Can you capture and bottle something as ephemeral as a vibe, a memory, an atmosphere? Floriography promises to do just that.For the past eight years, Jo Shaw, the 35-year-old founder of the Hong Kong-based artisan perfume house, has been creating niche fragrances that emulate concepts such as old bookstores, the earthy scent after rain and a chaotic urban jungle smelling like metal, temple smoke and steamed rice.“When I started, there weren’t any brands – at least in Hong Kong – selling fragrances that reminded you of an environment or an experience,” Shaw says. “The perfumes available were very literal and not very imaginative.”Her scent awakening came in 2013 when she studied abroad for a year in Milan during her finance degree. She recalls that the Italian city’s arts heritage opened her eyes “in the realms of fragrance and how I see the world”.Jo Shaw is the founder and self-taught perfumer of Hong Kong independent fragrance brand Floriography. Photo: FloriographyThis marked the start of her dive into flowers and scents, as she picked up her first books on extracting and distilling essential oils from botanicals. Upon her return to Hong Kong, she progressed from experimenting with DIY essential oil blends to sourcing professional fragrance materials and blending her own perfumes.