The business

that Jo built
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines; Jo Loves has arrived. Only this perfume store will be like nothing you have ever experienced before. Katie Randall walks down memory lane with Jo Malone

his is the second time Ive done this, enthuses a bespectacled Jo Malone, leaning forward ever so slightly to impart a piquant-juicy tidbit as though I am one of her oldest girlfriends. Perched on a red leather sofa in front of me, relaxed and at peace with the world is the face, or woman I should say, who launched a thousand beautiful scents under her namesake fragrance, bath and body brand in 1994. Two years later, she had sold the brand to Este Lauder but stayed on in the role of creative director until she

was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. After a difficult period, during which she had to step away from her brand, undergo chemotherapy and maintain an enforced five-year absence from the perfume industry, Jo is back. Channeling her creative talents in late 2011, she has painstakingly created a glossy new brand. Enter Jo Loves. When you feel that ignition moment: the moment when your feet leave the ground, its magic. In the last three months I would say this [sensation] has started to happen; we can feel

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ourselves going vroom, Jo explains. The seasoned entrepreneur and scent guru is, of course, discussing her recent introduction to Belgravian society; coming full circle, Jo has opened her brands first boutique where she once worked as a wide-eyed teen at 42 Elizabeth Street. Throwing previous notions of boutiques out of the window, Jo has rid retail of dull fragrance cards [that you scent and sniff to test a fragrance] and neat, straightforward presentation of product: the Jo Loves perfume shop, the owner proudly proclaims, is a fragrance brasserie. I think retail has become a bit staid, she continues. As retailers we think its all about the product, but its not. Retail has always been about the excitement, the education and the entertainment. Somewhere along the line we lost that thread and we stopped being creative. And how do we reclaim the passion and thrill, I cry? Thankfully, Jo has the answer. If you look at all of the admirable places around the world, creativity rules and this is key. When you truly engage with a brand and its message you feel like youve been kissed for the very first time. I am feeling giddy at the mere thought of a delicately scented Jo Loves peck on the cheek, so I push the creator for further details of this innovative new concept. When you walk past a brasserie you instantly want to sit outside, read a paper and have a think about life. Thats how I want this shop to feel. Visitors will cross the threshold and will be greeted by a tasteful ode to white, with beech floors and red accents. Jo tells me that the shop is identical to her own home, largely due to the fact that it has been designed by the very same interior designer, Martin Steel. I have been involved in every single detail as I want it to feel as though youve come to my house for dinner. If you were visiting my home, Id naturally look after you. So what else does hospitality la Malone involve, I wonder? The bar is so stunningly beautiful,

I had my first wonderful job at the age of 16 in the flower shop that used to stand at 44 Elizabeth Street

Jo chuckles. Wait just a second, the bar? I begin to realise that this perfume retailer really has thought out of the box. Ive got a huge bar in the shape of the letter J and it curves round and is covered in beautiful silver and pewter glass. The wonderful Jeremy King, who created Caf Colbert, helped me with the design of our brasserie bar, because I couldnt get it right, the mogul explains. It kept turning into a counter, so I asked him to help and he did all these wonderful little drawings and suddenly there was the answer right before me. This is by no means where the intrigue ends; Jo is indelibly excited to serve up cologne in beautiful white tagines at her bar under the ambient lighting of drop lanterns, as well as beauty lotions on pristine white spoons and shower gels in cocktail shakers. Its just the start of a creative new journey, Jo says, leaning in again. Ive created some new concepts which I am so proud of. Lotions will be painted onto you, either over the rocks and ice-cold in summer, or warmed in a cappuccino machine in winter. She also divulges details of a new ancillary product known as bath cologne, which she hopes Belgravians will love. Its like sitting in a huge vat of warm cologne; its gorgeous, she smiles. Changing the landscape of retail is at the heart of Jos 42 Elizabeth Street store, where people will experience the products rather than perusing the shelves. A concept this new does bring with it its own problems. Jos perfumes smell notoriously good enough to eat, so what happens if some poor fellow ingests a spoonful of scented bath oil while settled at this tailor-made bar? Ive thought of that, comes the response. I am already making big do not eat me signs, she exclaims. This particular location holds resonance for the self-taught perfumer; she and Elizabeth Street go way back. I had my first wonderful job at the age of 16 in the flower shop that used to stand at 44 Elizabeth Street, Jo proclaims with mirth, before conspiratorially adding that she was actually fired from that business for misbehaving. I love Jos honesty; she talks to you as though you are a trusted friend and communicates with a certain gravitas. It is not the kind of solemnity that makes you feel apprehensive, rather she has you on the edge of your seat; at any moment she might reveal some excellent advice or an insightful life truth. Continuing her story, she adds: I remember

coming in from the market to the store and you would be hit with a beautiful smell. It was as if the flowers were all sitting upright and shouting good morning. The smell of green leaves, the flora and the twigs has inspired my latest fragrance, 42 Elizabeth Street, which has just launched to celebrate the opening of the store, Jo tells me. She has also extended her shot of concept in which the main fragrance of a new collection is accompanied by two variation scents developing the main theme. Keep an eye out for A Shot of Fresh Sweet Peas and A Shot of Muguet & Cedar. Belgravia is my old stomping ground; I feel very comfortable here. It also continues to provide inspiration, my interviewee explains, before she reels off her little black book of friends in the area: From days gone by I remember Adrian the vegetable man and Roy the butcher, and I now love the way all of the artisans work in their shops selling their products: from Donna Ida and her jeans, Philip Treacy and his hats to the team at Jeroboams wine shop, Mrs Patel in the pharmacy and the married couple who own Thomas Cubitt. At the end of the day, I am a shopkeeper at heart and love nothing more than putting on my pinny and talking to people about fragrance. For Jo, a self-confessed gut reaction kind of person, this location has always felt right. Its like coming home, she says. Obviously, Ive got shops all over the world with my name attached to them, but which I am no longer a part of. I am 20 years older, and this time I didnt have to come back and prove anything to anyone. After leaving Jo Malone, the entrepreneur was unable to work within the fragrance industry in any way. Those five years were probably the worst five years of my life, she concedes. Although she admits that this was fair: rightly so because I sold my business for a lot of money, but every day I got up and thought about fragrance. The facialist from Bexleyheath has come a long way from gifting her clients with homemade bath oils, and I am certainly excited to see

her conducting her fragrance orchestra and experimenting with different notes on local turf. Inspiration comes from all corners, whether it be her childhood puppies paws (they smelt of digestive biscuits), freshly-poured red wine, her fathers shirts delicately scented with Christian

I remember coming in from the market to the store and you would be hit with a beautiful smell. It was as if the flowers were all sitting upright and shouting good morning
Dior Eau Sauvage, roast chicken, or horse riding on a mountain top in Montana in the early morning; life inspires Jo Malone. And we cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. There are thousands of smells and memory-evoking notes that tell stories in my head, she says. The shop feels as though youve walked into my head and into my memories. When we created an installation at a famous department store in Oxford Street, I knew it was wrong. It was one of the most awkward moments of my life. When I walk into 42 Elizabeth Street, I breathe a huge sigh of relief. It couldnt be more right. The new Jo Loves store is located at 42 Elizabeth Street, SW1W 9NZ, 020 7259 1430 (joloves.com)

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