CEOInterviews.AIMan In The Mirror - Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren - Co-founder of BIBBI Parfum

H

Hayden Williams0:15

Welcome along to Man in the Mirror. It's Hayden Williams here. Thank you so much for joining me. Man in the Mirror is a podcast where each week I talk to a male guest about their life, about work, about some of those key items on their bathroom shelf, and we talk self-care, self-image, and what they really think about the man who looks back at them in the mirror. Now this week I'm recording this intro late at night because I was in town today recording the episode itself in Soho with Jan Ahlgren, who along with his wife Stina Seger is one of the co-founders of BB Parfum. Now you may, if you're a keen fragrance aficionado, you might have recognized his name there, Vilhelm. Jan was the original founder of Vilhelm Parfumerie, a brand he left a few years ago, but more recently he set up with his wife Stina, set up BB Parfum. Now I was lucky enough to meet both of them actually about a month ago as they were introducing the brand to the press and trying to get some interest around the brand. So they were meeting some people here in London and I was really fortunate to spend a bit of time with them, to be introduced to the initial range. So impressed, lovely, had a really fun hour with them actually. You know, sometimes you really just click with people. They're really interesting, really inspiring, and it was amazing to hear about the sort of genesis and the birth of this brand new fragrance company. But I asked Jan if he would come on the podcast. He kindly agreed. Originally we were going to do it remotely, but actually it worked out really well because Stina and Jan were back in London this week, so I took the opportunity to go into Soho today to meet Jan, to hear much more about the brand and a bit more about his story, and to do it in person, which was great. You know, always seems to work really well when you can look into the whites of someone's eyes. And he's a really interesting character, lots of fun, very charismatic, tall Swedish ex-model, very unassuming, certainly not arrogant, and a real sort of glint in his eye and a real charm. So I hope you're going to enjoy this episode. We can hear much more about the birth of a brand new fragrance label, which is launching this month actually, and I got the chance to try one of the favorites — well, got to try and smell a few of them last month, but the one that really connected with me was called Ghost of Tom, which actually features in the Liberty Advent Calendar. So lots of people will get to experience it this Christmas, but it's a beautiful fragrance, and it's one that actually my wife and I are both fighting over at home and both adoring. And I think it's going to be a massive success. So I think you can enjoy this. It's Jan Ahlgren, who is the co-founder of BB Parfum, with me, Hayden Williams, on Man in the Mirror. Here we go.

Welcome along to Man in the Mirror. It's Hayden here, and I'm delighted to say I've come out of the home studio again and I'm in Soho, and I'm here with Jan Ahlgren, who is one of the co-founders of BB Parfum. Hi Jan, how are you?

J

Jan Ahlgren3:37

Hello, hi Hayden, very good, thank you. It's always very nice to see you.

H

Hayden Williams3:43

Well, this is the second time we've met, and I had such a lovely meeting last month, I think it was, and I was introduced to the BB brand, which is yourself and your wife Stina. And yeah, the range I think opens with six fragrances, is that right?

J

Jan Ahlgren4:02

It opens with nine, oh nine, yeah, but we presented six because we have three more to come that we felt are more for spring. So we wanted to have another chance to meet you with the other three, so we just presented six.

H

Hayden Williams4:16

So there's six to come, and they're launching this month, which is October 2023. Is that a global launch, or certainly here in the UK, Liberty?

J

Jan Ahlgren4:27

Yeah, we're launching first at Liberty on October the 23rd, and we are so excited about this launch, obviously.

H

Hayden Williams4:38

Oh, and such a beautiful range of fragrances, which we will get into talking a bit more about. But I wonder if we can start, I think it's always nice to find out a bit more about the guest and their background. And maybe listeners can detect a slight accent, and Jan is Swedish in origin. So I wonder what part Sweden played in your interest in fragrance. And I haven't been to Sweden, but I'm sort of imagining, you know, open spaces and very green. Was Sweden a big part of your interest in the world of fragrance? Do you have some memories from your childhood that inspired your interest to get involved in the industry?

J

Jan Ahlgren5:18

To get involved in the industry, I don't know. I mean, my father and my grandfather was sort of — and especially my grandfather was sort of like a Cary Grant figure.

