Ha Minseo Caterina

Ha Minseo Caterina is a South Korean perfumer and the founder of Villa Erbatium, the Seoul fragrance house whose perfumes she composes herself. Also credited as Minseo Ha, she signs every Villa Erbatium box as "CEO and representative perfumer", and Fragrantica names her as the nose who worked on the brand's fragrances.

Background

She studied in Italy, and has described being struck there by artisans who devoted themselves to a single craft. That experience runs through the house: its name joins the Italian words for a cultural space and for herbs with a Korean word for sprouting, several perfumes carry Italian names such as Allegria and Bambini Soap, and the Seoul atelier in Samcheong-dong is styled as an alchemist's laboratory under the motto "Perfume, on the border between Science and Art".

Signature style

Her fragrances start from a scene instead of a list of ingredients: hotel bedding in Hotel Cotton, a whiskey bar in Fig Whiskey, the Glencoe valley in Mossy Glen, a bowl of Korean rice wine in Rice Makgeolli. The compositions are usually soft and close to the skin, built on musk, cotton-like and powdery notes, tea, woods and restrained fruit, and almost all are made to be worn by anyone.

Notable work

She created Scent of Seoul as the official fragrance of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Dracula for the Korean staging of the musical, and Allegria for Minhyuk of MONSTA X. Browse the Ha Minseo Caterina fragrances available below.