In Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, where shops sell everything from silver jewellery to spices, a family-run perfume business has continued making traditional fragrances for more than two centuries. Founded in 1816, Gulab Singh Johri Mal has remained at the same address in Old Delhi for 210 years. Today, the business combines traditional attar-making with an expanding online presence and a collection of 600 to 700 fragrance varieties.As reported by The Indian Express, the perfumery at 320 Dariba Kalan Road was founded by Lala Gulab Singh and his son, Lala Johri Mal, towards the end of the Mughal era. The family originally came from Jhajjar in present-day Haryana. The business has passed through successive generations, with the seventh and eighth generations now involved in running it.According to the company’s official website, the shop later became known as “Gulab Gundhi Ki Dukaan”, or the Shop of Gulab the Perfumer. The family name Gundhi is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘gandha,’ meaning fragrance.For Mukul Gundhi, who runs the shop with his brothers, the business has been part of his life since childhood. He and his brothers would visit the store after school while their father, Lala Ram Singh, attended to customers. After completing Class 12, Mukul joined the family business full-time.
How the family makes traditional attar
Customers can open bottles and test different scents before choosing one.
The shop’s collection includes familiar fragrances such as rose, jasmine, sandalwood and oudh, alongside incense sticks, dhoop, oils, mists, bakhoors and room fresheners. Customers can open bottles and test different scents before choosing one. The family still makes attars using the traditional Deg-Bhapka method of hydro-distillation. According to The Indian Express, flowers and water are heated in a copper vessel called a ‘deg’ over a wood fire. The fragrant steam passes through a bamboo pipe before condensing into sandalwood oil in a smaller vessel known as the ‘bhapka.’ The distiller judges by smell when the attar is ready.The family also operates a factory and maintains a rose plantation in Siktara village in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district. As per the official website of the company, the business continues to use traditional techniques passed down through generations. Its collection includes ‘ruh,’ or natural aromatic extracts obtained through distillation, attars made from botanical distillates matured over sandalwood oil, and traditional incense. The process requires time and experimentation.
From one signature scent to different perfumes for different occasions
When customers began asking for lighter fragrances, the shop added more options.
Customer preferences have changed over the years, and the family has adapted its range accordingly. Oudh is among the fragrances the family says has been in demand. When customers began asking for lighter fragrances, the shop added more options. One customer’s request for a barbershop-style scent led the family to develop a fragrance within a week.The business has also preserved its older shop fittings. Its wooden shelves display Belgian-cut glass bottles sourced by the family, while rows of attar bottles line the counter. As per the official website, these antique bottles and handcrafted wooden shelves are part of the store’s heritage.
The next generation takes the shop online
The family is using e-commerce to make its collection easier to explore. The eighth generation is helping expand the business online, including through curated fragrance discovery sets such as The Oudh Edit 2025 and The King’s Discovery Set.After 210 years, Gulab Singh Johri Mal continues to make traditional attars while adapting to customers who want more variety and the convenience of online shopping. The family is now using its website to display fragrances that would be difficult to showcase in full inside its Chandni Chowk store, bringing a centuries-old business to customers beyond its original neighbourhood.
