Jo Malone is a UK-based fragrance designer who got her start in the fragrance industry as a florist. Her lifelong fondness for all things fragrant began as a child, when she tried to produce her own fragrances using flowers from the family garden and grated soap. Jo was an early advocate for the concept of combining fragrances. Her unisex scents often focused on a single note or a simple combination of two or three essences. The scents were designed to be worn alone or with other scents in the collection, allowing the wearer to create a custom scent—or a variety of them—by layering the different scents on the skin.

The success of Jo Malone caught the eye of a beauty industry giant. Estee Lauder Companies acquired the Jo Malone brand in 1999, and Jo remained with the company as its chairwoman and creative director until 2006.