Jonaki recently launched a line of perfumes designed in Bangladesh. Jonaki has a quite refreshing offering in the Bangladeshi fragrance market, which had a scarcity of premium fragrance brands. To find out more about the brand and to discover the story behind the brand, Bangladesh Brand Forum sat down with the person behind the brand, Nasreen Zamir, who is a multi-award winning and pioneering female interior designer.
Could you tell us how you came up with the idea of launching a fragrance?
We are a well-known Interior Design company and established over two and a half decades ago. Having completed the best 5-star hotels, corporate offices and residences in Bangladesh, we decided to include a new product line to our business. We are reputed to be reliable, honest and focused on quality products. The fragrance is an untapped industry in our country which encouraged us to introduce this product in Bangladesh. From the beginning we were quite confident that people would welcome our fragrances as we believe our perfumes will be a breath of fresh air to fragrant our lives and give joy.
How did you come upon the name of the brand, Jonaki?
I was born and brought up in Chittagong where I lived near the hills, in a beautiful house with proximity to nature. Enticing flowers like beliphool, rajanigandha, gandharaj, all these beautiful white flowers stayed in my nose since childhood. Jonaki the firefly was selected as our brand for fragrance because it is unique youthful spirited and has the inner strength to cope with its life. Jonaki inspired writers and poets with their freedom-loving nature while remaining fully content and joyfully alive.
Could you share your thoughts on the Bangladeshi market?
Bangladesh is an emerging economy displaying rapid growth, and the progress is visible in the lifestyle of products available in the market. I have seen many branded fashion houses and accessories for a stylish lifestyle in Bangladesh. The aspiring youths are progressive and they are the future of Bangladesh. It is noticeable that many branded fragrances are available but most of them are out of range. Here I decided to make available high-quality fragrances that are affordable to our people with beautiful scents that will attract their choice. We came up with fragrances to make a person feel special and enhance their everyday lifestyle.
Can you tell us about the development of the product?
It was important to understand the process of making a fragrance. I, therefore, spent one whole year to study different notes and the technology that manufactures the fragrances. There is a sustainability and compatible process to understand Fine Fragrance.
The following year the production took place. The direction of scents, design of packaging and all write-up related to our fragrance was designed in Bangladesh inspired by France and was made in Malaysia. I am hopeful that someday we will manufacture fragrance in Bangladesh.
Can you tell us about the inspirations behind Jonaki Fragrances?
World-famous brands like Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Tom Ford and a few other international brands inspired me with their philosophy on scents and lifestyle. They term scents as alluring and enchanting to perfume our lives and this encouraged me to create Jonaki Fragrances for Bangladesh.
It is an exciting journey where I learned how to use the endless nuances of scent to create a mood to invite the mind to travel and to dream. The palette of exquisite ingredients and the storytelling behind each scent will inspire those who love “fragrance”. Our fragrances can create a lifestyle to make one feel special as fragrance and clothes complement each other. I would like to give a complete sensorial experience with scents created for women and men by Jonaki fragrances.
Could you tell us about your product line?
About our product line we know for sure the quality of our fragrance will be liked by people in Bangladesh with its high-quality performance. We introduced 5 fragrances of which 3 are for women and 2 for men. They are all differently suitable for the tastes of women and men. Floral and citrussy for women, woody and musky for men. With proper marketing and distribution, we can reach a large market.
In this regard I must mention that partnership with Square Toiletries has been great where I appreciate their teamwork and effort to push forward Jonaki fragrance because they believe in the high quality and reliability of our products. For me it is not the money that goes into marketing and distributing of our products but the gesture of Square Toiletries to support a female entrepreneur who ventured into a big challenge on her own and offer their support to make her journey successful.
Jonaki has environmental associations, could you tell us more about that?
We decided to establish Jonaki foundation for nature set aside a certain portion of our sales proceeds to preserve the natural beauty of Bangladesh and Jonaki the luminous insect from extinction through environmental pollution.
What do you see for Jonaki in the future?
I will be very happy to see our fragrances reach people in all parts of Bangladesh and envision that Jonaki fragrances will have a distinct place in the Bangladesh market. It is my dream to see our fragrance go global in the International market where Jonaki will have a great story to tell and to light up the hearts of the people with the joy of lights.
