LYN HARRIS
Brit Lyn Harris trained in classic perfumery in Paris and fragrance mecca Grasse before launching her line Miller Harris in 2000. She sees fragrance not as a luxury, but as an expression of who you are. “You have to get it right because how you smell is how people first notice and remember you.” Harris sold her eponymous line in 2012 and went on to launch her fragrance atelier, Perfumer H, in London’s Marylebone. It’s from there, in a laboratory on display in the shop, that she can create scents that are seasonal and even bespoke (where customers collaborate with her – a process that can take up to six months), which are then decanted into hand-blown coloured glass. For about $2,500, you can even purchase the formula you love in its entirety (meaning it’s no longer available to anyone else).
Recently, Harris worked with the world’s oldest candle house, Cire Trudon, on its first foray into fine fragrance. The five Trudon scents are deliciously unusual concoctions and a perfect example of what creative minds can come up with when left to fly. “The richness of the brand inspired me, as well as the great freedom I had with these fragrances. That breeds creativity and I hope that magic comes across,” she says. Her favourite of the five is II (Deux). “I feel the power and love of two people – frankincense and cedar – and the beauty of a green landscape – galbanum and green leaf.”
What does she think being a woman brings to her vocation? “Emotion, which men use too, but it’s different,” she says. “It’s not consistent – it evolves every time I smell something – so my creativity is being stimulated each time I experience it. The wonderful thing about this era is that we’re free to be who we want to be, so each fragrance family represents an interesting side of a woman. Have confidence to wear it, and don’t have just the one. Changing your scent is liberating.” Vive la liberté.