H

Hayden Williams5:32

Was he?

J

Jan Ahlgren5:33

Yeah, like very handsome, and he always took extremely, you know, good care of himself. He always smelled very, very good, and that trickled down to my dad.

H

Hayden Williams5:46

Who is generally such a beautiful man.

J

Jan Ahlgren5:50

He doesn't have the same charisma as my grandfather, although he—

H

Hayden Williams5:53

Do you tell him that?

J

Jan Ahlgren5:54

No, no, but he does — no, he does have, he has a charm too. He's a very handsome fellow as well, and a wonderful father. I just became a father myself.

H

Hayden Williams6:05

And congratulations.

J

Jan Ahlgren6:08

Yes. Well, they're four and two.

H

Hayden Williams6:11

Okay, but still, they're little.

J

Jan Ahlgren6:13

They're little. And there was one thing my dad said that really stuck to me, and he said, 'You never know how much I love you until you have your own kids.' And now I get what you mean.

H

Hayden Williams6:24

Very true. Yeah. Sorry, I got off track there.

J

Jan Ahlgren6:27

No, just thinking, yeah, thinking about Sweden and the kind of smells and the kind of — is it a very sort of outdoors, I imagine?

H

Hayden Williams6:36

Very sort of outdoors.

J

Jan Ahlgren6:38

It's very fresh, it's very clean. But my real interest came when I was in New York and I was working — I was designing leather bags, and I wanted to scent them, and I wanted to find a specific scent that would go together with the design.

H

Hayden Williams6:53

Right.

J

Jan Ahlgren6:54

And that's how I then met Jerome Epinette, the perfumer, and that's when I got completely hooked. And I really found what I wanted to do, because as a creative person, I love obviously design, and then I decided to create my own fragrance brand at the time, where you can touch all elements and you're completely free. You can imagine whatever you want, you can base — do a fragrance on that.

H

Hayden Williams7:26

So when you were in New York, you were designing bags, and this was about trying to scent the bags?

J

Jan Ahlgren7:33

Yeah, I wanted to find a specific scent for a specific design, so they would be—

H

Hayden Williams7:37

Were you looking — did you have something in mind, like, 'I want it to be this'?

J

Jan Ahlgren7:42

Not in the beginning, no. I was just more about like, how do I go about to find — that they would have this scent that would just fit with the design. So I need to obviously meet a perfumer and discuss with him, and how can we make this happen?

H

Hayden Williams7:58

And how easy was that to do?

J

Jan Ahlgren8:00

Well, it didn't work really. It was quite hard to, but then my interest came, right, of fragrance.

H

Hayden Williams8:08

And you got completely obsessed and hooked. So people might know of Vilhelm, which is your previous brand, which is obviously very successful and still available. So how did the beginning of that brand come about? You got hooked into the industry, and then did you meet a perfumer, and...?

J

Jan Ahlgren8:27

Yeah, yeah. And then I decided to create my own brand and started to work with fragrance that way. And Vilhelm was, you know, that was my grandfather's name, and it's also my middle name. So yeah.

H

Hayden Williams8:46

And it's a hugely successful brand, isn't it? Very iconic and sells well around the world. But obviously you've now moved to BB Parfum. So tell me a bit about — I'm looking here in the room and I can see the beautiful bottles, the glassware, and the look and packaging is amazing. What's the inspiration for BB? It's with your wife, yeah?

J

Jan Ahlgren9:10

Well, BB is really — BB is a nickname of my wife. So we're doing this brand together, and it's really diving into her subconsciousness. Stina, her nickname is Baby, and when she meditates, that's where she draws all the inspiration. She has these meetings, she has these scents, and all of that has to be translated into a scent and into the whole visual and the identity of the brand. So it's a very fun and creative way of working.

