Skip to main content
← Back to the journalAtelier

How we build a scent, from a brief that fits on a postcard.

Most clients arrive with three words and a feeling. That is enough. The rest is our job.

Hollie ThompsonCo-Founder8 April 20267 min read
How we build a scent, from a brief that fits on a postcard.

The first conversation about a bespoke scent doesn’t involve any ingredients. It involves a question: what do you want a person to feel when they walk into this room?

Most clients answer with adjectives. Warm. Considered. Quiet. A few answer with memories, their grandmother’s kitchen, a particular hotel in Marrakech, the first cold morning of autumn. Both are useful. Adjectives give us a register; memories give us a structure.

"A bespoke scent doesn’t start with ingredients. It starts with a question."

From there, we sketch a brief in three movements. A top, what you smell first, what announces the room. A heart, what settles in once your eyes have stopped looking around. A base, what stays on the upholstery for the next eight hours.

The first samples arrive at your door inside two weeks. We expect notes back. We rarely get the brief right on the first pass, and we never charge for revisions until you do.

Written byHollie Thompson· Co-Founder
Begin somewhere

Try before you commit.

A discovery set is five 2ml vials of our most-asked-for scents, for the home, the venue, or the day. Posted within three working days.

Build a discovery set →
Studio notes

Stay close.

Occasional letters. New scents, venue stories, the craft.