Widian, once known as AJ Arabia, is the house of Ali Al Ahmed of Abu Dhabi, and it carries the Gulf's perfume tradition into the present with an unusual sense of proportion. The materials are the ones the region has always prized: oud, amber, rose, saffron, musk. The compositions use them the way a modern perfumer would, with structure and air around them.
The collections are named for colours and stones. Black I and Black V are the dark, resinous heart of the house, oud and amber at depth. Gold I is brighter, saffron and rose over wood. Sapphire is cooler and cleaner. Delma is one of the house's most admired compositions, a warm, floral amber with real elegance to it.
The character of the house
Rich but not heavy. Widian is proof that Arabian perfumery can be composed with the same restraint as a French extrait and lose none of its power.
Why Stacey admires it
Because the Gulf is where much of the most exciting perfumery of the last decade has come from, and Widian is one of the houses that showed the world how it could be done.