History

By day, Carlos Huber was a Mexican-born architect specializing in historic preservation. But in his off-hours, he devoted his time to sniffing out niche fragrances and decoding their compositions. In 2007, Huber met Yann Vasnier and Rodrigo Flore-Roux, both famed perfumers from the Swiss fragrance house of Givaudan. The two discerning noses enrolled Huber in an intensive course in fragrance design, and Huber emerged from his studies determined to create his own scents. Together with his mentors, Huber combined his passion for history and fragrance to form Arquiste, a collection of concept perfumes designed to evoke distinctive exotic locales of bygone eras.

Philosophy

Scents that recreate a faraway time and place. Each of Arquiste’s six unisex fragrances is imbued with historical significance. Anima Dulcis, for example, pays homage to a 17th-century Mexican convent whose nuns were renowned for their spicy hot chocolate recipe. On the flowery side of the spectrum, Flor y Canto evokes the aromas of an Aztec altar during the Pre-Colombian era.

Birchbox Extra