By Sandra Mateu Summer Issue 2012 In homage to the city where anything is possible, artist and founder Laurice Rahme created a collection of fragrances that give every neighborhood of New York City a scent of its own. Bond No.9 is a brand that brings back the art aspect of perfume-making, while developing fragrances that go hand in hand with the ever-changing world of today. Wall Street, Chinatown, New Haarlem and Brooklyn, just to name a few, already have a perfume of its own. Each of them offers a taste of its people, its food, and its culture with a touch of progressiveness typical of the city that doesn’t sleep. Bond No.9 offers a modern proposal by creating fragrances not only for men or women, but also unisex and “by making scents contemporary by adding a twist to the classic fragrance notes,” as her creator carefully explained. Rahme, who has an extensive and impressive background in the beauty industry having worked for Lancome, Annick Goutal and Creed, thought that New York City needed to be celebrated. She started her mission in 2003 by opening a boutique in NoHo, New York. “The name of our brand comes from our first boutique opened on 9 Bond Street. I wanted to honor every neighborhood of NYC and since I know the City very well, I started pairing their scents such as their delicious food, especially desserts and spices, to their location and creating a fragrance to celebrate it,” explained Rahme. While sitting at the second floor of Saks Fifth Avenue – Dadeland Mall in Miami, Florida, Laurice shows me a beautiful collection of gorgeous bottles of Bond No.9 and lets me try on Central Park West, a fragrance that comes with a cute necklace/bracelet and rose pin. As Rahme explained, Central Park West consists of “Narcissus mingled with tangy ylang ylang and a pinch of piquant pepper; a beckoning white-petal mélange and majestic gardenia.” She also tells me about their new scent Sag Harbor coming out on Memorial Day. “Sag Harbor is the only marine oud on the market. It is an easy going, sophisticated and enticingly beautiful fragrance,” said Rahme. Laurice came to Miami this May 11th and 12th for a special event at Saks Fifth Avenue where she not only promoted her fragrances, but also autographed bottles. This event donated 10% of the sales to three community organizations: Jewish Community Services Shalom Bayit, Women’s Fund of Miami Dade and La Liga Contra el Cancer (The League against Cancer). At the end of the interview, I asked Laurice if Bond No.9 had any plans of expanding her fragrance collection to other cities, and she proudly responded: “New York City deserves this celebration, especially with everything it has gone through. We want to stick to our mission and infuse the island of Manhattan with delicious scents.” Captivated by the enthusiasm and good energy of the conversation I dared to ask one more question. Hypothetically speaking, I said to Rahme, if there was a remote possibility of creating a fragrance for the city of Miami, what would it smell like? She laughed and responded without hesitation: “Ohhhh It would smell very, very sexy dear.” www.bondno9.com
