Gulkasturs — Essence, in All Its Forms

Gulkasturs – Essence Luxury Co. is a celebration of India’s rich sensory heritage, bringing together fragrance, flavour and craftsmanship under one roof.

Inspired by the timeless perfumery traditions of Kannauj, we explore the many ways essence can become part of everyday life. From the attar you wear and the perfume that becomes your signature, to the aroma that fills your home and the essential oils you blend, Gulkasturs is a world built around the beauty and individuality of every scent.

Our fragrance collection includes attars, perfumes, solid perfumes, agarbattis, essential oils and fragrance blends, thoughtfully created for personal use, homes, rituals and businesses. We also blend and develop essential oils and fragrances, while sourcing and supplying a diverse range of oils and fragrance ingredients for wholesalers, brands, makers and fragrance enthusiasts through our wholesale offering.

The World of Gulkasturs
Fragrance. Aroma. Flavour. Craftsmanship.
A world inspired by heritage, created with intention and designed to be discovered through
the senses.
Gulkasturs — Essence, in All Its Forms.

Our Story

Gulkasturs began with my father Sh.Rakesh Suri

A second-generation perfumer and entrepreneur from Lucknow, he grew up with fragrance not simply as a profession, but as a craft and a way of life. His work took him to the Kewada-growing regions of Odisha, where he sourced Kewada oil and would bring back trunks filled with Kewada to Lucknow, building his business around an ingredient he knew intimately. His connection with Kannauj was equally special. He knew its perfumery traditions personally and understood the painstaking art behind creating attars and natural fragrances.

At the heart of our office, from the very beginning, stood a traditional deg-bhapka—the copper distillation apparatus used in the age-old process of making attars. My father knew this art firsthand. He understood how flowers, botanicals, oils, heat, time and patience came together to create something that could not simply be manufactured—it had to be crafted. I grew up watching all of this. And somewhere along the way, fragrance became more than something I was surrounded by. It became something I felt belonged to me. Perhaps it is in the blood. Perhaps it is in the years of observing, absorbing and being inspired. Either way, the connection was always there.

But there was another feeling that stayed with me—the thought that a lifetime of his knowledge, his work and his remarkable footprints could someday disappear without being carried forward. That thought became my inspiration. Gulkasturs is my attempt to carry his legacy into a new generation. Not to recreate his journey, but to build upon it—to take the knowledge, stories and love for fragrance that I inherited and give them a new identity. What began with my father’s craft has now become Gulkasturs. His hands shaped the craft. His journey inspired mine.

My Story

2025, my father was diagnosed with dementia.

For someone who had spent his entire life creating, understanding and working with fragrances, the thought of his memories—and with them, some of the knowledge he had carried for decades—slowly fading away was deeply unsettling for me. I kept thinking about everything he knew. The fragrances he had created, the techniques he had mastered, the stories behind his work—knowledge that had touched millions of homes, including ours.

And I realised I didn't want that knowledge to end with him. I wanted to learn. So, in what I call my second act, I decided to become a student of perfumery. I travelled to Kannauj and trained at the Fragrance & Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) under the guidance of Shakti Vinay Shukla Sir. For several months, I immersed myself in the world of fragrance—learning about raw materials, different fragrance profiles, blending and the traditional Deg-Bhapka method of distillation. It wasn't easy. There was so much to understand, so much to experience. But somewhere along the way, something changed.

I felt I belonged there. What began with a fear of losing my father's knowledge became a journey of discovering my own connection with the craft.
And that journey became Gulkasturs. I envisioned Gulkasturs as something that could become part of everyday life—a brand for every household, personal care, fragrance, self-expression and everyday rituals. A brand that honours an old craft while finding new ways to bring it into the lives of a new generation. For me, Gulkasturs is not simply a business.

It is my way of carrying forward what my father began, learning what I once only watched, and making sure that a beautiful legacy continues to have a future. His memories may be changing. But what he gave me continues to live on—in the craft, in the fragrances, and now, in Gulkasturs.