H

Hayden Williams9:46

When I met both of you last month and Stina was describing — it's a shame she's not here — but when Stina was describing the inspirations, it does feel like such a personal thing. But that's the beauty of fragrance, I guess, in that what's personal to Stina can mean something different to you or I. And she's created — well, you both created this fantastic range, but it's—

J

Jan Ahlgren10:16

It's just such a pleasure to work this way, because every day I'm just amazed and I'm surprised. And also, everything is really taking place in the state of mind, like all the inspiration. And there's been so many times when we're working on new scents, and we're constantly doing that, or new creations, where I think, 'Now we must have it, this must be it,' and no, that's not what she had in the state. And I can't even describe, but that's why — and I think you can feel that creativity, you can feel that coming out in everything in BB.

H

Hayden Williams10:51

And was there a challenge in communicating these ideas to a perfumer and to design people? You know, that idea — someone's from a meditative state or almost dream-like — was there a challenge in saying, to actually kind of construct it into certain fragrances, or did you all find that kind of exciting?

J

Jan Ahlgren11:13

It was, first of all, very exciting, and I think a very different way of working. I've never heard of fragrances done in that way before. But I think it also helps a lot that Stina is also a graphic designer, so she has a very, very clear vision of how she wants everything to look and how she wants it to smell. But then of course it has to be interpreted in the way that she likes. And it's also very different for me to work like this.

H

Hayden Williams11:48

And when I guess, you know, Vilhelm was your brand and it could be your baby, I suppose, working with your partner now — how do the different roles evolve? Is it quite a fluid thing, or do you take on specific tasks? Because obviously some of the initial ideas come from Stina and meditation. What's the interplay between the two of you and who's doing what? Are you both talking to perfumers, or does one of you do that?

J

Jan Ahlgren12:16

No, we both talk to the perfumer. And then also visually, it is really Stina, who — since it's her, she who has the picture of how she wants it.

H

Hayden Williams12:31

It's sort of — she's—

J

Jan Ahlgren12:33

We're just going back and forth, you know, back and forth. But it's really her — how can I say it — it's her idea that it has to become. And I am there as sort of a sounding board.

H

Hayden Williams12:47

Yeah, I guess so.

J

Jan Ahlgren12:49

And it works very well. And I feel that we really can take it further thanks to the way that we work, that we really push the boundaries and we push each other to become better. Or at least she pushes me to become much better, because I feel I've developed so much. And I'm very, very grateful that she wants to do this project.

H

Hayden Williams13:18

It must be nice to work that way. And I can imagine sometimes fronting a brand can be quite lonely, and that you have to make all the decisions yourself. But here you can work with your partner and bounce off each other and sort of refine things and make them better.

J

Jan Ahlgren13:33

Absolutely, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams13:34

And you worked with Jerome Epinette, who's become a friend. Did he work across the whole—

J

Jan Ahlgren13:42

Yeah, he worked across the whole range, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams13:46

And such a talented—

J

Jan Ahlgren13:47

Unbelievably talented, incredible, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams13:50

Incredible. So you've worked, I guess, over a long period of time. You must have developed a really strong relationship, which must be important working with a perfumer, right?

J

Jan Ahlgren14:01

I think so, but he's a very good listener, incredibly good listener. And he dares to — that's, I would say, he's bold, you know, in many ways. And to work with me, my head goes in every direction. I mean, my creative process is different in that way than Stina's. I always have these imaginary meetings that I'm making up. No, but I could imagine anything — that it's you sitting here, and then maybe Francis Bacon is sitting over there, and Lucian Freud is sitting over there, and Michael is over there. And they had like a love affair, you know, Bacon and Lucian Freud. So they're sitting here smoking and having a pipe, and they're probably doing other things. And then that could become—

H

Hayden Williams14:50

And then Stina kind of reins this in a bit more ordered.

J

Jan Ahlgren14:55

She's more ordered. But since — it's just that — I don't know how to explain it. It is really, she's meditating, and after she has meditated, which she does a lot — I mean, she developed her own practice, and she spent time in Southeast Asia for three years on a remote island. And she really — so she's come very, very far.

H

Hayden Williams15:19

And can she just — excuse my ignorance — but can she kind of just drop herself into that meditative state?

J

Jan Ahlgren15:26

Transport herself while we're doing this? Yes, and meditate, yes. And I can't. I'm trying, but I get too distracted.

H

Hayden Williams15:33

Yes.

