About our Founder

Warren Bacal

Kōsui was born from a sense of absence. Living in the United States, Warren found that fragrances inspired by Asian cultures, particularly Japanese scent traditions, were rarely represented in Western perfumery. Warren's connection to Japan runs deep: from studying the language from age 11 to spending part of his high school years living in Shizuoka, Japan. Kōsui began as a way to honor that experience—to give voice, through scent, to a culture that shaped how he sees beauty, restraint, and intention.

His approach to perfumery is shaped by a rare convergence of disciplines. With a background in opera performance and science, he was drawn to fragrance as a space where structure and emotion coexist. Opera taught him how harmony, tension, and proportion create feeling. Science revealed the precision behind systems that appear effortless. Perfumery, he found, lives at that same intersection—where mathematical ratios and chemistry support artistry, memory, and emotional resonance. Like music, a fragrance unfolds over time, telling a story through balance, contrast, and interpretation. A single scent can recall a specific time in our life, a loved one now gone, or a place that shaped us. Warren is endlessly fascinated by how perfume theory mirrors music theory: notes layered in harmony, tension and release, structure giving way to interpretation. Like music, fragrance tells a story without words, inviting the wearer to complete it through memory and feeling.

Looking ahead, Warren's vision for Kōsui is to share Japanese culture through scent—to create fragrances that transport people to Japan, whether for the first time or back to a vacation they cherish. Each composition is designed to feel like an invisible accessory: something that completes an outfit, deepens self-expression, and quietly amplifies confidence. Kōsui exists to remind us that scent is not merely something we wear, but something we carry—an invisible presence capable of inspiring us, shaping our confidence, and reconnecting us to moments, places, and parts of ourselves we never truly leave behind.