How Nicole Eckels built a beloved fragrance empire
Under Nicole Eckels’ vision, Glasshouse has grown from a local pioneer into a global brand. In the lead-up to launching its first high-end personal fragrance line, Glasshouse enters the category with clarity, conviction, and a continued focus on shaping how scent elevates our lives.
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Two decades ago, New Yorker Nicole Eckels identified a gap in the Australian lifestyle market. Home fragrance was a grossly underdeveloped category, with no brand delivering the transportive experience common in the United States. What began as an observation soon became Glasshouse.
As the brand marks its 20th anniversary, it stands as a case study in disciplined growth, creative clarity and market intuition. From its Sydney beginnings to an expanding footprint in the US, the company has built a reputation for immersive scent profiles, distinctive branding, and a strong sense of place, each product designed to evoke a destination, a mood, or a memory.
“I came to Australia for a sales role,” says Eckels. “But my passion is beauty. So, when I walked into a local department store to buy home fragrances for my new apartment and couldn’t find anything that met my expectations or my budget, I decided to create them myself.”
Eckels’ focus on building a fragrance business with emotional depth made Glasshouse a “love brand” and underpinned many milestones. Expansion into the US market has proved a defining chapter, success hinging on translating the brand’s resonance while maintaining its integrity.
“When I started Glasshouse in Australia, we had no competition,” says Eckels. “But now we’re in a very cluttered market, where it’s all about brand. But if you’re clear about your brand DNA, about who you are and what you stand for, everything you do extends from that.”
Glasshouse has evolved well beyond home fragrance. With its expansion into car fragrance, personal fragrance, and body beauty products, what started with scented candles now delivers an integrated experience across multiple touchpoints.
“I believe that smell is the most powerful sense,” says Eckels. “I’m on a mission to make that one of the key elements of daily life, one that you can wield to change the way you feel.”
In a category driven by feeling, Glasshouse has maintained a tight focus on product excellence, brand consistency and customer connection, while remaining agile enough to respond to shifting consumer trends and expectations.
“I’ve always been clear about who we are and where we’re going,” says Eckels. “My goal is to build the best product in the category. I want to be the first Australian fragrance brand to be a household name globally.”
The fragrance landscape has transformed over the past 20 years, with consumers increasingly seeking products that offer sensory escape and personal expression. Eckels’s ability to anticipate those preferences has been central to Glasshouse’s longevity. And the next chapter is already underway.
The pending launch of a high-end personal fragrance line marks a significant progression for the business. It’s a confident move from a brand that has spent 20 years refining its craft.
“When I talk about high-end fragrances, I mean exceptional artisanal scents with superb quality ingredients. I’ve taken our existing personal fragrances, given them to the world’s best perfumers, and said make them even better.”
The future of Glasshouse appears set to build on its solid foundation. For Eckels, the opportunity lies not just in growth but in continuing to shape how fragrance enriches and elevates all facets of our lives.
Learn more at glasshousefragrances.com
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