Most perfumes are designed to smell good. For John Domjan, founder of the Melbourne brand Örok Fragrances, that’s not quite enough.
His creations are designed to tell a story, then “to translate that story into something you can wear, live in and interpret in your own way.” Always visceral, curious and with an undercurrent of sex, the five scents in his arsenal draw from his own experience as a queer creative living in Australia.
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From the hedonistic, messy bliss of a late-night dance floor, to musings on love in a futuristic, genre-fluid world, they’re unlike any spritz you’ll find at your standard department store.
With a background in visual arts (print and installation, to be specific), John was interested in how people exist in a space, and the feelings that linger. “Over time, I became fascinated by fragrance as another form of spatial and emotional storytelling – something invisible but incredibly evocative. For me, perfumery became a kind of mobile installation, a way to carry feeling, memory and identity through scent.”
Turning to fragrance as his new artistic medium, he sought inspiration from story-centric brands like Serge Lutens, Miskeo Perfumes and Etat Libre d’Orange. He enlisted the help of French perfumer, Flora Gourdon, to help actualise his vision. From there, they began each new scent with a narrative, then worked to hone in on specific notes and qualities.
“I’m constantly inspired by human emotion, physical spaces and the beauty of liminal moments… Early mornings, dark corners, shared glances. Scent can capture the quiet, the charged, and the in-between in a way no other medium can.”
Bringing the dream to life has been “incredibly challenging, but also deeply fulfilling,” he says.
“Entering the fragrance world as an independent, queer creative meant navigating an industry that’s often inaccessible, especially when you’re self-funded and built from the ground up,” he tells me. However now, two years since the launch of the brand, he says the response so far has been “overwhelming in the best way”.
Vapor Bloom, one of the more curious Örok fragrances on offer, evokes a tech-driven future, inspired by “burnt electronics, industrial textures and the idea of synthetic florals growing in a post-human world.”. He sees the ever-iconic Hunter Schafer as an ideal candidate to wear it.
“It’s sharp and metallic with an underlying softness, almost like circuitry tangled with emotion. It plays with the tension between the artificial and the organic, and what intimacy might feel like in a more digitised future, where gender lines are blurred.”
While this particular scent may evoke a sense of sterility, Örok doesn’t shy away from the dirty, the raw and the reckless either. Take Undergrowth, a juicy, flirtatious concoction of cherry, musk and wet soil, or Rave, an ode to local gay parties.
“It’s about a queer club space where bodies are moving, sweat mingles with cologne and everything is amplified under strobes and sound. It’s not tied to one place, but a feeling I know well: freedom, desire and connection in the dark.” Opening with bitter grapefruit, it unfolds into an intoxicating, animalistic blend of patchouli, amber and cashmere.
With the next fragrance he plans on releasing, a homage to the leather community, he aims to dive deeper into intimacy and kink. “It’s a bold exploration of sweat, semen, latex and raw desire – meant to embody the charged intimacy, strength and unspoken codes found in queer spaces of pleasure and ritual. It’s about capturing a world that’s unapologetic, physical and deeply human.”
At the base of it all, he desires to capture the unique charm of his niche scene but make it something anyone can enjoy, no matter their gender, identity or location.
“The brand is absolutely shaped by Melbourne’s queer and creative communities. It’s local in its heart. But the themes – identity, desire, transformation – are completely universal. Anyone can find themselves in these stories.”
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This article Want to smell like Poof Doof? These fragrances are inspired by Melbourne’s queer scene appeared first on Fashion Journal.
2025-04-10 07:10:00
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