John Molloy, Co-Founder Of Floraïku Paris, On The Brand’s Story And One Of Its Latest Eau De Parfums

John Molloy’s path to perfumery was far from conventional. The Irishman studied banking and finance before discovering a passion for entrepreneurship that led him into the fashion industry, where he spent years working alongside creative talent.

In 2007, he and his wife, Clara—a Parisian poet of Catalan origin—founded Memo Paris. Years later, a trip to Japan from their home base in Geneva, Switzerland, was intended to inspire a single addition to Memo’s fragrance portfolio. Instead, it sparked an entirely new venture: Floraïku Paris. Launched with 11 fragrances, the house combines the olfactory savoir-faire of French perfumery with Asian refinement.

That philosophy is reflected in the haikus penned by Clara, each engraved on the back of a decanter and offering a poetic insight into the inspiration behind the scent.

One of the latest additions to the collection is Flying South, an eau de parfum inspired by warmer climates, bluer skies and sweeter fruits. During its launch event in Kuala Lumpur, we spoke with Molloy about the story behind the fragrance.

Tell me about Flying South.

For most of the world, the idea of ‘going south’ means going on holiday. It means summertime, sunshine, flowers, love. It means paradise. That’s what Flying South is meant to represent.

Then in the composition itself, you have the hibiscus accord, which is a pretty hard thing to capture; it’s pretty delicate. And we’ve paired it with a manuka melon—which is like an oriental melon—and musk. That’s how we’ve brought Flying South together. You get the fruity melon on top, before that wonderful, floral hibiscus note comes in, with a little bit of amberette coming through as well. And finally, the musk brings it all together in the end. So, it’s a fragrance that evolves as it stays on your skin throughout the day. It’s a long-lasting fragrance that works for all times of day, and for any season, but especially, of course, for spring and summer.

Who is Flying South made for?

For us, it’s anyone who really enjoys the excitement of going south. It’s for that person who’s got that joy of living, that energy, that passion. Really, it’s for anyone who’s got the capacity of dreaming. You don’t actually have to go south. You can wear Flying South and bring the South to you. So, it’s going to be for someone who really wants to feel that emotion of being on holiday, of being in paradise, and looking their best, feeling their best, in a place where there are no scarves or coats. Where you’ve got the capacity of walking out, and there’s that feeling that the sand and sea are somewhere nearby.

What are you most excited about this year?

What I’m really looking forward to at the moment is travelling with my son. He’s a young musician. He’s heading off to Boston, to the Berklee College of Music. He wants to be a singer and songwriter, and we’re going to do a father-son end-of-school trip to Iceland together, because he loves volcanoes.

How do you stay active?

I do a lot of sports. I used to play a lot of rugby years ago.  I also boxed when I was younger, but now I mainly do triathlons. I run, swim, and ride—it’s a lot of biking. Gravel biking in the wintertime, and then road biking in the summer.

What’s your favourite cocktail?

A penicillin.

Where’s your favourite place to holiday?

In our holiday home in Menorca.

If you could learn a new skill, what would it be? 

I would love to speak more languages. I would love to be able to speak the language of every country that I visit, because I like people. I like to sit down in a coffee shop and talk to the locals, to hear their stories about their country, about their childhoods growing up, and I think you can only really do that if you speak in someone’s natural tongue.

How would you like to be remembered when your time is up?

I’d like to go knowing that I helped people be curious by sharing stories. I think that’s one thing we can all do a bit more of: storytelling. About our backgrounds or where we’re from to help people discover other people and other cultures.

Storytelling, they say, is an Irish tradition where storytellers go from village to village, telling stories. In Ireland, we have the word shanakee, which means storyteller. If somebody Irish said that ‘John had a little bit of a shanakee in him,’ I’d be a happy man. Because if you’re a storyteller, it means you pass things on. You pass traditions. And anyone who’s listening to stories, they’re not on their phone. They’re dreaming, learning, and they’re moving forward.

Floraïku Paris’ Flying South is now available at KENS Apothecary boutiques and online at RM1,509.