Jo Malone – Coming full circle

Jo Malone built a beauty empire based on scented candles and luxurious bath oils but with her latest project, JO LOVES... she is looking to reinvent the world of fragrance and retail, as Emma Reinhold reports

Jo Malone is going back to her roots. Quite literally. Her latest project, the opening of the first JO LOVES... boutique, in London’s Belgravia, just happens to be the same premises where she started out in the world of business as a floristry assistant. “I feel like I’m coming home,” she says. “I actually got fired from that job because I threw a bucket of water over the manager.” It turns out this was a seminal moment for Malone, which took her on a new path as a facialist. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Elizabeth Street boutique promises to be something very different. “It will be the heartbeat of the brand,” she tellsSPC. Instead of a traditional retail boutique, the store is styled as a brasserie, with staff dressed in brasserie style aprons and a centrepiece “fragrance bar”, where customers can sit and try her growing fragrance portfolio but with a twist.