How Linda Pilkington, founder of London perfume house Ormonde Jayne, went from making scented candles by hand to launching her perfumes in Hong Kong
It started with a friend at Chanel’s fine jewellery boutique in London – he could recall the handmade candles she once made and asked her to create some for the boutique
Linda Pilkington’s petite frame belies an effervescence for her fragrances and creative endeavours.
“There was never a moment when I said I would have a perfume house,” says London perfume house Ormonde Jayne’s founder. “It was nothing more than a happenstance, because we never really plan what we’re going to do with our lives, and then we find ourselves in a new situation and we just run with it, so that’s just how life is.”
There was never a moment when I said I would have a perfume house; it was nothing more than a happenstance
What I found most endearing was that Pilkington could recall Ormonde Jayne’s inception with such enthusiasm and humility – as if it were yesterday.
“I am originally from Cheshire, and the nearest biggest town is Manchester. I always wanted to buy nice things, far more expensive than my pocket money [permitted]. I wanted a Biba chair, big feathers … we used to make this craftwork, and at the end of the afternoon I would have 16 candles or room spray, and I would go from door to door selling them. I was trying to get some money together to buy what I wanted.”
Pilkington recalls how her dressing table was full of perfume bottles, all because they looked good, not so much for their scent. “Back in the day, I didn’t speak French, and nobody in England would say, ‘I want to be a perfumer’. I ended up working with a Japanese company.”
As serendipity would have it, a friend who worked at Chanel’s fine jewellery boutique on Bond Street in London asked her to create some candles – he could still recall the handmade ones Pilkington once made – to place around the boutique. “I had a very precise brief from [Chanel]. I invested £800 [US$1,000] and then went to Grasse [on the French Riviera] to source the ingredients. And after lots of back and forth, they said, ‘bravo, we will take it’.”
Because Pilkington had to create a company to get her pay cheque from Chanel, she sat down with her husband first.
“My husband said, ‘Well. You’re Linda Jayne, and you live on Ormonde Terrace, so let’s just call it Ormonde Jayne’. I said, OK. And that was the beginning of everything.”
Even though Pilkington’s business was starting to take off with rising demand for her products, she felt that she had no experience in dealing with retailers and departmental stores. “They must have thought I was a blithering idiot. I didn’t have the budget to hire people to work for me then. We were still making everything on our own – we still make them all today. I’ve never had outside investors either. I’ve used the money that comes in and then if I needed more money, I would remortgage the house. I found it more attractive to have a boutique, where I could still cope. What I really wanted to make were fragrances with ingredients no one else used.”