Pekji Perfumes from modern Istambul
An illustrator and graphic designer by trade, Ömer İpekçi, the founder of Pekji niche perfume house was born in Istanbul where he currently resides. A childhood spent between the high altitudes of the Black Sea mountains, the idyllic Mediterranean coast and chaotic, urban Istanbul has taught him to appreciate contrasting environments and cultures for what they are.
This is reflected in his two prong approach to perfumery. On the one hand İpekçi draws inspiration from Turkish scent traditions, with a strong understanding for the woods, resins and oriental florals of the Anatolian peninsula. On the other he has a deep affiliation for ultra modern compositions and genre bending experimentation.
Pekji Perfumes: a balancing act between worlds
Pekji Re:Re:Collection deals with self reflection through the filter of personal memory, culture and identity. The Re:Re: Collection connects with olfactory lineage that stretches back in time – the scents that have led us to where we are today. Pekji Reset collection, on the other hand, is an exploration of the “self” underneath culture and identity. Reset focusses on setting, adjusting and fixing materials at hand in pioneering new ways.
Pekji Re:Re: Collection
The Re:Re: Collection is an invitation to return to the level of conscious awareness. To remind oneself of something temporarily forgotten. To recover reason or resolution. To gather what is scattered – to gather again. Aggressive, emotional, tactile and ambient qualities are common traits of the collection. Natural and synthetic, rare and common, affordable and costly materials come together in these eclectic compositions that were conceived without concerns about cost, market appeal or common sense. The niche perfumes in the Re:Re: Collection strike a balance between familiarity and novelty, exploring new territory without seeming alien. They are layered and detailed, holding up to further inspection for an audience expecting more from perfume.
Pekji Reset Collection
The Reset Collection was born of a strong desire for change. A need to break with expectation. The collection is based on the image of a device such as a button or switch which, when pressed, enables us to start again. Reset plays with themes of mindfulness, renewal and self reflection. In contrast to the Re:Re:Collection, the perfumes here are inspired by common but abstract human experiences instead of cultural and representational ones. The collection has a contemporary language and does not reference existing perfume genres.
A niche perfume house with underground roots
Before taking on perfumery, İpekçi also sought creative expression in painting, music photography and calligraphy without making them public. For him perfume is an underappreciated art form- a shortcut to trigger emotion without words and images getting in the way. It can and should be more than seeking status and smelling acceptable.
Before launching as an avant-garde Independant Turkish perfume brand, Pekji had an ever-growing underground following. İpekçi made perfumes for a small circle of perfume enthusiasts and quickly garnered a dedicated following thanks to word of mouth. Pekji has sealed its place in the artistically fertile interstitial space between the cultural and the personal, past and future, the inherited and the yet to be discovered.