Rita Ora and Taika Waititi Launch New Fragrance House Máno × Mnrl

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi have a new joint venture, and it’s one that comes bottled. The husband-and-wife duo are among the co-founders of new perfume house Máno × Mnrl, which has launched exclusively at Harrods.

“Film, art and fragrance can all build worlds in completely different ways,” said Waititi. “What excites me about Máno × Mnrl is how much space there is to play with character, emotion and storytelling and to take perfume somewhere unexpected.”

Founder Joshua Máno Gilbertson heads up the brand alongside Tess Richards, with whom he also co-founded The Lab Co. Like Waititi, Gilbertson is Māori, and the name Máno × Mnrl draws on both his heritage and the fragrance formulas. Máno means ‘a thousand’ or ‘a multitude’ in te reo Māori, while Mnrl is a nod to minerals and nature.

For Gilbertson, the Máno half is about identity. He built the fragrance house around the idea that there are different sides to each of us, and that scent enables us to discover them. “We are all made up of contradictions,” he said. “Máno × Mnrl gives people permission to explore every version of themselves — Infinite Identity on one side; Radical Purity on the other. Creative freedom without compromise.”

As for Mnrl, this comes from somewhere more personal. Living with an autoimmune condition led Gilbertson to pay closer attention to his grooming routine and what he was applying to his skin. This included the chemicals used in fragrance and the concerns surrounding some of them. What he learned inspired him and Richards to spend six years rethinking how fragrance could be formulated. The result is a range free of PFAS, the so-called ‘forever chemicals’, and any ingredients that appear on Breast Cancer UK’s Chemicals of Concern lists.

Richards, though, is keen to point out that none of this comes at the expense of a good scent. “We do not let ‘clean’ limit our creativity; Radical Purity is simply our baseline,” she said. “You should never have to choose between a more considered formula and a fragrance that belongs among the world’s very best.”

This clean approach left the brand’s perfumer partners with a complex brief: craft luxury fragrances that still perform, with a whole list of ingredients off the table. Dora Baghriche, Paulo de Moraes, and Sidonie Grandperret are among those who rose to the challenge.

Máno × Mnrl debuted with eight fragrances, priced at £180 ($240) for 50ml, split across two collections. Think of Elemental as your daytime offerings and Urban as what you reach for after dusk.

Sitting under Elemental are Wild Rose Vice, a juicy floral with pear and timut pepper; Tuberose Solaris, an ambery floral with coconut and golden pistachio; Vanille L’Amant, a woody gourmand with rhubarb and caramel; and finally Fougère Dusk, a modern fougère with grapefruit and violet.

Urban offers Black Cherry Vice, a dark cherry fragrance with marzipan and cherry liqueur; Leather Solaris, an ambery leather with almond and myrrh; Tabac L’Amant, a woody floral with osmanthus and milk; and Bourbon Dusk, a woody spicy scent with burnt orange and oud.

Máno × Mnrl eau de parfums are available now, exclusively at Harrods and harrods.com, which ships to the UK and US.