Perfumer Lyn Harris recreates scents from art and life
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Perfumer Lyn Harris of Perfumer H. recently collaborated with Sotheby’s to create scents inspired by 17th-century Dutch Old Master paintings.
In 2022, Sotheby’s chairman Alex Bell asked Harris to interpret paintings through fragrance, resulting in scents like “Smoke in Woods” based on a painting of a river landscape and “Rose and Insects” inspired by a floral still life. Harris doesn’t simply replicate scents, but instead extracts emotional readings from her subjects.
Harris developed her talent for identifying and reconstructing smells over a 30-year career, becoming the first British woman to train as a classically trained “nose”. She now creates perfumes, candles, and cosmetics, as well as other goods, sold globally. Her approach is holistic, collaborating with glassblowers, filmmakers, graphic designers, and reclamation specialists to craft complete sensory experiences.
Beyond her work with art institutions, Harris recently created a bespoke fragrance for London’s St Clement Hotel, blending bergamot, bitter orange, and notes of freshly baked bread. She also designed a fragrance called “Soap” for the fashion brand Studio Nicholson, inspired by the natural scents of flax, wool, and cotton. Throughout her career, Harris has consistently drawn inspiration from nature and her family, particularly memories of her grandparents’ life in the Yorkshire countryside and Scottish Highlands.
