Extraordinary is a term that applies just as much to perfumer Richard Saint-Ford as it does to his brand IGGYWOO. Based in London and Los Angeles, the fragrance label stands for visual opulence, emotional expressiveness and a rebellion of the senses. IGGYWOO is less a classic perfume house than a manifesto for creative self-determination, for personal freedom and against all forms of aesthetic convention.
Saint-Ford himself is self-taught. He grew up in the Caribbean, California and Europe. And it is precisely this cultural diversity that is reflected in his creations. The eaux de parfum he has developed have names such as Cashmere Show Pony, Fantasma Overglow or Flower Boy and deliberately move beyond classic fragrance formulas. IGGYWOO also makes a visual statement. The heavy, strongly shaped bottle with its sculptural lid is more of a design object than a ready-made product. In this interview, Richard Saint-Ford talks about his roots, his creative background, the formative role of his grandmother and why a show pony with coconuts in her mane inspired him to create one of his bestsellers.
Dear Richard, you had a multicultural childhood and grew up in the Caribbean, Europe and California. Would you like to briefly introduce yourself to our readers and tell us what your path has been like so far?
For nearly two decades, I worked in fashion and beauty as a creative brand director and later a CMO, working with iconic brands like Gucci, Tom Ford, Diesel, and Nike. When I decided to start my own brand, I knew it i didnt want it to be in fashion. I wanted to reconnect with my roots and honor my grandmother who raised me, she was a naive, naturalistic perfumer, so I created IGGYWOO from this place. The brand serves as my own platform for uninhibited self-expression, free from others’ rules and get to creatively direct every visual for IGGYWOO while also crafting each fragrance from scratch in my London or Los Angeles studios.My upbringing was shaped by a rich mix of cultures, spending time between Europe, Barbados, and California. Each place brought its own unique traditions and perspectives, which I’ve absorbed into my essence. These diverse influences not only shape my worldview but also fuel my approach to fragrance. I purposely blend native ingredients from the places I’ve called home and explored into each scent, adding a deeply personal layer to everything I create.
How exactly did IGGYWOO come about?
My passion for scent and nature began in childhood, shaped by my late grandmother, who raised me. An adventurer at heart and a naturalistic perfumer, she taught me how to blend lived imagination with scent. Together, we created naïve fragrances – simple, yet full of meaning
When she passed away, I took a year away from work and found my way back to fragrance creation. Unlike conventionally trained perfumers, I learned through hands-on experimentation, guided by instinct rather than textbooks. Once I had a lineup of scents, I leaned on my 15 years of experience crafting campaigns for fashion and beauty brands to bring each fragrance to life visually.
What does the name IGGYWOO mean?
IGGYWOO means “imagination” – a word my grandmother and I created to infuse joy into everyday life. It was our little piece of magic, a reminder that creativity has no limits.
What values and characteristics would you ascribe to IGGYWOO?
I am a bit of a heretic perfumer and creator. With a nonconformist attitude, I tend to reject the rigid structures of traditional perfumery. I learned through intuition, not textbooks, embracing a rule-breaking methodology driven by instinct and emotion. I do not work well with constraints placed on us around age, race, and gender orientation – these limitations have no place in fragrance creation, and i crated IGGYWOO to embodies all of this – a relentless pursuit of the unexpected, both visually and beyond what can be seen.
How would you describe the IGGYWOO fragrances? Which three attributes fit each fragrance?
What I create is a celebration of unexpected contrasts. Each fragrance is an exploration of self-expression and intuition, unbound by traditional perfume structures, or any set constraints, and I would assign the same 3 attributes to all the fragrances I create: Vibrant, Rebellious, and Nostalgic.
In the second part of our interview, perfumer and founder Richard Saint-Ford reveals how visions develop into concrete fragrances, why a psychedelic moment on the beach in Barbados led to the birth of a bestseller and why every fragrance from IGGYWOO tells its very own story. He talks about creative processes, bottle design, challenging ingredients and also reveals which childhood memory lives on in Love Extreme.
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