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221B in the Ceramic bottle with a black glaze cap and a black tassel, standing in a square of warm light in a dark room
221B, Ceramic 50 ml, in a square of warm light.

Chapter IV · Woody Leather · Eau de Parfum

221B Ceramic, 50 ml

The Reckless Dreamer

Kẻ liều lĩnh mộng mơ

221B Ceramic is a 50 ml woody leather Eau de Parfum by Rei Nguyen, after Sherlock Holmes. Its clay cap is cast in a mould, cut at the mouth and sponged smooth, then glazed and kiln-fired, each cap in its own shade, with a ceramic charm engraved with R. 4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November, incl. 8% VAT; smell it at our three houses in Ho Chi Minh City.

Bottle

Patina Three brass pieces 50 ml · 4.860.000 ₫US$195
Ceramic · selected A clay cap, fired in a kiln 50 ml · 4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November

Also in 12 ml — 1.285.200 ₫US$50. Smaller sizes

The kiln decides the glaze and the maker’s hand the tassel, so each Ceramic bottle comes to you as it was finished. Every bottle carries a ceramic charm engraved with R. A glaze shifts with the light and from one firing to the next, so your cap may read a little differently from the photographs.

4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November

Incl. 8% VAT

Pay in USD by credit card — the amount in USD is shown before you pay.

1

Currently unavailable · expected back late November

Payment · Bank Transfer by VietQR (VND) or Credit Card (USD)

With VietQR, your bottle is held for 60 minutes while the transfer arrives.

  • Delivery We currently deliver within Vietnam only. Visiting from abroad? Collect your order at any of our three houses. In Taiwan, R Parfums is available through our official distributor.
  • Returns Terms
  • Smell first Try 221B and Shadow Éclat on paper and on skin. Our three houses in Ho Chi Minh City are open every day. Addresses and hours

The Ceramic bottle

Clay, fire, glaze

A Patina plate is corroded, filed and polished. Ceramic is changed once, in the kiln. After that, only the light changes how the glaze reads.

Studio photograph of the Ceramic bottle with hands and linen
Hands, linen and the Ceramic bottle.

Why this cap

I · Cast in a mould

Each sphere is cast in a white mould. Its opening is then cut with a fine tool and wiped smooth with a sponge.

II · A glaze that recalls Chu Đậu

The glazes look back to Chu Đậu, the old ceramics of northern Vietnam. Brushed on raw, the glaze is pink; its colour comes later, in the fire.

III · Fired in the kiln

The kiln hardens the clay and fuses the glaze to it. From one firing to the next, the colour shifts a little.

IV · Tassel and charm

Its tassel, finished by hand, and a small ceramic charm engraved with R, fitted in the box.

At the ceramic studio

How a Ceramic cap is made
  1. An open white mould with round hollows, stacked, and one cream sphere in a corner
    The mould The sphere takes its shape in a white mould.
  2. Close-up of an unfired sphere with a black and white patterned ring at its opening, beside a carving tool
    The opening The opening is cut, then sponged smooth.
  3. A tray of spheres: one row already coated in pink raw glaze, the rest still white
    The glaze Raw glaze is pink. One row is coated; the rest wait.
  4. Glazed spheres lined up at eye level inside the kiln, heating wires blurred behind
    The kiln Glazed spheres lined up in the kiln, before the fire.

Glazes from different firings, photographed on real caps

Round ceramic caps after firing, glazed grey-green, brown, glossy black and speckled green, beside a cream ceramic disc on dark wood
Fired ceramic spheres in blue-grey and speckled glaze beside a round ceramic disc, a glass bottle out of focus in the foreground
Glossy grey and glossy black spheres and a cream disc, seen from above

Film · Series #3

Ceramic and fire

At the ceramic studio, from wet clay to the finished cap.

Ceramic and fire · 1:29 · silent Cut from footage shot at the ceramic studio

What you see

The studio and its long table. Clay kneaded by hand. Liquid clay poured into white moulds. The opening of each sphere cut and wiped. Trays of spheres drying. Pink raw glaze brushed on. The kiln. The spheres after the fire, black, brown and blue-grey. Last, a box fitted with a tassel and a charm.