J

Jan Ahlgren15:34

And I probably have ADHD, I mean, to the max, I guess.

H

Hayden Williams15:39

Oh yeah, yeah, most likely. I would be surprised if you don't.

J

Jan Ahlgren15:41

And so I've tried now with meditation, and I've got inspired by that.

H

Hayden Williams15:47

Have you found that it's been helpful?

J

Jan Ahlgren15:50

Well, yes. I cannot do what she does, I cannot. But I think I become a little bit — some kind of calmness inside there.

H

Hayden Williams16:04

Now, you're based in Paris, right?

J

Jan Ahlgren16:06

Now we're based in Paris, where we live with our two beautiful daughters. We live in an apartment which has 180 colors.

H

Hayden Williams16:14

Right.

J

Jan Ahlgren16:15

We toned it down a bit because it looked basically like somebody had a psychosis was living there. But we wanted our children to come to this world and to have a happy apartment, just a rainbow of colors.

H

Hayden Williams16:28

Why — so you're both Swedish, both from Malmo?

J

Jan Ahlgren16:36

No, I'm from a very small town up north called Hudiksvall, and Stina is from another small town in Sweden.

H

Hayden Williams16:45

We ended up talking about Malmo last time we were here because we were talking about The Cardigans and Malmo.

J

Jan Ahlgren16:49

Oh yeah.

H

Hayden Williams16:50

Did you live there?

J

Jan Ahlgren16:52

We lived there, yeah, we lived there for a while.

H

Hayden Williams16:55

I just kind of locked onto that because I'm a big fan. From a small town — you wouldn't have heard of either Hudiksvall or—

J

Jan Ahlgren17:01

No, you're right.

H

Hayden Williams17:04

But you chose Paris. Is that more for work?

J

Jan Ahlgren17:08

Yeah, it's work. Rel— New York before, and then now Paris. And I think from a creative perspective, Paris — you're constantly fed with it, even if you don't enter into an exhibition, you see a sign of it. It's all around you. You're always on. And I like that feeling of being on or being in a flow, just in that mode of thinking.

H

Hayden Williams17:39

It must be the best city for that.

J

Jan Ahlgren17:41

I think so, yeah, yeah. I think it is.

H

Hayden Williams17:44

And in your past you did some modeling and things. So there was travel with that, and New York, and originally Sweden. Is travel important to you both? Do you enjoy that, or do you feel quite settled now?

J

Jan Ahlgren17:57

Well, I think I enjoy traveling alone more than with two small toddlers. That's a whole other experience.

H

Hayden Williams18:06

People on the plane hating you.

J

Jan Ahlgren18:08

Yeah, yeah. You always feel completely stressed out.

H

Hayden Williams18:11

But that's when you need to meditate.

J

Jan Ahlgren18:13

That's when you definitely need to meditate.

H

Hayden Williams18:16

But you still have to do some traveling for BB now?

J

Jan Ahlgren18:20

No, it's going to be a lot. We've been extremely fortunate to have an incredible distribution right off the bat.

H

Hayden Williams18:31

Right off the bat. It's a good—

J

Jan Ahlgren18:33

Nice, good, yeah. So we feel very, very lucky about that. So it's going to be a global footprint. We start first in Europe now, for this fall, and then for 2024 we are widening the distribution.

H

Hayden Williams18:51

And then you'll have to go and wave at people and shake hands and go all over the place.

J

Jan Ahlgren18:57

Yeah, then we take Stina up in an air balloon and have some nice meetings.

H

Hayden Williams19:03

Nice. So on Man in the Mirror, one of the things I like to do with male guests is just talk a bit about products and morning and evening routines. I guess for some people there can be an extensive 10-step routine before they leave the house, and some people have a more basic routine. But it's a nice opportunity to talk about products that people use. Obviously fragrance is really important to you, Jan, but tell me about your morning routine. Do you have certain products you use or like?

J

Jan Ahlgren19:37

I've had very different — well, in terms of products, not really. Hot water directly when I wake up. A good one, splash that in my face. Then I always have double espresso. Not one, maybe two, it can happen it goes up to three. What I used to do, depending on the morning, what I always used to do was actually always put on Fawlty Towers. Did I not say that very well? So it was a bit of a weird — I had this morning routine where I would have Fawlty Towers and I would have that espresso.

