StyleNest take five minutes with Kate Crofton-Atkins, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Cochine to find out the secrets of the scent and the best way to fragrance your home.

Mum and businesswoman, Kate Crofton-Atkins brings the magic of Saigon through fragrance into our home through the power of Cochine. With a background in skincare from L’Oreal Kate knows a thing or too about the beauty industry and has created a brand which is now stocked all over the world.

We hear you are pregnant and have a one-year-old tot. Congratulations! How do you balance being a working mum?

Not very well. I don’t think any working mum feels they get the balance quite right – I am lucky to have a great nanny and put time aside each day to spend with my daughter. I hide my blackberry and do something she enjoys.

You are a successful businesswoman and have worked as head of skincare for L’Oreal Paris and now co-founder and Managing Director of Cochine. What first inspired you to start the brand?

The inspiration for Cochine came about when I left my job at L’Oreal in London and moved to Saigon in 2007.  I was talking to L’Oreal about starting a role with them in Vietnam but from the day I arrived in Saigon, I was struck by the unique charm and style of the city, the culture and the people. I realised that instead of bringing a European brand to Vietnam, there was an opportunity to create a luxury brand inspired by Vietnam to take to Europe and the rest of the world, a brand that could capture the romance and elegance of Saigon.

Your luxury home fragrances are inspired by the city of Saigon. What first captured you about the city?

When I moved to Saigon, I had no idea what to expect, I think I was imagining a less developed Bangkok, but from my first day there I realised Saigon had a very unique style. From hidden streets overflowing with jasmine and frangipani, pavement cafés serving baguettes and delicious Vietnamese coffee, the dramatic and stylish backdrop of French architecture and the tropical way of life that is imbued in everyone who lives there. It combines the romance of life in the tropics (think Catherine Deneuve in the film Indochine) with the elegance of its French heritage.  Walking along the tree lined boulevards in central Saigon in the warm glow of the afternoon sun reflecting off the celadon green shutters on the buildings, the rustle of palm trees in the breeze all make for a truly unique and intoxicating culture.

The Cochine collections feature luxury candles, reed diffusers, hand wash and body lotion. How do you hope for Cochine to expand?

We have so many exciting ideas for the expansion of Cochine and I want to do them all straight away. Having launched two new fragrances last year, Frangipani and Neroli and Vanille and Tabac Noir and having had a great response to our fragrance range, we are now going to concentrate on expanding the range of products we offer in the existing fragrances. Oh, and a new special edition fragrance for

Christmas 2013 which I can’t wait for people to try.

What is the creation process when you design a new fragrance? Do you take inspiration from your personal life, places, people and events?

I have always been passionate about fragrances and how they can capture a mood, a moment in time or a memory and with Cochine I wanted each fragrance to capture a scene from life in Saigon be it lying on the banks of the Saigon river in the afternoon sun, or bicycling along a side street, the warm sun on your back or the scent of jasmine in the air.  Our newest fragrance Frangipani & Neroli was inspired by weekends in Vietnam, when we would escape the bustle of Saigon and head up the coast to the quiet beaches north of the city. I wanted to create a scent that offered the same sun-warmed embrace and sense of escape that I felt when I got to the coast, a fragrance that would bring the scent of summer and tropical escape into your home. All Cochine fragrances are designed as eau de parfum, but for the home, so each fragrance contains around 30-50 different oils to give the depth and sophistication of an eau de parfum. We use oils sourced from Vietnam such as Agarwood, which we source form sustainable plantations in southern Vietnam, Delentii from a scented orchid indigenous to Central Vietnam and Champa Jasmine from southern Vietnam. The tropical climate of Vietnam produces so many beautiful and original scented flowers and plants which enables us to create really unique fragrances.

Can you give StyleNest any exciting inside news on any current or future projects you might be working on?

We are about to launch in the US which is very exciting. We will be stocked in Barneys New York, Chicago and San Francisco from 1 May 2013 and we are also working on some exciting new launches in the UK for Christmas.

You are an inspirational business woman, what advice would you give to our readers who want to set up their own business?