The craft of Ceramic All films

The scent inside

A different side of Sherlock

In 221B, leather is drawn in clean, polished lines, softened by the honeyed sweetness of rose. Tobacco folds into osmanthus, fervent yet distant, reckless yet dreaming.

The key note is damascenone, part of the scent of rose. It carries rose with a trace of tobacco through the whole of 221B, balances the leather and makes the blend rounder and calmer. The birch tar here is not smoky or dark: it leaves a faint haze over the leather and balsam.

The bottle changes nothing in the scent. Patina and Ceramic hold the same 221B.

Read Chapter IV: 221B and Shadow Éclat Everything about 221B

Perfumer’s memo

“221B is the address of Sherlock Holmes — a fictional character I have long admired.

Sherlock stands in the light, but what fascinates me is the shadow he carries. Perceptive. Reserved. Passionate. Relentless in his pursuit of truth.

221B follows another trace of Holmes: not only the pipe and leather gloves, but the passion beneath his reserve.”

Rei Nguyen, perfumer

“Một cái đầu lạnh. Một trái tim ấm nóng. Nguyên tắc và ngoại lệ. Trật tự và hỗn loạn.”

Rei Nguyen on Sherlock, in Vietnamese, September 2023: a cold head, a warm heart; principle and exception; order and chaos.

Chapter IV · Chapter V

The other half

Drawn from Conan Doyle’s stories, the two scents are a pair: 221B the light, from Sherlock; Shadow Éclat the darkness, from Moriarty. Each is completed by its opposite: light carrying its own shadow, darkness holding a hidden radiance.

The light · Sherlock Holmes’s Room

221B

For loving minds and thinking hearts.

Ink drawing for 221B

You are here · Ceramic 50 ml · 4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November

  1. 01 London Fog Trong màn sương bụi giữa Luân Đôn
  2. 02 The Sign of Four Giải mã “Dấu bộ tứ”
  3. 03 The Soul Trái tim của kẻ liều lĩnh mộng mơ
  4. 04 Letters to 221B Baker Street Lá thư gửi đến số nhà 221B đường Baker, Luân Đôn

The darkness · Moriarty’s Room

Shadow Éclat

Radiant Darkness

The shadow of a Ceramic bottle with a white tassel, cast through linen

James Moriarty — an imperfect soul, proud and full of presence. Suede leather over the soft herbal calm of geranium, with the smoky, honeyed side of osmanthus and immortelle. Chapter V · Modern Leather.

  1. 05 Professor James Moriarty Giáo sư James Moriarty
  2. 06 The Napoleon of Crime Kẻ chinh phạt bóng tối
  3. 07 The Reichenbach Fall Vực sáng
  4. 08 Shadow Éclat Bóng đêm rực rỡ
The other half: Shadow Éclat In Ceramic · 4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November

From the archive

Letters from 221B Baker Street: Scents of Shadow

6–15 December 2024 · 34 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, An Khánh Ward

The exhibition had two rooms, one for Sherlock and one for Moriarty, and each scent in them came with a story told by Rei. Visitors were asked to bring their own headphones. There are nine recordings in all, a greeting from Rei and the eight stories above, each in Vietnamese and in English. Shadow Éclat was first shown here; in February 2025 the same recordings travelled to Light and Shadow in Hanoi.

00Greetings from Rei Nguyen · Lời chào từ Rei Nguyễn

221B in the Patina bottle, the brass pieces on the glass, beside a pipe and a handwritten letter

Same scent in Patina

221B, Patina 50 ml

The other way to keep 221B. The idea came from relics in Huế; twelve months of research and development went into the Patina line. Three brass pieces are corroded, filed and polished, then set on the glass, and each bottle is one of a kind.

