Gulabsingh Johrimal is one of India’s oldest surviving fragrance houses, founded in Delhi in 1816 and still operating from its historic premises in the lanes of Chandni Chowk. Established by Lala Gulab Singh and his son Lala Johrimal, the perfumery began as a traditional gundhi — a maker and seller of fragrance — during the final years of Mughal rule.

Over more than two centuries, Gulabsingh Johrimal has become synonymous with India’s classical perfume and incense traditions. The house is particularly renowned for preserving the deg–bhapka method of distillation, used to produce natural ruh and attar oils from flowers, woods, herbs, and resins. Through successive generations, the family-run perfumery has served a remarkably broad clientele, from poets and musicians to household customers seeking everyday fragrance.

Today, Gulabsingh Johrimal remains a living part of Delhi’s aromatic culture — valued not as a museum piece, but as a working perfumery whose incense and perfume oils continue to reflect long-established Indian and Indo-Arabian fragrance lineages.