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10 Mins With Rami Mekdachi, Founder Of Lola James Harper

10 Mins With Rami Mekdachi, Founder Of Lola James Harper

Inspiring us through his many talents, we speak to Rami Mekdachi, Founder Of Lola James Harper about his love for travel, music, art & more...

Born in Beirut and raised in Paris, Rami has always travelled throughout his life and found inspiration all around him! In this 10 Mins With Interview, we talk to Rami about his creative visions as a photographer, filmmaker, musician and fabulous fragrances! Whatsmore, we find out how Rami makes a house a home, his favourite places to go and also the story behind his new Scents Available To Shop At Rockett St George. We are so thrilled to get to speak to Rami about his wonderful business Lola James Harper, plus how he lives in the moment and makes dreams come true! So read below to discover the passion that Rami has for his incredibly versatile lifestyle business, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!


1. Let’s start at the very beginning, tell us about yourself and your eclectic shop filled with fabulous scents and artistic delights?


Meet Rami Mekdachi | Founder Of Lola James Harper

First of all, thank you for sharing so generously our world and thank you for understanding it so clearly… I’ve been travelling with my family for decades, taking pictures, recording songs and gathering scents … Lola James Harper is a poetic project that wants to share a peaceful and open vision of life through scent, songs, film & photography… We present a collection of photography that we took during our endless road trips, a collection of candles and room sprays where we encapsulated the fragrance of inspiring places and also feature films and music albums composed and produced through the years and with magical encounters…

2. What inspired you to set up a shop that combines all the things you love?

lola-james-harper

Lola James Harper Studio

I just did little by little so many different things and slowly I happened to gather them all, I never really had a revelation it just came all together…

3. What is the story behind the name of your brand; Lola James Harper?

lola-james-harper-fragrance

Lola James Harper Fragrances

I’ve been touring the world with my daughter, my son and my wife since forever… I realized in 2010 that I had a huge archive of scents, songs and photography and that I could gather them all in one poetic art project so I asked the 3 people involved since ever in the process (my daughter, son and wife) to chose one name each… it was at a diner in Corsica, it took us 5 minutes and now it is our family baby in a way…

4. When designing the look and feel of your shop, how did you bring everything together to make the perfect space?


Lola James Harper Studio

Everything is designed to inspire everyone to take a step back, slow down, take the time to smell, watch, listen, taste, dream again and be present, here and now in a place filled with photography, scents of the word, music played on vinyl, a little coffee shop, some music instruments plugged on headphones to be able to jam and play together, and mantras handwritten here and there to let you think and feel free again…

5. How important are room scents in helping you to create a home that you love?

first-morning-of-spring

Lola James Harper First Morning Of Spring Room Spray | Click To Shop

Music and scents are both invisible and untouchable, they are volatile and fill the air with an atmosphere and a feeling that only our soul can grab… they are linked to our spirit and they give to a place the feeling that it will convey… there is absolutely no doubt on the fact that changing the music and the scent of a place does immediately change the type of talks, feelings and interaction your guest will have … so choosing the scent of your home should be related to the feeling you wanna convey and the type of energy and atmosphere you want to share… that’s why we have so many fragrances at Lola James Harper … and since nothing is rational or touchable or visible in the parfum world only one’s memory linked to a scent is relevant… flowers, spices, woods, each one of us has a memory linked to a scent… that’s why I wanna be as open as possible to let everyone dream and creates her or his own story with our scents…

6. Film, music and photography is a big part of what you do, how does this influence your personal style?

lola-james-harper-photography

Lola James Harper Photography Prints

Every second is a full story, every face is a tale, every object is a hint opening a gate to some dreams, every sound holds memories inside… I do enjoy every moment with my senses I try to open my eyes, open my ears, open my nose, open my heart and enjoy the world poetry as much as I can…

7. You love to travel the world with your family, how do you incorporate this into your wonderfully creative brand?

Lola James Harper Photography Prints.

Lola James Harper Photography Prints

I never travel the world to take pictures or record songs or catch scents, I travel and enjoy the world with my family and along the way the world offers some nice views, sounds and scents… the family journey is the point, the camera, the microphone and my nose are here just to catch and archive what occurs…

8. We simply adore your candles and room sprays, now available to shop at Rockett St George! Can you tell us about what each scent in the collection is inspired by?

