My guest on the show this week is Forat Al Haider, who is Creative Director of Ghawali, a fragrance brand from the UAE. Ghawali combines the art of Middle Eastern perfumery with a modern, niche touch, crafting unique, long-lasting fragrances that evoke a sense of elegance and sophistication. It is part of the Chalhoub Group, which is a family owned luxury goods retailer and distributor and is the largest retail operator in the Middle East. 

I met Forat a couple of months ago in London when he was introducing people to the brand here at Selfridges. I really enjoyed his company and fell hard for some of the Ghawali fragrances, particularly ‘4 Walls’, which has become a regular wear for me. It seems to me Ghawali represents a really interesting intersection of the Middle Eastern and European-styles of perfumery - and this is probably no surprise at Forat grew up in Sweden, was born in Iraq and now lives in Dubai! 

I hope you enjoy our conversation - and a special thank you to Forat for making time to do this from his office in Dubai.

Forat mentioned the following brands/products from his routine:

The Ordinary - Skin care

https://theordinary.com/en-gb

The Inkey List - Skin care

https://uk.theinkeylist.com/

Kevin Murphy - Hair Care & ‘Doo.over Hair Powder’

https://www.kevinmurphystore.com/kevin-murphy-doo-over/

K18 - Hair care

https://www.k18hair.co.uk/

Ghawali Fragrances 

You can find Ghawali on the web:

https://ae.ghawali.com/

Available in Selfridges:

https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/ghawali/

Ghawali on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ghawaliofficial/

The Chalhoub Group:

https://www.chalhoubgroup.com/en

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Special thanks to Anders Sundberg for ‘Man in the Mirror’ sound mixing and production, Andy Goff @goff_andy for the artwork and Andy Gilbert (ATRX) @andygilbert_atrx for the theme music.

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