The Interview: Discothèque founders on turning nightlife into fragrance and launching their latest scents
Discothèque is a fragrance house inspired by nightlife and club culture, translating the energy and atmosphere of discos, nightclubs, and raves into carefully crafted, narrative-driven scents. Each fragrance draws inspiration from a specific city, era, or iconic club night, capturing a distinct moment in time. The brand’s product portfolio includes personal fragrances, candles, and, more recently, handbag scents designed for a quick spritz on the go.
In this exclusive interview, founders Jessie Willner and Hanover Booth share the story behind Discothèque, unveil their two latest fragrances - including a Selfridges-exclusive scent - and discuss the challenges of growing an independent fragrance house in a market dominated by global luxury brands. They also provide insights into their expansion plans and much more.
Let’s start at the beginning - what inspired you to launch Discothèque?
JW: Discothèque is kind of an ode to the best nights of our lives, many of which have been together. Our friendship is unique because so much of it was born from just always being the two craziest people in a room. We’ve worked together for the better part of a decade, and whenever we’d travel somewhere new for work, we’d always find our way through a city by its dancefloors. Afterwards, we’d relive all of the stories and everything that happened and just be like, “how do we remember this exact feeling forever?" At some point, we had the idea to capture those memories into scents, because few things bring the past to the present as quickly the sense of smell. It was our way of saving the best nights of our lives. We felt like having the time of your life was a lost art, so we wanted to pay homage to it.
HB: Discothèque really grew out of the way we’ve always experienced cities together: by their dancefloors! We’ve always loved how a single night out can stay with you for years, and how scent can pull you back into that moment instantly. We wanted to bottle that feeling of endless possibility that a night can bring - one we’ve personally experienced, but also heard in so many stories from people who’ve been to the clubs that the different fragrances are inspired by!
How has your product range evolved since launch?
JW: We launched candles in 2022, with each one specifically named after a legendary club. The idea was to make home fragrances that brought the discothèque home with you. Scents that brought your home to life, rather than relaxing it. We wanted to make each one like a collectible, so all of our glasses are hand-coloured in three layers and heat set in-between each layer. The intention had always been to launch perfume, because we wanted the scents to be able to live every part of your life with you. But developing them took us a very long time because we were so specific about each one. We worked with five different perfumers across the seven scents, so they all individually felt like their own projects. Then we finally launched them last October in Selfridges and celebrated for a week straight!
HB: We actually started developing the EDPs long before we ever launched, but they took time - so much testing, tweaking, reworking - and we didn’t want to rush them. Candles came first because they allowed us to launch the brand and tell the stories right away: the worlds, the years, and everything we were building. Once the fragrances were finally ready, releasing them felt like handing people the most personal part of the universe we’d created. We’re always expanding these little worlds and finding new ways for people to live inside them. We are constantly in development of new fragrances and have dozens of samples going at all times and are always putting new ideas into works, so a lot of exciting stuff to come!
As the name suggests, Discothèque is rooted in disco, nightlife, and party culture. How do you translate the energy and emotion of nightlife into something as personal and intimate as fragrance?
JW: Our genius perfumers connect those memories to scent notes. What does catching eyes with a stranger feel like? What's the smell of lasers on a dancefloor or falling in love at 3am? We wanted fragrances that you’d smell and be like, “this is what the sky looked like at dawn”. We wanted them to evoke a type of euphoria. Scent just has this ability to transport you instantly to a moment or feeling in a way nothing else can.
HB: The process is fluid and our inspiration comes in different ways. There isn’t one rigid way we develop a fragrance. Sometimes the club comes first: the year, the vibe, the story... and we build the scent around that world. Other times, a fragrance feels right before we’ve even tied it to a specific place. Each one feeling like a memory: layered and textured and also could be slightly blurry at the edges. It’s not literally what a club smelled like, it’s about capturing the feeling that that place or moment evokes.
You recently launched your 'handbag scent'.’ What inspired this format, and how does it reflect your customers’ needs and lifestyles?
JW: We wanted to release party-friendly formats! It's about the spontaneity, something you can slip in your bag and take anywhere you want to use it. People already do this with the discovery set, so bigger travel sizes and individually wrapped minis just made sense to add the convenience factor! Of course, we couldn’t leave it to classic packaging and we had to wrap the minis in condom wrappers.
HB: Handbag scents felt really natural and instinctive for the brand. It comes from watching the way our customer lives. People are always on the move - dinner to drinks to the next thing - and we wanted a format that felt effortless, something you can throw in your bag without thinking. Handbag scents are our answer to that and perfect for sharing in a midnight bathroom top-up!
You’re now introducing two new fragrances - can you tell us about them and the inspiration behind each?
JW: They’re about those charged moments on both sides of something you know you'll remember forever. Eye Contact is London in 1985: secret rooms, red lighting, that moment when you lock eyes with someone across the room and nothing can stop everything that’s about to happen. It has leather, cashmere, pink pepper, oud. Body Heat is Monte Carlo in 1974: that Riviera heat, bodies pressed together on a dancefloor, suede sticking to your skin. It’s cardamom, coffee, oud, dark chocolate, cedarwood. Both scents are about a day and night that started as strangers and ended as something so much more than that.
