When Geza Schoen’s partner asked him to make a perfume just for her, he had no idea it would lead to an evolution in the concept of Escentric Molecules and a whole new way of creating fragrance."
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Geza Schoen
Not according to plan
Things did not go according to plan when Geza Schoen launched Escentric
Molecules.
They went ridiculously, spectacularly better.
The story behind the story
How did Escentric’s Geza Schoen go from working at one of the big five fragrance manufacturers to being an indie perfumer at a time when they were as rare as hen’s teeth?
New car smell
Scent goes beyond the perfume bottle. It is being employed in nearly every aspect of our daily lives, from the laundry detergent we use to the public spaces we frequent. But what is the process behind crafting these smells?
My spiritual home
Perfumer, Geza Schoen introduces us to his "spiritual home" and gives insight into the development of EM05. "Escentric 05 is an evocation of my summer retreat on a Mediterranean island."
The stinky to the sublime
Plunge into the wild and whacky world of aroma-molecules with Escentric Molecules’ Geza Schoen. Skatole anyone? That’s ‘smell of rotten teeth’, but according to Geza, an essential part of the perfumer’s palette.
Scent Trails
Sillage may only be a two-syllable word, but it’s a fluctuating component of scent that encompasses a multi-faceted network of physics, chemistry, and aesthetics. Geza Schoen explains the factors which cause some scents to whisper and others to shout.
EM05
Escentric perfumer, Geza Schoen on cashmeran, the star molecule in his new Molecule 05, and the inspiration behind Escentric 05, his most personal fragrance ever.
Rip the Heart Out
Reducing a fragrance to just one molecule is radical. But the nonconformism doesn’t stop there. In the Escentric fragrances Geza Schoen does something else pretty rad: he rips the heart out.
The private world of a perfumer
Geza Schoen talks molecules and minimalism in his hometown of Berlin.
Sex in a Bottle
Ever wonder why certain scents can make one individual smell more attractive than the other? EM speaks to neuroscientists Dr. Rachel Herz and Dr. Janek Lobmaier to discuss the psychology, chemistry and physiology behind the smell of sexual attraction.
Scent and Social Distancing
Is there any point to scent when no-one but you can smell it?
Summer Decon-structed
Escentric Molecules 05:
a study in the scent of summer
Non-Binary Scents
Brands may still be marketing fragrances as women’s perfumes or men’s colognes, but for 2020 and beyond, these distinctions will become obsolete.
The animal imaginarium
Beaver Morse code, petrified poo, and ‘something like a pearl’. The animal ingredients in perfumery may be a strange bunch, says Geza Schoen, but wait till you meet their lab-born kin.
Reclaiming art space
What use is a glorious artwork if it exists in an elitist bubble? Whether it’s fragrance, fashion or fine art, one could say the most impactful pieces of art are those which speak to an audience regardless of age, gender or income.
Is Niche Nevermore?
Amidst the ever-growing popularity of indie brands, the niche fragrance industry will need to reclaim its sense of identity.
The Smellsonic Forest
Unsound’s Małgorzata Płysa on Foris, the immersive installation created by field recording artist, Chris Watson, and our very own Geza Schoen, that plunges participants into the beating heart of a vanished wilderness.
Molecular Riffs
Inside each Molecule is the scent equivalent of a jazz riff ready to bust out into a big beautiful fragrance melody. Geza Schoen takes you into the secret soul of the Escentrics.
The Fab Four
Geza Schoen riffs on the super-special qualities of the four molecules at the heart of Escentric.
A meeting of minds
Prima ballerina POLINA SEMIONOVA, memory champion CHRISTIANE STENGER and perfumer GEZA SCHOEN riff on bottling the Bolshoi, mapping memories, and making beautiful fragrances together.
Art & Chemistry
Escentric Molecules collaborated with Frieze on Making Scents: Art & the Olfactory, a mind-expanding symposium with pioneers in multisensory VR, olfactory art and neuroscience. Catch a whiff of the future.
The Right Stuff?
Word on the street is that
natural = good, synthetic = bad.
Hold on a minute, says Geza Schoen, life – and fragrance – are not so simple.
