Wellness company partners with Michelin-star chef Vikas Khanna to launch signature Made-in-India perfume in New York

PTI

New York, February 7

A traditional Indian essence and wellness products company has partnered with Michelin-star chef Vikas Khanna to launch a signature Made-in-India perfume here, aiming to usher in a “new dawn” for India’s arrival in the global perfumes industry.

Zighrana has collaborated with Khanna to launch the flagship perfume that will bear his name and be called “‘Vikas Khanna’ by Zighrana”. The product will be launched on February 14, marked as Valentine’s Day, at the Consulate General of India in New York.

A company press release said the launch of the ‘Make in India’ perfume, to be unveiled by Consul General of India in New York Randhir Jaiswal, “will usher in a new dawn for India’s arrival in the global perfumes industry”.

Hailing from Kannauj, the perfume capital of India, the new product is Zighrana’s “humble attempt to capture the essence of Incredible India”.

The company said it is delighted to work with Khanna, an Indian cultural icon and entrepreneur on the path-breaking venture. In keeping with the Michelin-star chef’s culinary expertise, the new perfume ‘Vikas Khanna’ by Zighrana is a “unique blend of spices like cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, sandalwood, jasmine and rose which have come to define the unique smells of India for more than a millennia.”

The company said it has used precious ingredients like pure rose oil that is both resource and labour intensive to generate, taking nearly 100 kg of flowers to make as little as 20 gm of rose oil.

Entrepreneur Swapnil Pathak Sharma from the company said that through this unique collaboration, she aims to ensure that India’s age-old fragrance industry gets its due global recognition.

Sharma hails from a family which has been in the field of traditional Indian essence and wellness products since 1911. “I have worked hard to ensure that our latest forte into the perfume industry is at par if not better than the global standards of excellence in the perfume industry,” she told PTI.

Khanna said in a tweet that since he moved to the US in 2000 his “mission is to bring Indian Culture, Cuisine, Arts & history with me. I’m completely dedicated to choose projects that represent those values. Proud to bring the legacy of #Kannauj India’s perfume capital in form of #VikasKhannaByZighrana on Feb 14.”

Khanna had posted a photo holding the signature perfume bearing his name, along with Jaiswal, Sharma and her father, Akhilesh Pathak.

On the collaboration with Khanna, Sharma said the world renowned chef and entrepreneur is a cultural brand ambassador for incredible India and he understands both India’s rich tradition as well as its place in the modern world.

“Our discussions revealed that we have to come up with an aroma that is a reflection of the great Indian culinary, and given his background as a world-class chef there was nothing better but to develop a perfume inspired by our spices as his signature perfume,” she said.

With the launch, Zighrana aims to make an entry into the global marketplace of perfumes with the brand new product “which showcases the soul of India in the global cultural capital of New York,” the release added. Through the flagship perfume, Sharma said she aims to bring forth the history and legacy of her family of being in the fragrance industry for 111 years.

“It’s high time India should mark its strong presence in the fragrance market and reach out to the world. New York is an intersection of different cultural influences,” which makes it the ideal platform to project the Indian heritage of perfumery.

“It is an honest attempt to bring the Indian fragrance to the world stage, given that I am the fourth generation in this industry,” she said.

Going forward, Sharma said she plans to come out with more distinct fragrances representing India’s history and culture.

“We will be coming up soon with perfume on ‘Kannauj’ and also a unique fragrance developed for celebrating India’s 75 years of independence in the form of ‘India at 75’.”

The company will also be diversifying its portfolio and wants to bring its traditional attars in the US market, besides exploring opportunities in the scented candles market.

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