I Brass
II Turning
III Patina

Also in 12 ml — 1.285.200 ₫US$502 ml sample, 224.640 ₫US$9 · Discovery Set, five 2 ml vials with 221B among them, 918.000 ₫US$35

Smaller sizes

For the record

221B Ceramic at a glance

Everything about this bottle in one place. Ingredients, directions and shelf life are as printed on the label.

Scent
221B, Chapter IV of six
Bottle line
Ceramic. The same scent also comes in Patina.
Volume
50 ml / 1.7 fl. oz.
Concentration
Eau de Parfum
Family
Woody Leather
Top notes
Green Mandarin, Lemon, Blackcurrant
Middle notes
Rose, Osmanthus, Geranium
Base notes
Birch Tar, Ambrette Seed, Leather, Peru Balsam, Tobacco
Key note
Damascenone, an important part of the scent of rose
Inspired by
Sherlock Holmes, in the novels of Conan Doyle. Paired with Shadow Éclat, Chapter V.
Cap
Ceramic, cast in a mould, the mouth cut and sponged smooth. How the cap is made
Glaze
Set by the kiln; each cap in its own shade
Firing
1000°C, once
Charm and tassel
Ceramic charm engraved with R · tassel from the maker’s hand
Price
4.131.000 ₫US$165Currently unavailable · expected back late November, incl. 8% VAT
Smell it
At our three houses in Ho Chi Minh City, open every day: 34 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu · 42 Nguyễn Huệ · 26 Lý Tự Trọng
Delivery
Within Vietnam only
Perfumer
Rei Nguyen
Made in
Vietnam
House
R Parfums, an independent fragrance house from Saigon, Vietnam. Sold by NOTE CO., LTD.

Ingredients (INCI)

Alcohol, Aqua (Water), Parfum (Fragrance), Limonene, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Benzoate, Linalool, Benzyl Cinnamate, Citronellol, Citral, Geraniol, Benzyl Alcohol, Cinnamyl Alcohol.

As printed on the 221B label. Batch number: see packaging.

Wear and keep

Spray onto wrists, behind ears or on the neck, 15–20 cm from the body, on clean, dry skin. Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Shelf life: 29 months from the manufacturing date. Flammable: keep away from heat and sparks.

The Ceramic line

Ceramic in other scents

All six in Ceramic

Prices incl. 8% VAT. Every scent comes in both lines, Ceramic and Patina.

Questions

Questions about 221B Ceramic

Anything else: +84 89 649 0038 or info@r-parfums.com.

What does 221B smell like?
221B, by R Parfums, smells of clean, polished leather softened by honeyed rose, with tobacco folded into osmanthus. Top notes: Green Mandarin, Lemon, Blackcurrant. Middle notes: Rose, Osmanthus, Geranium. Base notes: Birch Tar, Ambrette Seed, Leather, Peru Balsam, Tobacco. It is a woody leather Eau de Parfum, and its key note is damascenone.
What colour will the glaze and the tassel be?
Each cap takes its glaze from the kiln and its tassel from the maker’s hand; neither colour can be requested. Each bottle comes with a ceramic charm engraved with R. A glaze also shifts with the light and from one firing to the next, so your cap may differ a little from the photographs.
How is 221B related to Shadow Éclat?
Both come from Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes: 221B is the light, drawn from Sherlock; Shadow Éclat is the darkness, drawn from Moriarty. Shadow Éclat was first shown at the exhibition Letters from 221B Baker Street in December 2024. Each is sold on its own, in Patina or Ceramic. Shadow Éclat

Smell it first

Three houses, one city

221B and Shadow Éclat side by side, on paper and on skin.

House I R Space, 34 Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, Thảo Điền — An Khánh Ward Ho Chi Minh City Open daily · 8:00–18:00
House II 42 Nguyễn Huệ, The Café Apartment building — Level 2, Sài Gòn Ward Ho Chi Minh City · inside NOTE – The Scent Lab Open daily · 9:00–22:00
House III 26 Lý Tự Trọng, Level 3, Sài Gòn Ward Ho Chi Minh City · inside Saigon Scent Lab Open daily · 9:00–22:00

+84 89 649 0038 · info@r-parfums.com

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