OUR HOUSE
Founded in 2015, GENERICS Urban Apothecary is an independently owned and operated sustainable fragrance house based in Perth, Western Australia.
For more than a decade, every candle has been hand-poured, every perfume hand-bottled, and every fragrance collection thoughtfully developed and produced in-house from our Perth production studio.
Home to one of Perth's largest collections of refillable vegan candles, botanical perfumery and clean fragrance for home, body and everyday ritual. Across more than fifty original fragrance compositions each season, our collections are expressed through candles, Eau de Parfum, botanical room oils, linen sprays and body rituals.
We work with premium plant-based ingredients wherever possible, creating products that are cruelty-free, refillable and consciously formulated without paraffin, petrochemicals, phthalates or parabens.
Since the beginning, our refill programme has remained central to the way we consciously honour fragrance in our everyday lives. By extending the life of every vessel through refill, we embrace a more circular approach to fragrance—where craftsmanship is preserved, waste is reduced, and every refill continues the story.
Handcrafted in-house. Small batch production.
Designed for refill and reuse.
Every house has a beginning.
Our first home in Northbridge, as seen through the eyes of Perth artist Georgie Leahy. This original intaglio print, gifted to GENERICS in 2026, is a quiet tribute to a place where our story began.
FOUNDER-LED
Founder and Creative Director Lisa Chau has spent more than twenty-four years designing across the fashion, beauty and wellness industries, including the past eleven years developing the fragrance collections at GENERICS Urban Apothecary.
Originally trained in fashion business, Lisa's creative practice has evolved from designing what we see to designing what we feel. Her love of the natural world, fragrance and sustainable design has shaped a career devoted to craft - centred on instinctive, intuitive design—transforming stories into elevated sensorial experiences that move and matter.
Working across fragrance, body and home, her practice explores the relationship between memory, ritual and the senses, creating collections that quietly become part of everyday life.
Every collection begins with a simple question...
" How do we want people to remember this moment?.."
Perhaps the conversation begins there.
WORDS FROM OUR FOUNDER
"I've come to believe that the body remembers in ways the mind cannot always explain. Long before we find the words, our senses are already at work. A familiar scent can transport us across decades in an instant.
The fresh eucalyptus of the Great Ocean Road, where koalas lay slouched high among the gum trees, seemingly drunk on eucalyptus. Bergamot and fragrant basil in the gardens of Lake Como. The quiet stillness of standing before Monet's Water Lilies for the first time. White tea, jasmine and osmanthus drifting through the grand hotel foyers of Singapore and across my travels through Asia.
These are places, journeys and moments that have quietly shaped me. Fragrance has simply become the way I share them.
Memory is rarely just something we think about. It lives in the body. It settles into our senses, our gestures, the places we return to, the rituals we repeat and the fragrances we instinctively reach for. Over time, these become part of us. Quietly, almost imperceptibly, they shape who we are.
Perhaps that is why fragrance has always fascinated me. It is invisible, yet profoundly present.
It cannot be seen, only experienced. It enters a room before language does and lingers long after words have faded. It becomes intertwined with love, grief, celebration, longing and home. Years later, a single breath can awaken a feeling we thought had been forgotten.
Every fragrance begins with an idea.
Sometimes it is inspired by a place, sometimes by nature, travel, or a moment that quietly stays with us. The notes simply give those memories form.
I've realised that my work has never really been about creating products. It has always been about creating experiences that live beyond the object itself.
A fragrance is not simply a composition of notes. A body oil is not merely nourishment for the skin. A ritual is more than a routine. Together, they become quiet companions to the lives we are living.
Identity is often understood by what others can see. I have become more interested in what cannot be seen.
The fragrance that becomes unmistakably yours. The ritual that steadies you at the beginning or end of each day. The scent that reminds your children of home long after they have left it. The perfume someone remembers years after you've embraced them.
These are the unseen layers of who we are. They cannot be photographed or measured, yet they remain with us. They become woven into the stories that shape our lives.
Perhaps that is the quiet power of fragrance.
Not to change who we are....But to accompany us. To become part of our memories.
And, in moments when life feels hurried or uncertain, to gently remind us of ourselves."
Lisa Chau | Founder & Creative Director
GENERICS Urban Apothecary
OUR COLLECTIONS
Our fragrance library comprises more than fifty original fragrance compositions, each formulated in accordance with IFRA and RIFM standards and free from phthalates and parabens.
Collections are available across refillable candles, botanical room oils, room sprays, aromatherapy, perfume oils and Eau de Parfums, allowing each fragrance to be experienced in multiple formats.
All products are vegan, cruelty-free, refillable where applicable, and handcrafted in small batches at our Perth production studio.
OUR JOURNEY
Since opening our first store in 2015, GENERICS Urban Apothecary has continued to evolve through a series of retail spaces across Perth. Each location has played a part in the growth of our fragrance house, introducing our collections to new communities while remaining true to our philosophy of small-batch craftsmanship and refillable design.
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
Flagship Store
282 William Street, Northbridge, Perth WA
2015 – Present
Located on the corner of William and Aberdeen Streets, our flagship store occupies a heritage building dating back to 1913 in the heart of Northbridge's cultural precinct. Surrounded by independent cafés, galleries, music venues and creative spaces, the neighbourhood continues to inspire the stories, people and places reflected throughout our fragrance collections.
Since first opening doors, GENERICS Urban Apothecary partnered with some of Perth's leading retail destinations to introduce a series of activations and retail concepts, expanding our presence while remaining independently owned and operated.
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
ENEX100, Perth CBD
Level 1, ENEX100
686 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA
2016 – 2023
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
Westfield Carousel
The Loop
Albany Highway, Cannington WA
Store One · 2018 – 2020
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
Westfield Carousel
The Loop
Albany Highway, Cannington WA
Store Two · 2020
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
Westfield Carousel
The Loop
Albany Highway, Cannington WA
Store Three · 2020 – 2021
GENERICS URBAN APOTHECARY
Kiosk Concept
Westfield Carousel
Albany Highway, Cannington WA
Store four · 2021