H

Hayden Williams20:09

Do you love John Cleese?

J

Jan Ahlgren20:11

Yeah, yeah, I love him.

H

Hayden Williams20:13

I love that. There actually aren't many Fawlty Towers episodes, is there? There's like 12 or something.

J

Jan Ahlgren20:17

That's it. So I mean, I know them by heart.

H

Hayden Williams20:21

And you've got John Cleese's height.

J

Jan Ahlgren20:25

I do.

H

Hayden Williams20:26

That's funny. So you'd have a coffee and watch Fawlty Towers. Fawlty Towers to start off the morning.

J

Jan Ahlgren20:31

Yeah.

H

Hayden Williams20:32

And you'd do a whole episode?

J

Jan Ahlgren20:34

Yes, it would just sort of be in the background. I mean, people found it a bit annoying to have it on all the time. But yeah, that was one of my morning routines. And then it has changed somewhat, but that hot water comes back, and I should maybe go back to the Fawlty Towers.

H

Hayden Williams20:52

It's always worth a watch.

J

Jan Ahlgren20:54

It is, it's a good one.

H

Hayden Williams20:56

So from your modeling days, I mean, maybe I'm wrong to think — you know, you'd have to take great care of your skin and your face, which still looks great by the way. Did you ever feel like you had to get into certain products, or you didn't get slavishly into certain moisturizers and toners?

J

Jan Ahlgren21:16

Well, I wish I could say yes. No, it's honestly — it's just as interesting. I just find it interesting what — because I'm nosy — what people's routines are. Whether it's soap in the shower and hot water and espresso.

H

Hayden Williams21:31

Or honestly, some people have said, 'I cannot leave the house for an hour because if a cab's coming, I'm screwed because there's this 10-step thing of I've got to do the double moisturize and cleanse.' And I guess there's everything in between. I think I'm definitely to the lower end.

J

Jan Ahlgren21:52

Just interesting, yeah. And then honestly, I've been sent a lot of stuff. I've always tried different things, whatever it is, but I don't have anything specific in terms of that.

H

Hayden Williams22:03

And you've got — and listeners won't be able to see it, maybe if there's a picture on the socials — but you've got a sharp mustache and a kind of — what do we call that bit? It's not a goatee because it's just the tip of the chin.

J

Jan Ahlgren22:20

I had to stop shaving this today. I was here in Soho, seeing you here in the mirror, before, so I didn't really have time to—

H

Hayden Williams22:28

You're telling me about this, you just did hot water—

J

Jan Ahlgren22:30

Yeah, hot water, and then I took a blade and then I did, but I have to work on my mustache.

H

Hayden Williams22:36

No, I think it's a good one though.

J

Jan Ahlgren22:38

You think so? You like it?

H

Hayden Williams22:39

Yeah, thank you. It's a bit kind of rock star-y, I'd say.

J

Jan Ahlgren22:42

You think? Yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams22:44

You could be in The Killers.

J

Jan Ahlgren22:45

It's not a Charlie Chaplin, but it's working really well.

H

Hayden Williams22:50

Okay, good. Talking about BB and the brand — it's out this month, yeah? Tell me—

J

Jan Ahlgren22:55

23rd of October.

H

Hayden Williams22:56

October. And it's worth saying as well, it's in the beauty Advent calendar this year, isn't it? That Ghost of Tom?

J

Jan Ahlgren23:04

Yeah, it's in the beauty Advent calendar, Ghost of Tom, yeah, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams23:09

And I should say, the Ghost of Tom — when I got to try some of the fragrances last month, Ghost of Tom was my favorite. I'm wearing it today. But that kind of fresh tea note and some apple in there, I think, and bergamot.

J

Jan Ahlgren23:23

Bergamot, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams23:24

Really, really good. So that's the one that's going to feature as a smaller size in the Liberty Advent calendar?

J

Jan Ahlgren23:31

Yeah, that's in the Liberty Advent—

H

Hayden Williams23:33

What if they put like 10 mil in there?

