Joseph Knize, one of its inventors lived in Vienna and was a supplier to the Royal and Imperial Court. The fragrance we offer, Knize Ten, has been available since 1925. The great author Hans Habe once said that, if he were cast away on a desert island, he would take Knize with him, since, for a man using a toilet water, it was really not so much a matter of undermining the morale of a beautiful woman than boosting one’s own.

The brilliant designer and poster artist Ernst Deutsch-Dryden played a decisive role in the composition of Knize. Knize was the most famous men’s outfitter in Vienna. His shop still exists today with a much-admired interior, one of the great works of the architect and designer Adolf Loos. Knize Ten is one of the few fragrances to have distinct note of leather. Perfumers, who are capable of lyricism equal to that of wine connoisseurs, differentiate between the top, heart and base note of a fragrance and sense chords and cadences in the combination of these three. The top note of Knize is citrus-fresh with petitgrain, orange, rosemary and bergamot; the heart note is dry to woody with cedars and sandalwood, and the base note is leathery with castor and ambergris. In view of its age, Knize is not, of course, a fully synthetic perfume. It contains costly natural substances – patchouli wood, lemon, orris, clove and orange blossom amongst others.

Vapo 125 ml

A floral addition to the Knize family, Knize Two, created in 1978, is a fresh floral chypre with a beautiful, cut violet-leaf note singing in its heart. Clean and fresh but with minor-key notes that keep its melody interesting, Knize Two could help usher in spring with its sunny disposition.

It opens with a green and slightly soapy accord offset by bitter-fresh galbanum and petitgrain, all of which is sharpened with bergamot and lemon. A subtle fruit note adds warmth to Knize Two’s radiant florals, among them rose, jasmine, and carnation. Its woody/mossy drydown — with cedarwood, sandalwood, and musk — gives scratchy texture to the smooth and subtley lingering florals that shine through the base.

A throwback to a time when a clean scent could have complexity and on the feminine side of unisex, Knize Two is reminiscent of Geoffrey Beene’s classic Grey Flannel — if the latter were wearing a garland of flowers around its neck.

Vapo 125 ml