A long time ago, in a laboratory far, far away... was an aroma-anarchist called Geza Schoen.
A fragrance maker of master intrigue since he launched Escentric Molecules in 2006; his proposal was this. Two scents launched simultaneously in homage to a futuristic single scent ingredient or aroma molecule that he would siphon into bottles printed with an abstruse-looking binary code. This... had never been done before.
It was an entirely practical gesture on Schoen’s part. Fragrances with no industry flimflam or bourgeois granny-smelling stuff, just a superficially simple, conceptually complex concoction that would spark an industry-wide revolution, breaking the constraints of old fragrance paradigms.
Ahead of his time, Schoen was a fruit loop in a world full of cheerios. Forever interested in the provenance of perfume, setting out to form a polarising, single-note scent that reacts with pheromone receptors, making it unique to the individual, a disruptor in a commercial world that stifles creativity, where every cache of fragrances seemed to be the same.
Geza embarked on an olfactive journey of minimalism with a serious endeavour to create a lab-engineered potion peddling the unconventional and remarkable by celebrating the chemistry behind perfumery. The irony is, of course, that in setting out to strip away the myths that weigh down the fragrance industry, Escentric Molecules has generated a whole new mystique for an intense and loyal following of fans that have a world of stories to tell.
Geza reflects: “Since we launched back in 2006, we have heard so many amazing stories from our customers of how they came to discover the fragrance, what they did, who they met; some stories are incredible love stories, some are poignant, some hilarious.”
“We love the fact that Molecule is a fragrance that has continued to prompt action, reaction, love, and questions.”
Escentric and Molecule 01 have flooded environs across the globe, set hearts ablaze, and acted as love’s scented language to millions. So, to mark 15 years of Schoen’s veritable library of nasal erudition, we invite you to continue the conversation we started with you back in 2006 as we launch our Story Editions, #moleculestories. Similar to Geza’s fragrant adventure stories, led by his nose, the wearers of Escentric and Molecule 01 have dab-handedly generated countless odour-evoked tales over the years that we felt deserved to be told and shared.
We asked, and you sent. Posting over 450 submissions to us in just two weeks, we have rigorously selected the most off-the-wall, raunchiest, and poetic stories, reproduced here as they appear on the bottles or in text form. All of us here at EM could have never imagined in our wildest dreams that Escentric Molecules would go from a brand where every spritz was like a secret shared amongst friends to a global swell of adoration for our little flacon of magic. Please keep sending us your stories; we truly love reading them. And so, the time has come to feast your eyes on some of these formidable stories, ‘tis the words of a quindecennial period filled with sensual memories.