Kanchaveli is the perfume studio of Bidzina Kanchaveli, an artist born in Georgia and based in Berlin, where he composes his fragrances and shapes their sculpted bottles himself. A former playwright and filmmaker, he starts from an abstract idea, a color or an emotion, and translates it into scent. The house has two series so far: a color series in eau de parfum, and an emotion series in extrait de parfum, presented in porcelain.
From theater and film to perfume
Bidzina Kanchaveli is Georgian by birth. His studio is in Berlin, as is his company, registered in his name in the Charlottenburg commercial register. The fragrances are therefore Georgian by their author and Berliner by their making.
Before perfume came the stage and the screen. On his website he says he wrote and directed four plays, including "Fairytale of the Butterfly Children" in 1997, set in a psychiatric ward where the patients live in their own worlds. Then came short films, "Novice No21", about a bureaucratic and military world shut inside a bunker, and "7½ Women", a retelling of the Bluebeard tale, followed by a filmed installation and a feature film, "1000 Kings". The common thread is the telling of imaginary worlds governed by their own rules.
The move to scent went through aromas. Bidzina Kanchaveli explains that he first developed aromatic compositions, aiming for a product that keeps fascinating, and spent up to a year on each one. One of them, Patisserie of King Louis XIV, reconstructed what pastry might have smelled like at the court of Louis XIV, based on research into the spices in fashion at the time. Others followed, such as Utopium, Blauer Rausch and Elysium. He describes these creations as small worlds where smells play like actors. Perfume is the next step: setting the other senses aside to keep only the sense of smell.
An author's approach more than a perfumer's
Bidzina Kanchaveli says plainly that he does not work like a classical perfumer. He does not try to recombine existing olfactory ideas, and he does not think of perfume as a product. For him, scent is a tool that acts on perception, memory and inner states.
His central idea comes down to one observation. When you smell something you cannot place, your attention wakes up and language reaches for new images. So he deliberately composes fragrances with no obvious reference, which make you think as much as feel. He also mentions other, broader projects: reconstructing the smells of past eras, from the Middle Ages to pharaonic Egypt, and staging installations where a story would be told through scent alone, the way music tells an opera. A book on this method has been announced.
This kind of talk can feel remote when you are simply looking for a fragrance to wear. It has one concrete consequence, which the house states itself: these fragrances cannot be judged in thirty seconds on a blotter. They change a great deal between the first minute and the third hour, and several need a second visit before you form an opinion.
What you recognize from one fragrance to the next
Leather returns in White, Yellow, Fear and Envy, often placed early in the composition rather than kept for the base. In the extraits, coumarin and animalic accords bring a tactile, sometimes damp warmth. The house also stands out for its frankness about materials: the product pages for the emotion series name the molecules used, phenylethyl alcohol for the rose in Envy, ethylene brassylate for its white musk, hydroxycitronellal for the lily of the valley in Grief, citral for the citrus in Fear. Few author houses show their palette this openly.
The structure, on the other hand, is often short and legible. White comes down to five notes, Yellow to a leather, a lemon and a cinnamon. The complexity comes from contrasts and from how the scent develops on skin rather than from piling up materials.
Two series, two objects
The color series
White and Yellow are 30 ml eaux de parfum, priced at €160. White is the house's first creation and Yellow its second, both from 2025. Each fragrance translates a color: white as the color of beginnings, yellow as that of spontaneity and energy. The bottle is set in a concrete sculpture shaped by hand and sealed in the Berlin studio. The one for White weighs up to 600 grams. Each piece is limited and numbered.
The emotion series
Fear, Hate, Grief and Envy form a series devoted to four negative emotions. Bidzina Kanchaveli explains his method: through self-observation, he waited for the precise moments when an emotion became tangible, and composed each fragrance from that state. When he felt fear, he worked on Fear. The compositions move away from the classical structures of perfumery and draw on what he calls the olfactory language of the human body. They are extraits de parfum, presented in a hand-cast porcelain sculpture, each piece unique and numbered. The house does not publish their concentration.
The intent of the series is open: the house invites you to reconsider your own negative emotions rather than run from them, and warns that the experience takes time and openness. The studio also offers a plexiglass display stand for the 15 ml size. This is closer to an art object than to an everyday fragrance, and the price follows that logic: €320 for 15 ml, €1,700 for 100 ml.
Kanchaveli fragrances at Passion Parfum
Passion Parfum carries all six fragrances from the house. The notes listed are those on the product pages. For a fragrance-by-fragrance comparison, with our picks by occasion, see our ranking of Bidzina Kanchaveli fragrances.
White opens on a light vanilla, surrounded by bergamot and orange peel. After about two hours saffron takes over, then a refined leather. The house describes it as introverted: it stays close to the skin and reveals itself over time.
Yellow does the opposite. The leather is there from the opening, with a bright lemony note, then a sparkling cinnamon, on an herbal, woody and balsamic base. It is the most extroverted of the six, and the sunniest.
Fear moves from the clean citrus of citral to a creamy, almost smothering vanilla, over patchouli, coumarin, leather and an animalic accord. The house speaks of two opposing forces, a sense of familiarity and strangeness at the same time.
Hate opens on bergamot and geranium, then a heart of burning spices and a very taut animalic and benzylic base. It is the most difficult in the series. The house presents it as a smell the nose has to learn, moving from irritation to attraction.
Grief starts green and fresh, with pine and green melon, then wraps Damask rose around lily of the valley, before fading into a bittersweet vanilla, coumarin and cut hay. It seems familiar at first, then shifts layer after layer.
Envy sets a powdery rose against damp patchouli, coumarin and white musk, with spices, an animalic accord and a tenacious leather. According to the house, it is the fragrance you put aside on first try, then miss a few minutes later.
The four extraits come in 15 ml, 100 ml and as a 2 ml sample. Availability depends on the pieces delivered by the studio, which are made by hand in small numbers.
Where to start with Kanchaveli
White is the gentlest entry: a citrusy vanilla that slides toward saffron and leather, with nothing divisive. Yellow suits those who like bold, bright leathers. Among the emotions, Grief is the most approachable on first contact, because it opens on recognizable green and floral notes. Fear and Envy come next. Hate is best kept for last.
Given the price of the sculptures, the 2 ml is almost essential: €14 for White or Yellow, €12 for an extrait from the emotion series. These fragrances are worth wearing several times, on different days, before choosing. How it works is explained on our samples page.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Bidzina Kanchaveli?
An artist born in Georgia and based in Berlin, who first worked in theater and film before turning to aromas and then to perfume. He composes his house's fragrances alone and shapes their bottles in his Berlin studio.
Is Kanchaveli a Georgian or a German house?
Both, in a way. Its founder is Georgian, but the studio and the company are in Berlin, where the fragrances are composed and the bottles made.
Where can I buy Kanchaveli fragrances?
Passion Parfum is the official retailer of the house in France and offers its six fragrances online, with 2 ml samples.
What is the concentration of Kanchaveli fragrances?
White and Yellow are eaux de parfum. Fear, Hate, Grief and Envy are extraits de parfum. The house does not publish a concentration percentage.
Are the bottles really handmade?
Yes. The bottles in the color series are set in a concrete sculpture, those in the emotion series in a porcelain sculpture, both shaped by hand in the Berlin studio. Each piece is limited and numbered.
Passion Parfum is the official retailer of Kanchaveli in France. All the fragrances from the house are on the Bidzina Kanchaveli page, and the other independent houses in the shop on the houses and creators page.