In June 2023, Estée Lauder-owned, New York-based perfumery Le Labo opened the doors to its first brick-and-mortar store in Mainland China at Xintiandi, Shanghai, aptly named the Wulixiang lab. “Wulixiang” (屋里厢) means ‘home’ in Shanghainese and is pronounced “Olishian” in the language. A year later, the brand has entered Beijing, Shenzhen and Hainan, in both Haikou and Sanya. To celebrate the occasion, the brand not only partnered with designer furniture brand FNJI but also launched a new location, its third in Shanghai.
For the 1-year-old Wulixiang lab, which also hosts the second-ever Le Labo Café, Le Labo has teamed up with designer FNJI, founded by Gao Guqi in 2010 for an exclusive handcrafted oak box for one 100ml bottle. With historical mortise and tenon joint structure, the box brings traditional Chinese craftsmanship to meet the new fragrance. It has been available exclusively at the Wulixiang lab since 8 June. On 8 June, Le Labo ended its “experiment” in Aranya, Hebei by bringing its Le Labo on Wheels container truck to the seaside town.
Meanwhile, the new Shanghai store is located in the historical Fairmont Peace Hotel on the Bund, and brings the New York lifestyle to the 95-year-old Art Deco building. The shop also stocks the Shanghai-exclusive oriental Myrrhe 55 fragrance. The store’s decoration fits right into the historical interior of the Peace Hotel, which recently enjoyed a renaissance due to it being the home of Mr Bao, the protagonist of the blockbuster TV series Blossom Shanghai.
Founded in 2006, the “slow” perfumery banks on its poetic and wabi-sabi aesthetic. Its parent company Estée Lauder recently released the quarterly report for Q3 FY2024, seeing net profit growing 11.5% to 330 million USD, however, the group has also lowered its Q4 and full-year forecast. It is also expected that there will be further price hikes in China for some of its brands such as Kiehl’s and Yves Saint Laurent. But it seems the group also have “radical” plans for Le Labo in the second half of this year, which is worth watching.
