In 2022, the Spanish group Puig valued Byredo at more than one billion euros. The brand was only sixteen years old.
Byredo was founded in Stockholm in 2006 by Ben Gorham. Before perfume, Gorham was a professional basketball player with a fine-art degree and no formal training in scent. A meeting with the French perfumer Pierre Wulff pushed him toward fragrance. The name is short for "by redolence", meaning by strong smell.
The first release, Gypsy Water, came in 2008. Juniper, lemon, pine and incense, fresh and woody, and it became the cult favourite that made the brand. Bal d'Afrique followed in 2009, a bright citrus and violet unisex. Mojave Ghost arrived in 2014, a soft ambrette and magnolia scent named after a desert flower.
Gorham built Byredo into a full lifestyle house, adding make-up, leather goods and homeware. Puig bought a majority stake in 2022 and the whole company by 2024. Gorham left in June 2025 after nineteen years, closing the founder era.
Now the honest bit, and it comes from Byredo wearers, not from us. On Fragrantica, the most repeated line across reviews of Gypsy Water, Bal d'Afrique and Mojave Ghost is the same: they smell wonderful but sit close to the skin. Soft projection, modest longevity. Quiet scents at a loud price.
We rebuild that Byredo character in UK-made sprays at 35% concentration, with the strength people wish the originals had. Try Mirage, our take on Bal d'Afrique, or Phantom, our take on Mojave Ghost. More in the Byredo collection and the best Byredo dupes in the UK.
