Woman Carries On Family’s 160-YO Legacy Of Making Perfumes, From India to France

In the 1850s, Shri Chunnamal Vijayvergiya, a perfume enthusiast, moved from Rajasthan to Lucknow in search of better opportunities. At the time, the land of the royals was the place to be for perfumery. With a penchant for creating exquisite and aromatic scents, it didn’t take long for Shri Chunnamal to entice the Nawabs and Rasookdars (ministers) of Awadh with his collection of natural attars.

Shri Chunnamal’s perfumes soon became a hit among the royals. With his son, Ramdayal Vijayvergiya, he began sourcing essential oils, spices, and other such ingredients from across India to produce bottled fragrances. Around the 1930s, Shri Chunnamal’s grandson, Gaurishankar, began exporting these oils and fragrances to foreign markets, and from here, the business grew. By the 1950s, this century-old perfume business was finally incorporated as CMRD (Chunnamal Ramdayal) Agencies by Vasudev Vijayvergiya, the 4th generation owner of the family business.

Today, in the 21st century, 39-year-old Vidushi Vijayvergiya, granddaughter of Vasudev, is manning the operations of her family’s 160-year-old legacy — the first woman in her lineage to do so. In 2017, she re-launched her family’s brand under the name Isak Fragrances, which sells a variety of handcrafted, vegan, and artisanal perfumes.

Popularising an ancient art

Vidushi was born and raised around perfumery and spent much of her time in her father’s brick and mortar store in Lucknow. She says she was always a bit of an introvert, so after school, she’d head straight to the store, where her father would encourage her to interact with the customers coming in, or with the people around the shop.

After completing a course in luxury and lifestyle business management from IIM-A, Vidushi did a course on aromatherapy from Switzerland. However, she says joining her family’s business was never her original plan. Instead, she began her own venture to promote chikankari.