August 14, 2025 |
As an artisanal fragrance brand that packs its products with natural ingredients and houses them in recycled glass flacons created by world-class glassblower Michael Ruh, Perfumer H has carved out its own singular space in the world of beauty. Founded a decade ago by British nose Lyn Harris, the brand’s olfactory landscapes balance the natural world with scent science, pulling inspiration from sprawling terrain and awe-inspiring scenery witnessed during Harris’s travels.
Raised between Scotland and Yorkshire, Harris honed her craft at the acclaimed fragrance house Robertet in Grasse – where she still sources her finest materials – before establishing her own independent laboratory on Crawford Street in Marylebone, London. From there, she develops her formulas with an intimate, hands-on approach, tailoring each composition to its medium so that, while certain scents cross categories, their expression shifts subtly whether in a perfume, a soap, a tea or even a jar of jam.
Perfumer H’s collaborative spirit runs through every facet of the brand, from the architecture of its London, Paris, Japan, China and Taiwan boutiques, to the designer behind its visual identity, and to Ruh, whose one-of-a-kind glass vessels are as functional as they are beautiful. Each handmade piece can be refilled, designed to be cherished for a lifetime.
Now celebrating its tenth year, Perfumer H marks the occasion with an exclusive retrospective of its most beloved creations for 10 Magazine. Here, Harris shares her top ten favourites from the past decade – pot-pourri and marmalade included.
Lyn Harris
INK
Eau de Parfum
“My love of smelling ink in the classroom as a child… hands stained with a smudge of blue, waiting patiently for it to dry on white paper. The smell of old books in libraries and bookshops always soothed me and sparked my imagination… I had such a clear vision for this fragrance – I only did three trials and kept the very first.”
RAIN CLOUD
Eau de Parfum
“Rain has always captured my attention. From a very early age, I was fascinated by how it transforms everything it touches, releasing new, beautiful facets into the air. I began exploring this concept in 1999, and Rain Cloud was the result of that journey…
It’s the idea of humidity slightly touching white flowers – and finding a way to make it wearable on the skin… I am so proud of this rain accord as for me it captures the precise meaning of humidity: ylang ylang absolute, Haitian vetiver, angelica seed and vanilla absolute, fused with orange flower absolute, bergamot, and mandarin.”
BERGAMOT
Eau de Parfum
“An homage to old Spanish colognes… It captures my love for the citrus family and a material that’s fundamental to my work as a perfumer. I wanted a cologne that smelt like you’d just walked out of the shower – clean skin with a touch of lemon and orange peel, fused with bergamot and aldehydes to bring that clean, effortless nuance forward.”
STEAM
Eau de Parfum
“I began working on this creation even before I started Perfumer H… It began as a way to express my lifelong passion for tea, but it was only when I visited the plantation forest of Jingmai in south-western China that it all came together – a moment of clarity… It’s about how the tea plant takes on nuances not just from the soil, but from the atmosphere – the water droplets on its leaves, the air it grows in, the stillness in the landscape.”
RAIN WOOD
Eau de Parfum
“Such a beautiful, effortless scent… It takes me back to my younger days between Yorkshire and Scotland, capturing the damp, wet beauty of a forest after the rain. Top notes of galbanum and elemi are fused with clean notes of pepper and myrrh, resting on a wet, woody base of juniper and cedarwood with patchouli leaves. Something very exciting is coming for the lovers of this scent…”
SMOKE
Handblown Refillable Candle
“This one takes me straight back to my grandparents’ house – the crackle of the fire, the faint scent of woodsmoke woven into the walls… Burnt cade and birch tar drift softly into frankincense, cedar, and oak, with a grounding touch of cistus absolute from Spain. Warm, smoky, and enveloping…”
GOLD
Hand-rolled Incense
“A radiant yet balanced blend of citrus, woods, and spices that fills the air with a sparkling quality… Each stick is made by one of the last traditional incense makers in Japan, who also supply temples and monasteries.”
ORANGE LEAF
Hand Wash
“A reminder that the things we use every day should be as beautiful as they are useful… Orange Leaf is my homage to the orange tree in all its forms – from the brightness of the fruit to the green freshness of its leaves. It’s uplifting yet soft, layered with gentle herbal notes and a trace of woodiness, leaving the skin lightly perfumed and cared for… A small daily ritual that brings freshness, clarity and joy.”
MARMALADE
Jam
“A beautiful, traditional preserve with Italian bergamot and a splash of lemon, inspired by my grandmother’s recipe. I still recall waking up to the scent of oranges filling every corner of the house, my sister and I in awe of something so sweet and full of life. Those moments marked the beginning of my olfactory being – I can’t recall a childhood memory without scent beside it.”
MOSS
Pot-Pourri
“A celebration of this magical ingredient and my fascination with it. It begins with green moss fused with red thyme, cedarwood, patchouli and vetiver – a modern fern scent: timeless and genderless.”
Photography courtesy of Perfumer H.
