Sweaty, smoky dance floors. Hits of amyl nitrate. Crushed leaves at a cruising spot. Orok Fragrances aren’t like anything you’ve smelt before. Inspired by Melbourne’s queer scene, from its nightlife to its nude beaches, the brand’s five scents each tell an unexpected story.
“Fragrances conjure images in your head and they’re very subjective,” says Orok’s founder, John Domjan. “It’s basically something that you’re creating, the story in your mind about what you’re smelling. That’s the really interesting and exciting part for me.”
Launched in August, the fragrances are the realisation of a long-held dream. With a degree in fine arts from RMIT, Domjan’s always been both a fragrance enthusiast and a creative at heart, while working in hotel management and the corporate world.
In 2023 he finally founded his brand, first contacting Roxi Productions, which offers project management for new fragrances, skincare and beauty products. From there, he met perfume chemist Flora Gourdon, who immediately embraced his unconventional ideas.
“I was talking to her about weird scents, about people having sex in bushes at a beat, or the smell of a rave: sweat, amyl, that kind of thing,” he says. “And she just thought it was outrageous and loved it.”
Working together, the pair have transformed the wild concept into five refined, yet unexpected, genderless fragrances. First up is Rave which, as its name suggests, captures the feeling of queer clubs like Sircuit and The Peel. Opening with zesty grapefruit and rhubarb, it gives way to warm, smoky notes including cashmere, amber and cedarwood.
“I really wanted to capture a bit of an amyl note, because, as you know, amyl is everywhere at one of these [venues],” says Domjan. “So, we put a bit of grapefruit in there to emulate that.
“Experiencing that sweat, that anticipation, that kind of animal smell, that smokiness from people smoking or vaping … I wanted to capture that in a fragrance as well.”
The nightlife narrative continues with 5am, a fresh and floral scent that includes notes of water, petrichor and white musk. Walking home from The Peel at 5am with friends one summer, Domjan was inspired by the smell of flowers blooming in the night. Light yet alluring, it’s proven to be the brand’s most popular scent.
Moving into the afternoon, Shoreline is an aquatic scent with a queer spin. Combining salt, white musk, warm wood and amber incense, it was inspired by Domjan’s visits to the Sunnyside North nude beach. “I wanted to create an aquatic fragrance, but not like your typical [one] that might smell like an Acqua Di Gio or something like that,” he says.
As the sun sets, the sensual and woody Undergrowth is an ideal choice for a romantic evening. Thinking about Treasury Gardens, a well-known cruising spot, Domjan wanted to capture the smell of soil, moss and crushed leaves underfoot. Starting with ripe cherry for sweetness, the scent blends earthy and floral notes with amber, musk and cypriol.
Finally, there’s Vapour Bloom, the brand’s most divisive scent. A self-confessed sci-fi nerd, much of Domjan’s work at RMIT focussed on post-humanism, human consciousness and robots. Questioning how queer people might exist in the future with genderless, mechanical bodies, he’s channelled the concept into a metallic, minerally scent.
“The brief for this was really hilarious,” he says. “Basically, I said to Flora, ‘Take the back off your computer, take the panel off, and smell it.’ That’s kind of the fragrance that we were trying to capture.” Mixing notes of everything from lime and orange to gas, metal, vanilla and heliotrope, Domjan says the scent is interesting in that it transforms differently on everyone’s skin.
That same idea also extends to the label design, with striking, abstract artworks designed by Robert McDonald. For Domjan, the designs invite people to create their own narratives, just as they do with the scents. As for the brand’s name, it’s taken from the Hungarian word for “inherited”, symbolising how social activities are passed down through generations, while also tying into Domjan’s family roots.
The bottle design, meanwhile, combines a round bottle with a square cap, modelled after “a square peg in a round hole”. “As queer people, we may not always fit into every space, but we’re very unique and very interesting, so I wanted to reflect that in the bottle,” he says.
While the fragrances and designs are reflective of the queer experience, they’re certainly not exclusive. “The cool thing is that, even though these experiences are inherently queer, they’re shared by everyone.”
