Karim Mekhtigian Launches ‘SIN’ Fragrance at Cairo Design Week

In Ancient Egypt, perfume was a sacred offering, an unseen bridge between the human body and the divine. Rome shifted the ritual into seduction, where scent became a secret language of power, temptation, and intimacy. Centuries later, Karim Mekhtigian revives that forgotten lineage with 'SIN,' his first fragrance under Analogue Olfactory, launched at Tamara Haus during Cairo Design Week.
Inside the Downtown revived mansion, Mekhtigian created a theatrical confession experience. Guests stepped into a booth designed to provoke curiosity, reflection, and play, invited to whisper their secrets as they encountered the perfume for the first time. He describes the installation saying, “The confession booth is a theatrical stage, a place to step in, assume a role, and reveal a truth.” That way, the fragrance became an interaction, a performance, and a moment of human vulnerability wrapped in allure.
Historically charged and intentionally provocative, SIN draws from the past to ignite the present. “It comes from ancient civilizations,” he notes, “especially in the Roman Empire. It was considered the scent of the flesh, and was considered sinful because it attracts.” With a grin, he adds, “As I have seven pheromones in my perfume, it is also sinful.”
SIN itself is an ode to contradiction; it opens with fig, pineapple, chili berries, and pink pepper sweetness brushed with fire. The main notes unfold into black pepper, elemi, cloves, and lily of the valley, an intoxicating tension between warmth and purity. Beneath it all, solar accord, vanilla cream, and patchouli linger as a memory that clings to the skin.
Encased in a minimal black bottle, SIN reflects the world Karim has shaped across his design journey; from the tactile calm of Alchemy Cairo to the poetic geometry of Dessilk Paris and Kyme. His philosophy has always treated creation as a sensory language, one that moves, remembers, and stirs something internal. With Analogue, that language expands beyond sight and touch into the realm of scent, where the intangible finds form. As he puts it, “Having something from history today for the future, this time-travel thing. This is what is interesting.” The launch also echoed the ecosystem he helped build. “It’s in Downtown, it’s in Tamara Building, which is the result of our company, Alchemy Experience, in collaboration with Ismaelia,” he says. “All the creative industries are here around us, so it’s a good opportunity to introduce this perfume.” For Mekhtigian, the act is larger than product: “I am trying to shape our reality a little bit… by doing this kind of things.”