Clive Christian acquired Crown Perfumery in 1999. Crown had been around since 1872, when William Sparks Thomson first named his corsetry business and later added lavender-based smelling salts. The connection to royalty was genuine. Queen Victoria had granted the house the use of the royal crown.
The original Crown Perfumery made Crab Apple Blossom in 1886. That fragrance marks the moment the house shifted from scent as a functional aid to scent as an art form. For the next hundred years, Crown Perfumery made fragrances. They were good fragrances. But they were quiet.
When Clive Christian found the house, he saw something others had missed: a building block. He launched the Original Collection in 1999, and each fragrance was composed with one principle locked in: no compromise. Each Clive Christian scent contains 150 to 250 ingredients, minimum. Each holds at least 20 per cent perfume oil.
The house does not advertise extensively. It lets the formulas speak. That is the British tradition at its best. Clive Christian himself received an OBE in 2012 for his contribution as a designer to British luxury goods, and the house has remained centred on the same ideal: heritage, concentration, and the refusal to soften for easier margins.
The honest bit is simple. You cannot make a fragrance with 150 ingredients and 20 per cent oil and pretend it is a launch-and-forget volume play. This house exists for people who believe concentration and complexity are not flaws.
Our Ivory Amber (our take on Clive Christian X) is a UK-made 35% extrait spray, available in 5ml sampler to 50ml bottle. See the full Clive Christian collection.