J

Jan Ahlgren23:35

10 mil, yeah, 10 mil, I guess. It's a great way to — like a drug dealer, sort of give a small amount first, you know.

H

Hayden Williams23:42

Absolutely.

J

Jan Ahlgren23:43

But they've always — Liberty has always been tremendously supportive. And there's a big old Vilhelm—

H

Hayden Williams23:48

There's a big—

J

Jan Ahlgren23:49

Yeah, they still have that, I believe. And they've always been very supportive, and they're very fun to work with. They always have a reputation of trying — being the sort of taste makers for new brands, and they'll take a chance.

H

Hayden Williams24:04

Absolutely.

J

Jan Ahlgren24:06

I mean, they did that with me. I mean, I was completely unknown, and they gave me a back wall and a counter, and I was a brand new—

H

Hayden Williams24:11

Was that the first place that you were in, in London?

J

Jan Ahlgren24:14

It was the first place I ever launched anywhere, was Liberty, yeah, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams24:17

And how did that come about? Did you come and pitch it yourself?

J

Jan Ahlgren24:22

Yeah, I met through my distributor in the US who knew Ed Burford.

H

Hayden Williams24:27

What's his name? Ed Burford.

J

Jan Ahlgren24:33

Very nice man, and I met him in New York, and he smelled the fragrances. A couple of meetings with my American distributor at the time, Sandy Buros. And then, yeah, that's basically how I got in. They believed in the project, and the same now with BB.

H

Hayden Williams24:55

So they're going to put a nice little stand together for—

J

Jan Ahlgren25:01

Yeah, first we're having a temporary location, and then we are getting our permanent bigger space in, I think, February or March. They really love the concept, and we're just so glad. Both, you know, they took it on.

H

Hayden Williams25:15

And I think it was certainly the case with Vilhelm, and even more so with BB Parfum, the design and the look and feel of it — obviously something that's important to Stina and yourself. Do you use a certain sort of designer for the bottles? Because they've got this beautiful — there's a kind of vintage, classic look to them, like they could be on some beautiful dresser in the 30s or something. Yet at the same time there is a kind of modernity to them in terms of the bottle cap. It is beautiful. And obviously Stina's interest in design, it feels like it's a big part of the brand as well.

J

Jan Ahlgren26:01

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we've designed this ourselves, and we felt both of us it was very important. Since BB also has a very futuristic approach in many ways — also in terms of the photography, it's great as well, really interesting, really resting blue photography and it's slightly blurred. It's really very artistic. And we're also working with people from the gaming industry. So we're doing — we will do all our films, because all of the stories will have a short film to it, and they are done by people from the gaming industry. And it's a very fun way for Stina and me to direct them, these short little movies, because they're technically brilliant.

H

Hayden Williams26:51

You know what they can do.

J

Jan Ahlgren26:52

And it must be an interesting challenge for them. So each fragrance will have a little film to it. So that's a fun way of working. We felt also with this approach it was very important to have something a little bit vintage feeling to it, which gives some — the glass has those stripes. But I must say, Stina is a brilliant designer, and all credit to her.

H

Hayden Williams27:22

They look stunning. And I always feel sometimes — I feel bad — the logo, I really, I'm very—

J

Jan Ahlgren27:28

Yeah, the way she did the logo, I think, is fantastic.

H

Hayden Williams27:31

It's very clean as well.

J

Jan Ahlgren27:33

Very clean.

H

Hayden Williams27:34

I don't know, sometimes I think, oh, I shouldn't care so much about the aesthetics of fragrance, but it is important, the tactility of it and how — the design that a brand uses and how it looks on the counter or the shelf is kind of important. It's part of the theater of—

J

Jan Ahlgren27:49

Yeah, so we want to bring people in. I think when you see this, you get drawn to it.

H

Hayden Williams27:55

I think so, yeah, it's really stunning.

J

Jan Ahlgren27:57

And also the back wall later and our furniture — I feel very, very proud of, yeah.

