No Perfume House Would Take Him On. Now His Natural Perfumes Sell in About 20 Countries

Hiram Green is an independent perfumer in Ankeveen, the Netherlands, who handcrafts entirely natural perfumes under the name Hiram Green Perfumes. He grew up in Toronto, studied fine arts, and found his way to fragrance through a job at a perfume shop in London. When no established perfume house would take him on, he taught himself – and launched his brand in 2013 with Moon Bloom.

Hiram works exclusively with natural ingredients – essential oils, absolutes and resins – in his studio in Ankeveen, a small village in the Dutch countryside. He starts with an idea or an ingredient, then makes a formula, smells it, adjusts it and tries again; some perfumes take months. He doesn’t work to a release schedule, and every perfume matures for at least three months before bottling.

Hiram doesn’t make custom perfumes or accept commissions; he concentrates on his own collection of nine fragrances. It is available on his website – including a Discovery Set with all nine, plus a €25 gift card toward a future purchase – and through about 40 independent perfume shops in around 20 countries. He ships worldwide where shipping regulations allow.

Hiram’s perfumes reach people mainly through independent perfume shops – about 40 retailers in around 20 countries, which he deals with directly rather than through distributors. Reviews from perfume writers and enthusiasts, word of mouth, social media and his own website do the rest; he has about 16,000 Instagram followers. “A good retailer does much more than sell a bottle.”

After closing his perfume shop in London, Hiram tried to find work with an established perfume house. He hoped to learn the craft from someone experienced, but no one wanted to take him on. So he decided to teach himself. He bought some essential oils from a local health food shop and started experimenting.

He grew up in Toronto and studied fine arts before moving to London. He didn’t have a particular career in mind, but he found a job at a perfume shop – and that’s where his interest in fragrance began. With no formal training, the experiments were mostly trial and error. “I made plenty of things that weren’t particularly good, but I enjoyed discovering how different materials worked together.” There was no single moment when everything clicked – it was a gradual process of learning, experimenting and improving. No training was frustrating at times, he says, but looking back, it was probably a good thing.

“I wasn’t taught how to make perfume, so I had to find my own way.”

He later moved to the Netherlands, and in 2013 he launched Hiram Green Perfumes with Moon Bloom.

Hiram handcrafts all his perfumes in his studio in Ankeveen, a small village in the Dutch countryside. He works exclusively with natural ingredients, including essential oils, absolutes and resins. “I enjoy the richness and complexity of these materials and the possibilities they offer when combined.”

He usually begins with an idea or a particular ingredient that interests him. From there, it’s a process of experimentation: he makes a formula, smells it, makes adjustments and tries again. Sometimes a perfume comes together relatively quickly; others take months of work. Working only with natural materials has its own difficulty. “You don’t have the same control over individual scent aspects as you do with synthetic aroma chemicals. You have to work with the materials as they are, which can be frustrating but also rewarding.”

“I don’t work to a fixed release schedule. I finish a perfume when I’m happy with it, not when a marketing calendar says it should be ready.” Once made, his perfumes mature for at least three months before bottling. “It’s a slow process, but I think it’s important to give the ingredients time to settle and come together.”

Hiram’s perfumes and the process of making them in his studio in the Netherlands. All the fragrances are created by hand using natural ingredients, from the initial experiments through to the finished bottles. Photos: Hiram Green.

Hiram’s customers are spread around the world, with particularly strong interest in independent perfumery in Europe and North America. Some are serious perfume enthusiasts with large collections; others simply discover one of his fragrances and fall in love with it. He sells directly through his website and through a network of independent perfume boutiques, and ships worldwide where shipping regulations allow.

What he enjoys most is hearing how people experience his perfumes. Someone might find a fragrance comforting while another person finds the same perfume dramatic or mysterious. “I like that a perfume can become something quite different once it leaves my studio.”

When Hiram started Hiram Green Perfumes in 2013, the world of independent perfumery was much smaller than it is today. Fragrance blogs and online communities played an important role in helping people discover new perfume makers. His earliest customers were curious about independent perfumery and willing to try something from a small, relatively unknown brand. Word of mouth mattered most: when someone discovered one of his perfumes and wrote about it, others became interested.

He didn’t have a large advertising budget or an established network of retailers. Building an audience was a gradual process, “one customer at a time.”

Independent perfume shops have been the most important. Hiram prefers to deal directly with retailers rather than distributors, and over the years he has built relationships with shops around the world – today about 40 of them, in around 20 countries. “A good retailer does much more than sell a bottle. They introduce customers to fragrances and let them experience them in person.”

Reviews from perfume writers and enthusiasts have also been valuable. “Perfume is a difficult product to communicate online because you cannot smell it through a screen. Having someone describe their experience with a fragrance can make a real difference.”

More recently, he has put greater emphasis on his own website, particularly the Discovery Set, which lets customers explore the full collection before choosing a full-size bottle. Social media helps too – he has about 16,000 Instagram followers. But “I’ve never been particularly comfortable with aggressive marketing. I prefer to let the perfumes speak for themselves.”

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In 2003, Hiram opened his own shop in London, Scent Systems, specializing in artisan perfumes, which were still quite difficult to find at the time. It received a surprising amount of international attention, but that didn’t translate into enough sales to keep the shop going. There wasn’t one moment when he knew it was time to close; eventually, the numbers simply didn’t add up. “I learned that a beautiful product and press attention don’t necessarily mean you have a viable business.”

Starting his own brand meant more trial and error. He had to teach himself not only how to make perfume, but also how to run a business, find suppliers, manage production and reach customers. Natural ingredients can be expensive or difficult to source, and he has spent a lot of time developing formulas that ultimately went nowhere. “There have certainly been difficult periods, but I’ve always enjoyed making perfume. I think that’s what has kept me going.” Even when the business side becomes frustrating, he still looks forward to going into the studio and working on something new.

Launching Moon Bloom in 2013 was an important moment. Tuberose is one of Hiram’s favorite raw materials, so it was a natural choice: he wanted a rich, sensual white floral with tuberose at its center, and jasmine and ylang-ylang to bring out different sides of the flower. “I love its complexity. It can be fresh and almost green, but also very warm and heady.” The perfume took years to develop, but the biggest challenge wasn’t making it. “It was gaining the confidence to put my name on it and release it into the world.”

Until 2013, making perfume had largely been something he did for himself. “Suddenly, people I didn’t know were buying something I had created and wearing it.” What surprised him was how strongly people could connect with a fragrance – people associate smells with memories, places and people, and everyone experiences them differently. “I realized that I didn’t need to make perfumes that appealed to everyone. Some people appreciated what I was doing, and that was enough to build on.” Moon Bloom remains one of his bestsellers today.

The permanent collection now has nine fragrances, with another planned for early 2027.

“Hiram Green Perfumes is a small independent perfume house based in the Netherlands. I create and produce all my fragrances by hand, using exclusively natural ingredients. My perfumes are for people who appreciate something a little different.”

Who: Hiram Green (Hiram Green Perfumes)
What: Handcrafted, entirely natural perfumes
Where: Ankeveen, the Netherlands
Started: June 2013
Audience: About 16,000 Instagram followers
Customers: About 40 independent retailers in around 20 countries, plus direct sales on his website
Price range: €8–€220
Custom orders: No
Ships: Worldwide, where shipping regulations allow
Channels: Word of Mouth & Offline, Communities & Forums, Social Media