Born from a desire to revitalise Eastern aesthetics, To Summer distils Chinese heritage and memory into fragrance, using scent as a language of cultural expression.
Fragrance remembers the things we often forget. Our earliest memories linger in scent – the aromas of a grandmother’s kitchen, the perfumes of a walk with someone we love. These are the moments To Summer draws on, translating Eastern traditions and heritage into fragrances for contemporary life.
“In traditional Chinese culture, the ritual of scent appreciation was once an ultimate refinement,” says To Summer’s co-founder Shen Li. “Elites regarded it alongside tea ceremonies, flower arranging and calligraphy as the pinnacle of aesthetic living. Over time, however, these practices gradually faded amid rapid modernisation.”
As a former fashion editor specialising in Eastern aesthetics, Li recognised that Chinese culture was often misrepresented on the global stage, particularly in perfumery, where Western brands labelled perfumes as “Eastern fragrances” without understanding their roots. In 2018, together with her business partner Elvis Liu, an early pioneer in China’s cross-border beauty sector, Shen Li co-founded To Summer, using scent as a language to convey Chinese culture through perfume.
“Scent is, at its core, a carrier of spiritual expression,” Li explains. “To create a fragrance that resonates, we had to explore the origins of Eastern spice cultivation and extraction. The major challenge was redefining the value of Eastern scent at its source.”
In Beijing, where the brand was founded, Li found inspiration for the first To Summer fragrance, Osmanthus, a scent rooted in her childhood memory. “The spark came to me one day, walking past the walls of the Summer Palace. I caught a whiff of osmanthus on the breeze and was immediately transported – back to the rice wine served after autumn’s arrival and the soft warmth clinging to my mother’s clothes.” Osmanthus became the brand’s first expression of distilling a moment into scent.
“Every To Summer creation is a collective memory and a dialogue on local culture that becomes a sense of belonging,” says Li. Rather than trying to reconcile East and West, To Summer draws inspiration from Eastern aesthetics, architecture and design, the pillars of its culture. The brand reinforces its story by locating boutiques in historic buildings, rich with character, rather than shopping malls. “We firmly believe old architecture holds the true soul of a city – it carries history, local heritage and art,” she adds. “Our aesthetic should grow naturally from local culture and history.”
After transforming a century-old Spanish style villa in Shanghai, a traditional courtyard in Beijing and the former Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House in Chengdu, To Summer has opened its latest store in Hong Kong, housed in a tong lau – a tenement building from 1958. “I come from a generation deeply influenced by Hong Kong literature, which fostered a unique emotional bond with this city,” says Li. For To Summer, Hong Kong is a natural expansion. On Yun Ping Road in Causeway Bay, the brand pays tribute to the city’s golden age of manufacturing, when industry and migration shaped its rise. With 1950s architectural details preserved and layered with contemporary design, To Summer’s new store honours traditional craftsmanship while embracing the city’s modern energy.
At the heart of To Summer is a dedication to capturing Eastern nostalgia, always anchored in emotion. Li has a knack for translating a city’s essence into fragrance: “If Hong Kong were a scent, it would be a composite, evocative blend of pineapple buns, kapok blossoms and salty sea air,” she says, tracing the rhythm of a Hong Konger’s day – from a morning by the sea to the lively pulse of the cha chaan tengs.
Eight years on, To Summer has become one of the most celebrated niche brands for Eastern-inspired fragrances, recently attracting investment from the L’Oréal Group. “I believe there’s a growing interest in Chinese perfume brands, fuelled by a resonance between rising Eastern cultural confidence and a global search for authenticity,” says Li. Looking ahead, To Summer aims to bring modern Eastern aesthetics to the world, gradually expanding beyond Asia. Each To Summer fragrance is a journey into Eastern culture, a way to experience its style and philosophy of life.