True Niche
24 years ago, Mark Buxton cooked up a fragrance that ‘works like a medicine and behaves like a drug’. It was Eau de Parfum, the first fragrance from Comme des Garçons, and the first flowering of the anarchic creativity we now know as ‘niche’.
Escentric Bedfellows
It’s the coolest store in Berlin, maybe even the world. Escentric Molecules’ stockist, Andreas Murkudis, is where Geza Schoen goes browsing for green trousers and brown paper hats… Here are a few of his favourite things.
His Dark Materials
Designer Boris Bidjan Saberi is intimately involved with his primary materials, moulding leather jackets on his body and using his own formula to tan the hides. When it came to creating a fragrance, he wanted that intimacy, bottled. And as a Molecule 01 wearer, he wanted Geza Schoen to make it happen.
Molecular Mystery
When she first sniffed Molecule 01, Daniela Rinaldi could smell nothing – “I mean nothing at all”. So how did the Harvey Nichols beauty supremo end up wearing it every day for the last eleven years?
When Geza met Jónsi
For Sigur Rós frontman, Jónsi, making scents comes second only to making music. On his world tour, he took time out to hang with Geza Schoen at his Berlin laboratory. Listen in...
Atomic-smitten
While Geza Schoen concocts the juice, there’s a second creative head at work in Escentric Molecules, one that sees a fragrance and thinks, ‘bring me the particle accelerator’. Meet Paul White, our elusive mixologist of the visual.
Rebel Smell
What happens when three true grit perfumers band together for a showdown with the bland world of commercial fragrance? Project Renegades, that’s what. Hold onto your psychedelic Stetson, it’s gonna be a wild ride...
Eau de Trollette
Lets hear it from Ugh & Bõögâr, two trolls who have taken over the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale this summer and are brewing up a warts n’ all perfume for the show with a little help from Geza Schoen.
Perfume Pioneers
A new exhibition at London’s Somerset House focuses on ten scents that have pushed the boundaries to create a buzzing new fragrance culture. Lizzie Ostrom, co-curator of the show, lets us in on the scene.
A Masterclass on Molecule 04
Javanol, star of Escentric Molecules 04, was invented in a lab at Swiss flavour & fragrance giant Givaudan 21 years ago. Philip Kraft, fragrance chemist and molecular designer at the company, unlocks the secrets of an exceptional odorant.
Phial and Error
It took 300 trials and a eureka moment to get to Escentric 04. But it was worth the wait, says Geza Schoen.
Future fresh
“The psychedelic freshness of liquid metallic grapefruit peel” – is how Geza Schoen describes Javanol, the molecule at the heart of his brand-new fragrances, Escentric 04 and Molecule 04.
21st Century Fashion Scents
She’s brainy, beautiful, and she edits The Gentlewoman, the most discerning fashion magazine on the planet. Penny Martin explains why her latest issue calls Escentric Molecules ‘the scent sensation of the twenty-first century’.
Measuring Molecules
Functional it may be, but this secretive sanctuary on top of a sixties apartment block in Berlin is where fragrance alchemy happens.
Trend Lab
Fragrance trends have less to do with fashion and more to do with cutting edge chemistry than you might think. Geza Schoen gives you the insider view for 2017.
Seasoned Greetings
With his off-the-wall flavour pairings and leftfield aromas, Berlin’s star chef and Escentric Molecules’ favourite, Tim Raue was never gonna cook Christmas the way your granny does it.
Molecule-maniacal
When rapper Danny Seth first smelt Molecule 01 he knew he had to have it. But what the heck was it? Some bros don’t give up their secrets so easily...
Escentric Molecules is ten
How do you celebrate a decade of maverick art and singular chemistry? With a monster great party in Berlin, of course.
Is this fragrance witchcraft?
Bibi Lynch was the first journalist ever to try out Escentric Molecules – as we celebrate our first decade, she recalls what happened when she spritzed on Molecule 01 ten years ago.
Olfactory Organ
Geza Schoen on collaborating with artist Wolfgang Georgsdorf for ‘Smeller’, an olfactory machine that plays scent symphonies.
What makes Iso E Super so super?
Geza Schoen analyses the sensual superpowers of the mysterious Molecule 01.
Maximum Minimalism
With Escentric Molecules, Geza Schoen has taken minimalism to the max. He explains how his love affair with less led to a whole new niche fragrance trend.