- Agata Karolina Perfumer:
Agata Karolina stands as a visionary in the realm of perfumery, renowned as the founder of House of Gozdawa—an artisanal perfumery established in Cape Town in 2015. Her journey into scent creation is deeply intertwined with her multidisciplinary background: after studying contextual design at the Design Academy Eindhoven (completing her master’s in 2009) and working as a design initiator and curator, she returned to Cape Town to pursue her passion for natural aromatics. The brand’s name, House of Gozdawa, carries profound historical weight, inspired by the Gozdawa family crest gifted by her grandmother Olga von Chrapowicka, a symbol dating to pre-1090 AD that embodies strength, sensitivity, creativity, and a rooted connection to nature.
Dedicated to crafting high-quality epicene scents, the brand adheres to a rigorous philosophy: every fragrance is hand-developed by Agata Karolina, using only natural essential oils and carriers. Products are produced in small batches, hand-bottled, and labeled with vintage details, ensuring each scent is imbued with care, narrative intent, and reverence for natural essences. This meticulous approach reflects the brand’s belief that perfume is a sensory story—one that evolves with the wearer.
Her debut collection,Confessions Volume 1, a 1.5-year labor of love, features six extrait de parfum scents (25–40% perfume oil concentration). Each fragrance is inspired by a named individual—three men (Andrea the adventurer, Simo the aristocrat, Albert the philosopher) and three women (Marta the lover, Hel a celebration, Aga the romantic)—and serves as a personal narrative: “I decided to tell my own story through these characters,” she notes, with each scent mirroring facets of her identity as a perfumer.
Central to her ethos is the belief in olfactory individuality: like fingerprints, natural botanicals react uniquely to each person’s skin chemistry. House of Gozdawa harnesses indigenous ingredients—honey, orange blossom, lemon rind, wild rosemary, fynbos, rose geranium, and Namibian myrrh—to create scents that transform into personalized signatures. The brand’s range—extrait de parfum, eau de toilette, incense, ambient mists, candles, and soap—invites wearers into a world where fragrance is not merely a scent, but a sensory imprint of the self.
