“Salty surf. Warm sun on bare skin. Seabirds sing as the ocean whispers.” This is how the niche perfume brand MiN New York describes its Long Board scent. Also part of the MiN portfolio are such evocatively named scents as Moon Dust, Old School Bench and The Botanist.
Each fragrance, or scent story as they are called, is crafted by master perfumers in Grasse, France, and only one batch is made each year. They are sold in numbered bottles which, incidentally, are made on the same press as the iconic Chanel N°5 flagons. And all of this is very intentional, says Chad Murawczyk, the brand's founder, who was in Abu Dhabi last week to celebrate the launch of his brand at Tryano in Yas Mall.
How did MiN New York come into being?
I have been in the beauty business for a long time, on the manufacturing and product-development side, and I opened MiN New York as a retail flagship about 10 years ago. At that point, I was curating the best of the niche fragrance brands coming largely from Italy and France, and I spent a lot of time listening. I think big companies spend more time explaining why they are right and not enough time listening. The people coming into my flagship, when I asked them what they were looking for, the glint in their eye always involved something that was not new, and often they had a sample of perfume that was ancient. Whatever was in the inside of that bottle was probably well done and unquestionably resonated with that person at a deep level. That started the process for me.
Tell us about the concept behind the brand?
I never set out to make a perfume brand, that wasn't my objective. I wanted to see if I could build a luxury lifestyle brand from scratch. I think what happened, with how the world moved forward, is that the level dropped – the quality of materials dropped, and lesser amount of time and effort was being invested. I wanted to bring those elements back, but give them a modern twist. I don't make fragrances for the mass market, I make fragrances for individuals. Which means, if we do a great job, by default, they are not for most people. I am trying to connect on a one-to-one basis and make something really special.
How important is scent in triggering emotions?
People will smell something and say: "Oh this brings me back to…." – that is how the brain maps scent. The inverse is also possible. You can say: "I am going to a special event, and as I go through this weekend, I am going to connect it to this scent." You can go back to that scent, and you will go back to that place. There is science behind this, it is how the brain thinks. It's fabulous. One of the people I have always found fascinating is Andy Warhol, not for the stuff he was famous for, but for how quirky the guy was. He would have an interesting experience, take his clothes off, put them into a ziplock bag, and seal up the bag. Later he would open it and revisit that moment.
How long does it take you to create a fragrance?
Volume One [MiN's first batch of 11 perfumes] took about two and half years of ferocious work. I know there is an answer, and I won't stop until I feel I have exhausted my capability to deliver what I see in my mind's eye. It's easy to make perfume that is 85 per cent good, so what you are going after is these incremental percentage points. I have a big problem with brands that don't stand for anything. My objective – and the reason I spend my life energy on this – is that I want to build something that will be here long after I am gone. I want people to respect the work.
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How much is science and how much is emotion?
I work both sides of the brain. Emotion without strategy is not going to get you very far. There is a lot you can learn in decoupling things – emotion and science, for example – and I look at everything as components that you can take apart and put back together again. Most things that are built are not balanced correctly – I am trying to speak to a more discerning, more cerebral thinker. And the people I am connecting with, appreciate what MiN is about. This bottle is hand-screened on all four sides, and then it is polished.
It took a couple of years of work. I absolutely love my packaging, I spent a lot of time working on it, and my clients don't even notice it. They are connecting with what is inside the bottle. And that says a lot about how I wanted to build the value system of this brand. I wanted to build a brand that stood for something, from the inside out.
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Read more:
Hermès brings dedicated perfume boutique to Dubai
A chat about scents and sensibilities with 'professor of perfume' Roja Dove
French perfumer Frédéric Malle on the five most significant perfumes he’s been involved with
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
Results:
Men's 100m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 15 sec; 2. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 15.40; 3. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 15.75. Men's 400m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 50.56; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 50.94; 3. Henry Manni (FIN) 52.24.
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Sunday's fixtures
- Bournemouth v Southampton, 5.30pm
- Manchester City v West Ham United, 8pm
