Cherry Cheng has a typical CV for someone in the art world: she studied art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and contemporary art theory at Goldsmiths, University of London, before working for the London-based art advisory Gurr Johns. But more recently her career has gone in a different direction.
In 2024 she founded the high-end British perfume house Jouissance, after training under the renowned French perfumer Antoine Lie. However, her study of art history and theory still comes to the fore; the name comes from the writings of the French feminist Hélène Cixous, who used it to describe a form of women’s sexual pleasure that is a source of her creative energy. The brand’s first three fragrances are inspired by female writers of erotic fiction: Anaïs Nin, Anne Desclos and Catherine Millet. One of them, En Plein Air, is described on Jouissance’s website as perfect for those who want to “smell like an unassuming art critic on her way to an orgy”.
Based in London, Cheng is an avid art collector and patron, supporting institutions including the Serpentine, Studio Voltaire and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
The Art Newspaper: What was the first work you ever bought?
Cherry Cheng: Gray Sister by Tancredi di Carcaci, from [art adviser] Daniel Malarkey. I actually interned as Daniel’s PA when I was doing my MA at Sotheby’s Institute. Daniel remains one of my dearest friends and mentors in London.
What was the last work you bought?
The Clamorous Life of a House Painter XI and XII by Anastasia Pavlou, from Hot Wheels. The pair of them are currently exhibited at Anastasia’s solo show at Hot Wheels’s new space at TOSITSA3 in Athens—a very beautiful, restored building that just opened this summer. The gallery inaugurated the space by hosting some of my favourite London galleries—Brunette Coleman, Emalin, a. SQUIRE and Sadie Coles HQ—for a group exhibition.
Tancredi di Carcaci‘s Gray Sister was the first work of art Cheng bought Courtesy Cherry Cheng
How quickly do you decide to buy a work of art?
Sometimes it can be quite impulsive. I usually know if I want something right away and I always trust my instincts. And because I always fear someone else might get there first, I’ve been known to buy an artwork within minutes of receiving a preview.
What do you regret not buying when you had the chance?
Rafal Topolewski’s Proximity, shown by Grimm Gallery at Frieze London last year. I didn’t know the gallery then and somehow missed it on the first day. I came back for it later, but it was already gone.
If you could have any work from any museum, what would it be?
This is a bit random, but I feel a strange, almost compulsive attraction to Amaury-Duval’s Madame de Loynes. I go looking for her every time I visit the Musée d’Orsay, ever since my very first school trip to Paris at 16.
Where do you like to eat and drink during Frieze London?
Maison Estelle. The Twenty Two. Mount St. Restaurant and the Audley Public House. Bar Crispin in Soho. Fischers. St. John Marylebone. Toklas.
English Heritage’s Eltham Palace, once home to the Courtauld family, is a favourite weekday-morning haunt for Cheng Photo: Jonathan Bailey; courtesy English Heritage
Do you have any parties lined up?
Ted and Anna from Brunette Coleman very kindly invited me as their guest for the Frieze collector’s dinner this year. It feels like such an honour, and I’m very excited about it. Also, Jago Rackham is staging a weekend-long durational dining performance at Young Space. He will serve grand dishes to his chosen guests, the “greedies”, in a fictive mise-en-scène that blurs the line between feast and performance, featuring collaborating artists including Issy Wood, Faye Wei Wei and Hamish Pearch. I’ll be creating a fragrance, Eau de GREED, especially for the occasion.
What is your least favourite thing about art fairs?
Having to stop and greet acquaintances every other minute; I don’t think I’ve ever managed to see everything I intend to.
Where do you go in London to get away from it all?
I just moved to Notting Hill a few weeks ago (after years in Shoreditch, Mayfair and Covent Garden), so I already feel like I’ve left it all behind. Jokes aside, I love visiting house museums like Dorich House and Eltham Palace—especially on weekday mornings, when they’re blissfully quiet.
What tip would you give to someone visiting London for the first time?
Wear layers and chic waterproof shoes.