H

Hayden Williams28:06

I really look forward to seeing those films as well. I think that sounds like a really interesting way to approach the collection. It's been — I've done a couple, been part of a lot of fragrances, and this is the best experience I've been part of in creation. And to be part of that, I'm very, very proud of that as well.

J

Jan Ahlgren28:26

Well, people should definitely check it out. I'm sure they will find a favorite amongst the opening six, with more to come.

H

Hayden Williams28:35

The name of the podcast is Man in the Mirror, and part of it is, I suppose, a little bit about self-care and self-image. So I wonder, when you're having this very brief moment of getting ready in the morning, what do you think about your appearance? What do you think when you look in the mirror, when you look at yourself?

J

Jan Ahlgren28:55

I feel very lucky when I look myself in the mirror because I've had your face all your life. So I always — if I'm a bit down, I always take a look at myself in the mirror, then I cheer myself up. No, I'm joking. No, when I look at myself, and I try to really always have an approach of walking this Earth with light feet and not take things too seriously. And I've learned that, this comes from my mom.

H

Hayden Williams29:27

Yeah.

J

Jan Ahlgren29:28

She was kind of humorous, yeah, I would say so. She has a very lovely approach to life and to really enjoy. And I would say one of my strengths is I really enjoy life. I have a good time. I'm tremendously blessed in every way.

H

Hayden Williams29:49

And also if you're having the good fortune to work with things like fragrance, which are beautiful things — it would be a shame, wouldn't it, if you didn't enjoy that. I mean, how amazing to get to do the things you do and to have your own brand.

J

Jan Ahlgren30:06

No, and just to come — if you come to our home, you will see it's basically — well, yeah, you are — if you are in Paris, please come by, because you will find so many—

H

Hayden Williams30:18

Tomorrow morning, Stina—

J

Jan Ahlgren30:21

No, but you will get the coffee on, yeah. Coffee and Fawlty Towers.

H

Hayden Williams30:27

Absolutely.

J

Jan Ahlgren30:28

But you will see, there is just everywhere in the whole apartment, always you see small fragrance lab samples, blotters everywhere with notes written on them. Constantly. And we are really a perfume fragrance family. And I love that, this is what I love to do. And I learn every day. And to just be part of thinking about new scents, of what you can do and what works, visual works with that scent. And now this way of working with Stina, it's just — you know, so it's always going to be a different level. So yeah, I'm just extremely, extremely fortunate.

H

Hayden Williams31:13

And going back to appearance, going back to modeling days — this light approach you have, I definitely sense that. But when you're doing modeling as a job, does it necessitate that you have to take your look seriously? I can't imagine sort of male models — you think of Zoolander and people that are very, which I don't see in you at all. But when people are paying you to wear nice clothes and for your looks, do you have to think about your appearance more, or look after yourself, or look after the face, or not a concern?

J

Jan Ahlgren31:52

Not a concern. When I did it, it was just to get extra money, right? And there was never a career. I don't think many male models grow up and say, 'What do you want to do? I want to be a male model.' I don't think that. But it was just a good way of getting extra cash. So I did that in New York, this was in Paris, that was actually — this is a long time ago. And then it allowed me to do design projects, and I worked some with interior design and so on. And it was just a good extra income. And then I was lucky enough to get booked on some big jobs that was fun, but there was nothing serious about it whatsoever.

H

Hayden Williams32:32

No, but I guess it's another life experience where you can get to meet different people and network, and things can happen — photographers, creators—

J

Jan Ahlgren32:41

For no other reason. That's it. It was fantastic. I loved every — it was great, and I had no bad experience. It was just fun. And you know, I was a little kid, I shot with, you know, Claudia Schiffer, and you work with all these amazing photographers.

H

Hayden Williams32:57

Well, that alone, just to see the creative process, other models or photographers—

J

Jan Ahlgren33:01

Yeah, and you met — I met most of them, and yeah.

H

Hayden Williams33:06

How old were you when you started?

J

Jan Ahlgren33:10

I did some at 21, maybe.

H

Hayden Williams33:16

So did you leave home and go to Paris to do that, or were you doing something else?

J

Jan Ahlgren33:20

Well, I had a scholarship. I was supposed to go to school in the US. I had a scholarship, you had to go to college. And to study — I had actually a golf scholarship.

