Launched in 2015, Stora Skuggan is a Stockholm-based perfume studio that commenced as a project among five multidisciplinary creatives, to create five unisex perfumes with mystical backstories.
After years of olfactory experimentation, the niche perfumery reimagines perfume-making as a conceptual project, wearable art and an aesthetically pleasing object. The diverse backgrounds of the collective’s members result in a unique combination of history, mysticism, pop culture to Indian folklore and the Freudian analysis.
“All this is very intuitive and gut-decided…The different scents usually circuit around a myth or a phenomenon that’s maybe real or not. These become like small worlds or universes that the scent grows in, like a tiny baby.” as Anna Barkne, one of the five co-founders quotes for Highsnobiety.
By clicking on their products below, discover Stora Skuggan's playful wit through their short stories.
1. MISTPOUFFER
“Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands” – Bem, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
2. SILPHIUM
"Even if one just tastes it, at once arouses a humour throughout the body and has a very healthy aroma” – Pedanius Dioscorides, around year 70 BC.
3. MOONMILK
“At night, the moon shines into the cave so brightly the light itself seems to take form, like a mist. It gathers in the ceiling and makes the limestone stalactites glitter and gleam, dripping tears of white liquid into puddles on the rock floor that never dries. Moonmilk." – Conrad Gessner, 16th century scientist, Swiss naturalist and founder of modern zoology.
4. THUMBSUCKER
“Me he shall suck” - Indra, King of Gods.
5. FANTÔME DE MAULES
“An enigmatic being, seen by many wandering the local woodlands for the past decade, dressed in nothing but cloaked camouflage and an obsolete mask.” – The locals call him Le Loyon, but the character calls himself Fantôme de Maules. The ghost of Maules.
Presented in sleek glass bottles with an obscure print and characterised by oversized orb caps, Stora Skuggan translates its collaborative design practice into a distinctive line of creative fragrances.