FRAGRANCES BORN IN FRANCE: HEXEH Studio’s Beauty in Simplicity
-by Ted Scheffler
I have to confess: I’m a big fragrance fan. I love incense and have diffusers dispensing beautiful fragrances strewn throughout the house. I have a pillow mister that lets me go to sleep at night smelling lavender and cedarwood. So naturally, I was drawn to learning all about Dimitri Allouch and his company HEXEH Studio.
HEXEH is a Salt Lake City-based studio fragrance and skincare company with the aim of providing “a simple, yet pleasing sensory experience through our lines of skincare, personal fragrances, and home scents. We believe there is beauty in simplicity. Through this philosophy we encourage a minimalist skincare regimen, embracing our natural aesthetic, and carrying a fragrance that speaks to our individuality.”
According to Allouch, HEXEH’s founder, “We are a fine fragrance company that aims to delight, impress, and surprise with scents that are not commonly found in the home fragrance space – and we often hear, ‘I love how they smell… I’ve never smelled anything like these before!’ Complementary to the fragrances, our diffuser wood casings are equally special: handmade and charred using the traditional Japanese method of Shou Sugi Ban. This process requires hours and energy to preserve the integrity of the casing, but also exposes its unique patterns and natural beauty of the wood’s grain – a kind of metaphor to describe refining processes of life.”
But Allouch wasn’t always in the fragrance biz. He says, “I received my professional training as a lawyer in France and worked in mediation for a time before I switched gears and joined a change management consulting firm in Luxembourg. Two years later I met my wife in Southeast Asia and moved to Singapore – it was there that the idea of HEXEH was formed.”
He continues, “I come from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners, so it seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted to do my own thing, create something that felt natural and came from within myself. Most of us have a desire to find meaning and purpose in what we do. I find that in my own life: experiences, inspirations, and building objects that improve our environments, aesthetic and moods.
His motivation to start HEXEH comes from two places, says Allouch, “First, a love and fascination for smart, simple design and, second, an appreciation for fragrances. These two elements were grown out of my life in Paris and living near the perfume town of Grasse – its history, how fragrances are made, how ingredients are sourced, and how they make us feel and remember certain things. Because those influences are so intertwined with who I am (as all of our life experiences) those became the ingredients to the idea of HEXEH.”
Nothing but top-notch, high-quality ingredients go into HEXEH candles, diffusers, incense, sprays and such. “All of our products are made with ingredients that are carefully sought, sourced and rigorously tested. Our skincare products are vitamin and botanical enriched, with no animal testing, and do not contain parabens, sulfates, phthalates, or formaldehyde. Our scented candles are made of 100% soy wax and clean-burning cotton wicks.”
The company is also committed to environmental responsibility, saying “HEXEH is committed to our environmental responsibility of using packaging that is 100% recyclable, sustainable, and sourced as close to home as possible. We do our very best to minimize plastics where and when we can from production to product.”
Looking to the future, Allouch says he’d “love to have a presence back in France, where it all began.” As for advice for other entrepreneurs considering launching their own businesses, he says “Gain clarity about what you want to do and why you want to do it. Find those people who feel the same way as you do – those are your potential customers and people who see you doing something different and worthwhile, and they will appreciate that.”
HEXEH products can be found online at HEXEHStudio.com and in SLC at the Fellow Shop, Lillie Botanica. at Mineral and Matter and, of course, at the Made in Utah Festival.