The Essentials Up Front
- NISHANE Thorns Become Roses is an Extrait de Parfum composed by Julien Rasquinet of CPL Aromas, positioned as the Second Verse of the Istanbul house’s Rumi Collection — a study in olfactory transformation built around rose, saffron, and woods, opening with deliberate sharpness before arriving at bloom.
- The fragrance was a UK exclusive at Harrods UK exclusive throughout July 2026, ahead of a wider global launch later that summer.
- Rasquinet returns to NISHANE following his work on Wūlóng Chá X and Hacivat X; creative directors are Mert Güzel and Murat Katran.
- Prior to London, the fragrance was presented at Esxence in Milan and ScentFest San Francisco, where a multimedia installation called “Just Write to Me” closed with the line: “Darkness becomes light, ink becomes scent, thorns become roses.”
Design and Concept
Ten years separate the first chapter of the Rumi Collection from this new fragrance, and that distance is felt in the weight of the decision to return. Named after Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet whose writing on transformation and the interior life crosses centuries and continents, the collection has always occupied a different register within NISHANE’s catalogue — one where philosophical intention precedes compositional execution.
Founders Mert Güzel and Murat Katran have said of the collection: “The Rumi Collection is at the very core of the NISHANE story. It felt natural to continue an exploration that gave us two of our most acclaimed creations.” Thorns Become Roses is termed the Second Verse deliberately — not a sequel, but a new line of poetry within the same ongoing work. Its title inverts the rose’s received symbolism. The composition does not begin with beauty and discover difficulty. It begins with thorns and earns the bloom.
The Composition: Rose, Saffron, Woods
Julien Rasquinet — Principal Perfumer at CPL Aromas — structured the Rumi Collection’s philosophical platform around a single compositional arc: from tension to release. In his own words: “I started with a sharp, almost prickling rose, spiced with saffron and edged with woods, evoking the sensation of thorns at the very beginning.”
That opening is intentionally unsettling. The rose is present from the first second, but it arrives angular, guarded, unresolved. As the fragrance develops, saffron’s sharpness softens. The woody edges warm. The rose unfolds — reaching a depth and emotional register that, Rasquinet’s architecture insists, could only have been accessed through the resistance that preceded it. The key materials — rose, saffron, and woods — are few and precisely deployed, which is itself a statement of confidence.
Co-founder Murat Katran has described Rasquinet’s contribution to NISHANE in broader terms: “Julien is truly part of our olfactory DNA. His textured, complex and vigorous approach resonates with the way we envision perfumery.”
The Harrods Launch
NISHANE staged the UK introduction on the Georgian Terrace at Harrods in Knightsbridge — an afternoon of rose-infused teas, saffron threads, and conversation between Rasquinet and Global Experience Director Alexandre Helwani against the London skyline. The format was guided and intimate, designed to lead guests through the fragrance’s creative arc before they encountered it on skin.
The approach is consistent with how the Maison operates across markets. At Esxence in Milan, an evening masterclass at Residenza Vignale preceded the Harrods moment. At ScentFest San Francisco, Helwani staged “Just Write to Me” — a multimedia installation in which wartime love letters surfaced from a wall of black, and visitors wrote their own words in scented ink. The events are not promotional occasions. They are extensions of the fragrance itself.
NISHANE in Context
Founded in Istanbul by Güzel and Katran, NISHANE takes its name from the Turkish word for “sign” or “mark” — a reference to identity and the founders’ conviction that fragrance is among the most direct expressions of individual selfhood. The house’s catalogue, which includes Hacivat, Wūlóng Chá X, and Ani, has built its position on textural complexity and narrative depth rather than mass-market accessibility.
The Rumi Collection carries the tagline “Unfold Your Own Myth” — a direct quotation from Rumi — and represents the platform on which NISHANE’s most ambitious work has been produced. Thorns Become Roses extends that ambition: an Extrait de Parfum that, like the poet it honours, moves from difficulty to clarity and arrives at beauty having crossed through darkness first. For the GCC reader drawn to fragrance with genuine philosophical weight, this is precisely the kind of creation that rewards attention. Thorns Become Roses is available via NISHANE and at Harrods.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is NISHANE Thorns Become Roses and which collection does it belong to?
Thorns Become Roses is an Extrait de Parfum by NISHANE, positioned as the Second Verse of the Rumi Collection — the Istanbul house's most philosophically ambitious line, named after the 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Its key materials are rose, saffron, and woods.
Who composed NISHANE Thorns Become Roses?
The fragrance was composed by Julien Rasquinet, Principal Perfumer at CPL Aromas, who previously worked with NISHANE on Wūlóng Chá X and Hacivat X.
Is NISHANE Thorns Become Roses available to buy in the GCC or internationally?
The fragrance launched as a UK exclusive at Harrods throughout July 2026, ahead of its wider global launch later in the summer of 2026. It is also discoverable through nfrfrequency.com.
What does the name Thorns Become Roses mean in the context of the fragrance?
The title inverts the conventional symbolism of the rose: rather than beginning with beauty and discovering difficulty, the composition opens with a sharp, saffron-spiced rose and moves, through transformation, toward softness and bloom — a structure directly inspired by the poetry of Rumi.
Where was NISHANE Thorns Become Roses first presented publicly?
The fragrance was presented at Esxence in Milan, at ScentFest San Francisco — where a multimedia installation called 'Just Write to Me' was staged — and then celebrated at an intimate afternoon launch on the Georgian Terrace at Harrods in Knightsbridge.