H

Hayden Williams33:33

You had to play golf? It sounds like an interesting life.

J

Jan Ahlgren33:36

So I was going to go to college after school in Sweden, and then I got picked up by an agency. And you know, you're 20, 21, and it was quite fun. You're a young guy and I thought it was great. And then I stayed, and then I discovered other things — I loved interior design.

H

Hayden Williams33:57

So was that your route into where you initially started talking about bags and clothes and leather bags and so on?

J

Jan Ahlgren34:04

Yeah, so it's a good — there are always these things that come along, sort of helpful doors to the next thing, aren't they?

H

Hayden Williams34:11

And then came the fragrance.

J

Jan Ahlgren34:13

And that's where I felt I found home.

H

Hayden Williams34:18

Oh, I love that, yeah. And finally, I always ask my guests about what makes them happy, and I think we've talked a lot actually about the things that make you happy. But I wonder, just to conclude, what are the things that bring you joy, apart from basil Fawlty?

J

Jan Ahlgren34:39

Well, well, it's just to wake up with my family, with my two daughters and my wife. Yeah. Simple as that. Simple as that. Just the day with them, and with family. Simple as that.

H

Hayden Williams34:55

Well, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you for spending some time to tell me a bit more about the range, which here in the UK certainly is going to be in Liberty later this month. And if you're lucky enough to get a Liberty Advent calendar, you will find Ghost of Tom as a trial size there. But do come and experience the full range of six in Liberty, and of course it'll be on the BB website. And I'm going to put more information in the program notes on the podcast so you can find out more, where to find them, and some of the things that Jan talked about. So Jan, thank you so much for your time, and lovely to see you again.

J

Jan Ahlgren35:33

Yeah, take care. Thank you.

H

Hayden Williams35:35

Thank you. Huge thanks to Jan for joining me. I appreciate how busy he must be, and Stina, in the run-up to the launch of BB Parfum, and it was amazing that he made some time to chat with me today on Man in the Mirror. I think it's always really interesting, isn't it, when there's a husband and wife combination working on a brand together, and the different things that they bring to it. I must say, I've never heard of fragrances having the inspiration of meditation, and the ideas that come to Stina while she's meditating — I'd certainly never heard of that before. But it feels like a really fertile and interesting way to come up with fragrance notes and ideas. And honestly, the opening range is so strong, and I'm sure if you love your fragrance, you will find something amongst that opening range of six. And as Jan said, there's more to come next year. But for me, Ghost of Tom with that tea note and bergamot and apple, really stunning. And it's one that seems to get compliments on when I wear it. It's certainly got a bit of strength to it, but it's a beautiful fragrance that my wife and I are loving very much. So look, I hope you enjoyed hearing about BB Parfum. It launches in Liberty, as Jan said, I think it's October the 23rd, which is in a couple of weeks. So that's when it officially launches in Liberty. And if you want to find out more about the brand, you can find them on Instagram, they're at bb.parfum — that's B-B-P-A-R-F-U-M, so bb.parfum on Insta, and their website is bb-parfum.com, so b-b-parfum.com. Where now I think it's a kind of holding page, but I'm sure in the coming weeks it will have full retail offering and you'll get to see lots more. And as we talked about in the chat, the visual language and the packaging and the bottle is so beautiful, and there's a really strong language and identity with what they do with BB Parfum. So it will certainly be very striking in store, but made all the better because the contents of the bottles are so good as well. And Jan was so much fun, a really interesting character, and I love the fact that he said he used to get up and drink his espressos and watch Fawlty Towers. So who knew? I didn't expect him to say that at all. So there you go. That was Jan Ahlgren. If you want to find out more about Man in the Mirror, you can find me on Instagram @maninthemirrorpod. You'll be able to find information about previous guests, and it's where I tease what's coming up next and future guests. So there's a whole ton of previous episodes from the previous five seasons. So if this is the first time you've checked out the podcast, please do. I'd love you to go back and discover some of the back catalog. Thanks to Jan for joining me. Thanks to you as always for listening, I really appreciate it, and I'll see you next time on Man in the Mirror. Take care.