Between your candles and fragrances, which tends to be more popular with customers?
HB: Since launching the fragrances, they've truly taken on a life of their own! Fragrance is an incredibly personal experience and people have fallen in love with the EDPs, which has made them the heart of our business. That said, candles are still a massive part of what we do for customers who want to bring the Discothèque home with them and make a room come to life!
Are there any details in your packaging or formulations that customers might not notice, but that you’re particularly proud of?
JW: I think the details might be what we’re most proud of! Every single component is designed and developed by us, which gives us the freedom to pay attention to the tiny things you might never notice, because they make all the difference: the inside of the cap, the nozzle, the artwork behind each fragrance label, the easter eggs in the insert, the cut-outs of the platform the bottle sits in... every tiny decision is our way of showing that the same love went into the fragrance itself, which is the part that becomes yours.
HB: Absolutely. I love our trademark disco cube lid, and the disco cube has become a such an institution in our brand, I just want to live in a disco cube house myself! Everything is meticulously designed by Jessie from the label, to the packaging, to the artwork, the bottle. Even details people may not even consciously notice - the gradients on the website that accompany each perfume world. Everything is designed to feel considered and collectible. We also use a very high percentage of fragrance oil in every single EDP, and everything is vegan, clean, and made from the most luxury-grade ingredients. Nothing is accidental, and that’s something we take a lot of pride in.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as an independent fragrance brand competing in a market dominated by global luxury houses?
JW: I think our point of view is different and weird and that’s exactly why people like Discothèque. It’s because it’s everything that the global luxury houses aren’t able to do, not even because they don’t want to, but because there is infrastructure there that doesn’t let them push boundaries in the same way. We’re able to mix luxury with subversive design, which is uncommon, and it takes it cues from the nightclub itself: mixing couture and punk in underground warehouses, forging friendships that wouldn’t be forged unless you’re all together under one roof listening to the same song. We’re able to be so incredibly reactive and not worry in the same way. We’re just making things we love in the way we think they should be made. There is probably not a lot of executive teams that would have let me design a condom-wrapped fragrance sampler to put in major retailers. Or call a fragrance that was going to be sold on the main floor of Selfridges “Baise Moi on the Dancefloor”. But people want things that embrace and celebrate what can sometimes be the most inhibited parts of themselves. And that’s what Discothèque, down to its DNA, does.
HB: Being independent means doing everything ourselves - the creative, the logistics, the late-night problem-solving. It’s challenging, but it also means total creative freedom. We can take risks, move quickly, and stay true to the world we’re building. We have been extremely lucky in that our growth and customers have been so organic, whereas larger global luxury houses have large budgets for expansion, we have had to be extremely crafty. Our main challenge now is keeping up with the demand!
Which of your scents do you each personally wear/burn most often - and what does it mean to you?
JW: Currently - Perfume: Baise Moi on the Dancefloor. It just puts me in the best headspace! I feel kind of unstoppable when I wear it. It reminds me of running in the streets of Paris with Hanover and staring into the Seine under a full moon. Candle: Remezzo. It reminds me of endless summer and being with the people I love the most in the entire world.
HB: I have this duo that I absolutely love to wear, which is starting with a base of Heathens, Cowboys and the Santa Ana winds and layering Call for a Good Time. We recently described this duo as midnight in Tokyo meets LA, with a bright white floral and golden sandalwood. It is subtle and sensual. For the candles: it’s always changing as I always have a Discothèque candle burning in my house! My two faves to burn right now are Lola at Coat Check and Crisco Disco, which are both inspired by NY! Maybe because my dad is from there I’m a New Yorker at heart!
Where can customers currently find Discothèque and are there any plans for expansion in the near future?
HB: Customers can find us on our own website, and in Selfridges in the UK! We are also available on Cult Beauty and Sephora in the UK, as well as FWRD and Violet Grey in the US! We’ve been opening touchpoints throughout the rest of the US and Europe as well. We have major plans for expansion in the wholesale world for 2026 - it will always be about partnering with the retailers that fit into this world!
Finally, what are your long-term ambitions for the brand?
JW: We’d love for Discothèque to span the globe, while sticking to what’s at the heart of it: the intention to combine extraordinary fragrance with meticulous design, while having an amazing time along the way. Any of our success has come from one of the three. We just want to keep creating things that make every day feel a little more thrilling, and keep putting intangible feelings into tangible things.
HB: Our long-term ambition is to build Discothèque into a global brand that connects incredible design and thoughtful, considered products with unforgettable scents. We want to create worlds people can step into - whether it’s through a candle, a fragrance, or a handbag scent (and beyond!) - that feel fully realised, intentional, and deeply memorable. At the heart of it, we want to continue expanding the products while staying true to the energy, emotion, and storytelling that define everything we do.
