News feed
With creative acts currently confined to the home, brands are looking for innovative ways to express themselves and tell their stories. Byredo, the niche fragrance company founded by Ben Gorham, is one such example of thinking outside the box, asking its high profile friends to share short “scented stories” to be relayed on its Instagram channel. As explained by the brand, “our brains integrate smell with information about space and time to form episodic memories.” It’s the idea that scent can be the thread that stitches stories and memories together in our minds. It might take us back to a person or a place, a time or a feeling. It sounds like a highly romanticised beauty ideal, but there is actually quantifiable data that confirms odor-evoked memories are more visceral than any other, proving that the power of scent knows no bounds.
In the series, celebrities like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Virgil Abloh talk through their favourite olfactive memory. Take Elsa Hosk, who summed up her childhood in Sweden as “salty seaweed mixed with Earthy moss, wet trees and sweet summer flowers.. and someone far away baking cinnamon buns.” Or Jen Atkin, who remembers the smell of perming solution when her mum would take her to the salon in the ’80s. You can see some of the best short stories below, and participate in the series by tagging your own as #byredosmellmemory.
SHOP OUR BYREDO FAvourites
Byredo Rose Of No Man’s Land, $332. SHOP NOW
A dirty rose redolence that actually pays tribute to nurses who served in World War One.
Byredo Velvet Haze, $332. SHOP NOW
Sun-dipped and sweet, this is old world California, bottled.
Byredo Gypsy Water, $332. SHOP NOW
An iconic fragrance, Gypsy Water is light, fresh and Earthy.