I think one of the best things I did was to take myself out of my comfort zone and move to Vietnam. At the time, my family and friends thought I was mad – why would I leave a job I loved at L’Oreal to move to the other side of the world? But it was getting out of my comfort zone and experiencing Saigon life that gave me not only the inspiration to start Cochine but also the confidence to do it. I had always wanted to start my own business but it’s difficult to get perspective when you are caught up in your day to day routine, so my advice would be to grab any opportunity, however unusual or off the beaten track, as you never know what it might lead to. My other advice would be to work with a business partner who brings other skills to your own to the business, you come up against so many hurdles in starting a new venture and it’s really helpful to have another person and skill set to tap for ideas.

It must be hard to choose but do you have a particular favourite Cochine scent?

It’s impossible to choose a favourite, but I would say that White Jasmine & Gardenia will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first fragrance we created and was inspired by the jasmine in the street where we lived in Saigon which I used to cycle past every morning on my way to buy bread from our local bakery. We use a very distinctive type of jasmine in our fragrance called Champa Jasmine which is indigenous to southern Vietnam and we blend it with white petals of Gardenia and Peony to create this timelessly elegant white floral fragrance.

Fragrancing the home is as important as fragrancing the body. What are some top tips for our readers who don’t know where to start and what fragrance to choose?

I couldn’t agree more, I think that fragrances can give your home a real identity. I choose different fragrances for different rooms, seasons, days of the week, even times of the day. As we are coming into Spring, I would suggest starting with fresh citrus fragrances for the living area and light floral scents for bedrooms.  You could try switching to an amber/woody fragrance in the evenings.

Do you believe a fragrance should be used according to your mood, occasion, season?

Yes I think that’s the beauty of fragrance that you can choose a different fragrance to reflect your mood or the time of year. The weather is finally beginning to brighten in Hong Kong and spring is on its way so I’ve just changed the fragrances around our house to Water Hyacinth and Lime Blossom in the sitting room and Frangipani and Neroli in my bedroom and it’s like a warm summer breeze that has swept through the house.

What was the inspiration behind the branding of the fragrance?

The name Cochine is derived from the French name for southern Vietnam, La Cochinchine, and the logo is a lotus flower which is the national flower of Vietnam. The packaging design is inspired by the shagreen used for furniture throughout Vietnam and the colours by the celadon green shutters and creamy walls of the houses in Saigon.

When you are not busy working, what do you enjoy doing to unwind?

I love baths, it’s my sacred time of the day and I try to have one every evening, light a candle, close my eyes and reflect on the day. At weekends I love long walks, cooking lunch for friends and family and reading the weekend newspapers.

What advice would you give to women when choosing a fragrance?

I would say always try a fragrance on yourself before buying (not on the tester sticks you are given) and walk around for 10 minutes with the fragrance on before buying – it’s amazing how much a fragrance can change from person to person and over time.

Buying a fragrance for someone else is always hard. What advice would you give our readers when choosing a fragrance for someone else?

Depending on how well you know them, I would play it safe. Avoid heavy florals and go with something light and probably citrus. When buying home fragrance, think about the style of their house, what they like to wear, what foods they eat, this will also help guide you to which fragrances they might like. If you don’t know the person very well, I try to match the fragrance with the occasion you are giving it for and time of year to make it relevant.

You have come a long way and achieved so much, personally and professionally. What has been your ultimate achievement?

My business was my first “baby” and I am proud of the success that Cochine has achieved to date. I’m sure it’s been said so many times before, but having my gorgeous daughter has to have been my ultimate achievement.

You live in Hong Kong, does it feel like home or will the UK always be home to you? 

I lived in Saigon for two years and have now been in Hong Kong for four years and in each place I have felt very at home but the UK will always be “home”. In both Saigon and Hong Kong, my home always feels very English.

What’s your motto? 

It would probably have to be the oldest one in the book, “Never give up”.  There are so many hurdles in starting a business that often the obstacles seem insurmountable. I think of all the times I almost gave up in the early days of Cochine and I am so glad I stuck with it. I think this is why having a good business partner is really helpful to give a new way of looking at things and of course a very supportive team around you. My husband now thinks nothing of coming home to find 50 candle samples burning around the house and a photo shoot going on in the sitting room.