and art in several international magazines.
Mr. Gorham insisted, “Because I live in Stockholm and not in Paris, London or New York for example, I’m an ‘outsider-in-law’ if I may say. You know, it's like working in a cave and it helps me to reconnect to all the good stuff that inspires me. Being an outsider has its advantages. When I created Byredo, I didn’t have to accept the status quo as I didn’t come up in this world. I could look objectively and see opportunities differently to other brands who had well established ways of doing things. It gave me freedom and agility and inspiration to try to imagine an alternative world for fragrance and makeup. By nature, I am disruptive and Byredo has been the perfect outlet to realize this creatively.
“Long story short, Byredo wouldn’t be the same brand if I had have begun my career in the beauty industry instead of basketball or if I was living in a bigger city.”
Special Connection to India
Mr. Gorham’s connection to India is deeper than it sounds. Mumbai and Chembur represents two universes melted in one for him. He says, “It’s a story of two: two different stages in the same story, two different times of my life, two different periods of time in India, two different angles and through two different lenses!”.
Mumbai Noise is not the first Indian-inspired fragrance by Byredo. In 2007, he created Encens Chembur, which was about his mother and his souvenir of where she lived. Mumbai Noise was born from his memory of Mumbai as a child iterated as the contemporary city it has become.
“This city of contrasts is reflected through a scent crowded with its own contradictions: of rich, warm woods and amber blended with brightness; of plummy Davana positioned alongside leather, bitter coffee stirred with sweet tonka beans.”
“India has a very personal and intimate meaning to me. I went as a child many times from a young age. My mother is Indian so we would often travel there to spend time with my grandmother and visit family in Chembur, Mumbai. I went to Mumbai because that’s where my family is from, but I also travelled to Rajasthan, Udaipur, and Jaipur and this is when I created Encens Chembur, a fragrance directly inspired by my mother and named after the suburb outside Mumbai where she was born. The scent is a combination of temple incense, amber ginger and bergamot – it’s like a photograph of what I captured at that time,” he reminisces.
While Chembur defined Mr. Gorham’s childhood, Mumbai intrigued his adult self. “Actually, after my grandmother passed, I didn’t return to India until my 20s and when I did, it looked totally different, but remained familiar at the same time. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I was transported back to being a child and could instantly picture and feel being home with my family. India means home to me – not home as in a house but home as in part of where I am from – most importantly where part of my family and my mother is from as I said. My Mother has been such an incredible support and influence to me, and therefore India runs subtly through so much of what I do. It’s when and where Mumbai Noise started growing in my mind – more as a never-ending story, a never-ending film rather than a photograph anchored in the past.”
Mumbai Noise is more of a ‘modern’ fragrance – diametrically opposite from Encens Chembur. Mumbai Noise is an olfactive feast of sensory experience bound to transport to a different universe, flavored with Devona as the top note, Tonka Beans and Coffee as middle notes based on unique mélange of Labdanum/Sandalwood/Agarwood. When we inquired him about this unique fusion of unconventional elements, Mr. Gorham says, “This city of contrasts is reflected through a scent crowded with its own contradictions: of rich, warm woods and amber blended with brightness; of plummy Davana positioned alongside leather, bitter coffee stirred with sweet tonka beans.”
He further explained, “Going back as an adult, I realised how much had changed but it still felt comfortingly familiar. Mumbai had become a contemporary city that still embraced tradition, but was also pushing the boundaries of what that means to the next generation. There were incredible photographers - like Ashish Shah - and fashion designers, drag artists, contemporary dancers and so much more. So Mumbai Noise is really an olfactive love letter to the dichotomy that is contemporary India. Contemporary India is not what you think it is, it’s so much more.”
For Mumbai Noise, Mr. Gorham collaborated with Indian creative Ashish Shah, who was named by the British Journal of Photography as one of 20 photographers to watch globally in 2021. They both created a campaign that captures the spirit of young India - which is dynamic, open, authentic and unapologetic about one’s identity. There is drama, colour and a slight allusion towards tradition in the campaign.
“Ashish and I see Mumbai through the eyes of the next generations, and an Eastern lens not a Western one. There is such a vibrant fabric of creative talents: incredible photographers – like fashion designers, drag artists, contemporary dancers and so much more. These images are just the tip of it. Mumbai has evolved culturally and creatively at an astounding pace, yet the narrative remains stuck on poverty and mysticism. When you visit the city, it is brimming with youth from a vivid counterculture. These are the people that Ashish photographs, and the people that embody the energy of Mumbai. What I really wanted to capture and share with the world is Mumbai in all its complexity, forever evolving yet staying true to rich traditions. The smell is from my past but the story told by Ashish through pictures is really about the present and future,”Mr. Gorham explains beautifully.
Combining Forces
"I built Byredo to be anything – that’s the beauty of it. So, when there is an idea that can’t be bottled into a perfume, we are free to express it in other ways."
Ben Gorham is known for his creative collaborations, and when we asked him which his favorite collaboration was, he responded, “Elevator Music with Virgil Abloh – reason being, my friendship with Virgil”. In 2018, Virgil Abloh and Mr. Gorham dropped a capsule collection of perfume, prêt-a-porter and leather accessories in a musical installation conceived by Carsten Holler. The collaboration was born out of the desire to create pieces that connect with next generation sensibilities. And it was also a marker of their friendship that started long before they began working in the luxury industry.
Shortly after this project, in 2021, Byredo officially launched ‘Byproduct’ with its existing lines of leather goods, accessories and the prêt-a-porter line. Byredo had dropped the first capsule leather collection in 2017. Mr. Gorham shared the vision behind building an entire new universe which originates with the essence of memories in all form and shapes: “Byproduct is not only about leather. I built Byredo to be anything – that’s the beauty of it. So, when there is an idea that can’t be bottled into a perfume, we are free to express it in other ways. It all comes from the same place – the notion of something perfectly expressed, everything is a left-over creative thought from something else. It all fits together into the full Byredo narrative.”
The Creator’s Love
In the backdrop of the launch of Mumbai Noise, we took the liberty to ask him to pick his favorite fragrance, and he candidly replied, “You’d be surprised that I don’t wear fragrances myself. This is probably why I keep creating new ones! I don’t know too much about trends, but I believe people will be seeking unique fragrances as a way of expressing individuality. When I do wear fragrance – it’s always Byredo Palermo.” Byredo Palermo is a fresh citrusy perfume with Bigarade, Sicilian Bergamot as top note, while fresh musk and rose are the center, with a base of Ambrette flower and skin musk. It is an ode to the beautiful Sicilian city called Palermo which was founded in 734 BC.
As an ending note, Mr. Gorham expressed his thoughts for his brand: “What I love most about Byredo is that we don’t fit into one category or one definition – that is probably the biggest difference. Of course, we are a Beauty brand, but our spirit is free and obsessed with perfection – and that tension between the two means we really can create anything. It’s the very essence of Byredo actually. It’s a small collection for now, but we have big ambitions.”
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