It’s in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, in the Batignolles village, that Rami Mekdachi keeps all of his wonderful archives and dreams of all of his encounters, trips, and poetry.
Hard to define « Lola James Harper ». Is is a candle brand? A music band? A photography collection? Well it’s a little bit of all of this yet so much more. One thing is for sure, the idea comes from one man, Rami Mekdachi, who imagined the projet in 2011 as an artistic projet around 20 years of travelling and scents, music, and photos ». It’s a family project as the names Lola and James were chosen by his children.
We met Rami Mekdachi in the welcoming Lola James Harper Studio, rue Nollet, in the Batignolles district of Paris, where the vibe is welcoming and warm. In fact, since last September, it is open to the public every Saturday afternoon.
A beautiful story. Born in the 70s in Beirut, the photographer & musician met the famous perfumers Pierre Bourdon and Benoist Lapouza at the age of 25 and learnt all about the beauty of perfumery. Then, rami revolutionized private label perfumery by creating le scent for certain brand and mythical places, such as the globally acclaimed Colette concept store that lives on through Lola James Harper.
And, representative of these fragrances from the past, this creative studio holds many archives, may they be visual, olfactive, or even musical thanks to the lovely recording studio set up in the basement
Passionate about so many things, rami is currently working on his second film that come out in a few months. After WITH, A journey to Slow Life, Hooptime is the new project about street basketball, a passion the founder shares with his son. It’s scenes are shot both in Los Angeles and the Martin Luther King Parc in Paris, near the studio.
In fact, while the brand is all about freedom and travelling, it is equally anchered in it’s Parisian environment. Nearly everything is made in France, some even directly in Paris such as the books, the art prints, the movie montage, and the music recordings for most of the tracks. One thing is for sure, Lola James Harper is definitely made in Paris.