2. The Music Studio on Trufo Street CASHMERAN/ROSE/MUSK

The Trufo Studio is a music recording studio in Paris where we worked all our albums… The studio is at the top floor (fifth floor) of an old Parisian building built in 1870…It is just under the roof of the building so we can still see the old oak beams… the place is filled with african and oriental percussions, with a silver drum kit, and a load of electric and acoustic guitars…we love this place to create, compose and write songs… We recorded there a lot of demos…

3. The Bomboneria in Barcelona AMBER/INCENSE

We went to Barcelona 2 years ago and every day at 4PM we use to go in Bomboneria’s to have a tea time brake… Barcelona is filled with those great little places full of cakes, candies and ice creams… always really old shop with antic furnitures like a sweet pharmacy… an amazing smell of amber and incense…

10. The Guitare Shop on Denmark Street MUSK/CARDAMOME

In London, we love to go to Denmark Street and check the music shops there… Great effects and guitares there… it is just inspiring… beautiful instruments and nice people there…

14. The Surf Shop of Stephane TUBEROSE/MONOÏ

Stephane is our surfer shaper friend… his place is stunning filled with Tuberose, monoï and wax fragrances…

15. The Fun Fair of Les Tuileries FIG TREE/COTTON CANDY

In Les Tuileries park, in Paris, there is every year a fun fair where we go to play and eat cotton candy… lights, colors, fun…people shouting or laughing… just joy and candy…

16. The Woody Office of Daddy MAHOGANY WOOD/SANDALWOOD

Daddy is our old pal… his office is like an ancient library… he loves pencils, paper, notebooks, rubber, wood tools…the smell of that office just talks about time, about patience, about hand made work… A place where just to realize things…

17. The First Morning of Spring ROSE/CARDAMOME

The first morning of spring is the first morning of spring and we know it because suddenly we feel and smell roses in the city…

213. Rue Saint-Honoré Air LEGENDARY FIG TREE

This is the scent of The Mythical Concept Store Colette, 213 Rue Saint-Honoré in the first arrondissement of Paris… More than 20 years of amazing Art, Fashion, Design, Food and Parties… This is where we Launched our candle collection in June 2013 and where we did our first official Lola James Harper gig and photo expo…

9. What is next for Lola James Harper?

saint-honore-candle

Image featuring the Lola James Harper Rue Saint Honore Candle | Click To Shop

We are launching a fashion line of t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps made in Portugal and displaying our photography and philosophy. I am editing our next movie called HOOPTIME, about travel, friendship and street Basketball, we are recording the soundtrack of HOOPTIME a collection of acoustic hip hop songs. We are starting a séries of insta live masterclasses about photography, music, parfum and slow-life. We are opening our Lola James Harper Art Studio in Paris to the public every weekend. We are screening our movie WITH in the UK in movie theatres and I would love to create a collab candle ROCKETT ST GEORGE X LOLA JAMES HARPER…


Quickfire Questions

1. I am happiest when…Walking and talking with family & friends, playing music with family & friends, in a movie theatre with family & friends, walking in a new city and hearing, smelling, watching what it may offer…
2. My current favourite song is…Since ever “You’ve got a friend” Carole King

3. My favourite place I have travelled to is…Sorry but it is Venice Beach even if it is cliché…We play basketball everyday with my son, we have the best Coffee ever at Menotti’s, we watch the most amazing sunsets with my daughter every evening, we family cruise on our skate cruiser between Venice and Santa Monica, We share talks and dreams with our local friends / team mates Courtenay and Pauline, We watch for hours skaters and there magic tricks in the skate park, we share a good poke bowl with my friends after a game… and a pizza slice on Abbot Kinney at night…4. My ideal day would be spent….Walking in a new city with my family a camera in hand…
5. My personal motto is…Do what you love with people you love
6. My guilty pleasure is…Putting my phone off, Watching 7 movies in one weekend drinking coffee lying on the couch…

7. The last film I saw was…I just watched (again) Paris-Texas Wim WendersAnd Love Actually…
8. The next place I want to travel is…Beirut
9. In five years’ time, I want to be…Still happy and peaceful
10. The three things I can’t live without are…My daughter, my son, my wife Or scent, songs and photography


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