Apoteker Tepe
First founded in Harlem, NY by perfumer Holladay Saltz in 2014, the brand recently ceased operations before being purchased by Nicholas Nilsson of Pineward Perfume.
Holladay Penick Saltz grew up outside Jackson, Mississippi. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to study fashion and material culture at Parsons and The New School before becoming an academic researcher at the Institute of Play, the Institute for the Future of the Book, and later a visiting scholar at New York University. A chance reading of Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses reawakened her lifelong fascination with the sense of smell, and she decided to dedicate herself to exploring the ancient, storied history of fragrance and fragrant raw materials. After years of study in the process of formulation and production she was able to train with Le Labo Fragrances in New York City and went on to found Apoteker Tepe in 2014.
Apoteker Tepe's ethos is to hand formulate, individually source, and hand-produce every bottle for the simple reason that there is no other way to produce fragrance of such quality or rigor at scale. "It is not a gimmick, it is not a marketing strategy. It is simply the best way to highlight the beautiful materials with which we work, as well as the best way to insure we are partnered with people whose values and aims are aligned with ours. We would not present you anything less."
After Nicholas Nilsson of Pineward Perfume purchased the rights and formulas in 2020, the brand and its original fragrances has been faithfully resurrected.
