gents meets Widian founder Ali Al Jaberi
– a conversation about perfumery and leather as an ingredient.
We had the opportunity to interview Ali Al Jaberi about his passion for perfumes and his perspective on different scent notes. As the founder of the niche brand Widian, whose ambition is to unite Arabic tradition with modern Western perfumery, Al Jaberi has his own personal thoughts on leather and how the ingredient is best used. Let’s take a look at his answers to our questions.
Summary
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Ali Aljaberi creates perfumes based on emotions and personal memories rather than a specific target audience.
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His work is built on close collaboration with perfumers, where ideas are translated into scent through carefully selected ingredients.
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Leather is a central ingredient that can vary widely in expression depending on composition and balance.
In the Arab world, the art of perfumery has deep historical roots, often grounded in local traditions, and Ali Al Jaberi’s own passion for fragrance began at an early age when he started experimenting with homemade perfumes. However, it wasn’t until 2008 that he began the career as a fragrance creator that would later form the foundation of today’s Widian. When the first perfume was launched, the brand was called A J Arabia, and as international ambitions grew, the name was changed to Widian. Since then, more collections and fragrances have followed, all based on Al Jaberi’s own creative vision.
– No one can really describe themselves, but many would probably say that I am a perfectionist who strives for the highest standards, says Al Jaberi. Since I don’t compose the perfumes myself, I work side by side with skilled perfumers who are able to translate my ideas into reality. It’s the hardest job in the world!
When developing ideas for his perfumes, Al Jaberi does not have a specific target audience in mind – his vision is based on emotions and personal associations. His main sources of inspiration are nature and people. His favorite note is iris, which he himself finds somewhat ironic as he rarely uses it in his compositions. His earliest scent memory was the Italian pine-scented Pino Silvestre, worn daily by his father, something that early on made him aware of fragrance’s ability to convey moods and memories and which has since formed the foundation of his approach to perfumery:
– First, you need to have an idea of what kind of fragrance you want to create and what it should convey. Should it make you feel fresh, sexy, energized, or create a sense of closeness and intimacy? The next step is to translate those feelings into words (easier said than done!) and then begin the process of finding the ingredients that represent those emotions, and finally compose the fragrance together with a professional perfumer.
– Many would probably say I am a perfectionist striving for the highest standards
Al Jaberi’s vision for Widian is itself a direct expression of the cosmopolitan spirit that defines Abu Dhabi – the multicultural center of the United Arab Emirates, where East meets West. It therefore feels natural to collaborate with Western perfumers such as the French perfumer Jean-Claude Astier, while the Arabic influence remains clear in the bottle design and in the use of ingredients such as incense, spices and – leather.
To translate the scent of leather into a perfume, the material is soaked, making it possible to extract oils and resins from the raw material. The presence of leather in a fragrance can then create different nuances such as citrus, hay, tar and various animalic facets. One can create impressions ranging from suede and leather jackets to animal hide, and the final result is influenced by the notes that leather is blended with. Al Jaberi cannot name any note he would not combine with leather – it is all about dosage and execution:
– Experimenting with scent notes is like playing with colors and creating a piece of art; if you mix red and green you get brown, just as mixing blue and orange gives brown – or you can simply paint directly with brown.
In Widian’s softer "Black Collection" – where the five fragrances symbolize different stops along the Silk Road from East to West – leather is carefully balanced and only subtly present among fruits, florals and incense. In the more distinctive evening fragrance London from the "Sapphire Collection", leather is more pronounced and interacts with smoke and raspberry to evoke England. According to Al Jaberi, balance is key. When asked if there is any scent style he does not like, he answers: "when it becomes too obviously animalic":
– Leather is a very tricky ingredient. When composed correctly it makes you feel sexy, but when handled incorrectly it just smells like a "barnyard". One of the more interesting leather fragrances on the market, in my opinion, is Galop d'Hermes.
When asked about his best scent memory of leather, he doesn’t hesitate:
– Clean skin!
