How To Style Your Home Through Scent

Stepping over the threshold into a state-of-the-art private home, one expects to be greeted in the atrium by a work of art. A grand, freestanding Christopher Wool sculpture, perhaps – or, failing that, a spectacularly opulent Lasvit chandelier. And while art and architecture provide a feast for the eyes, the most exquisite residences now ensure that one of the other key senses is perfectly and uniquely addressed, too.

Welcome to the world of olfactory architecture, where the most involving thing about an interior might be something you cannot see at all.

“Scent is an invisible framework,” says David Seth Moltz, co-founder of cult New York perfumery D.S. & Durga. “Fragrance and music are the two quickest ways to change the atmosphere of a space. You can dress up and dress down a room instantly. A fancy mansion that smells like an apple-scented plug-in versus a tiny apartment that smells like the Ritz.”

In the establishment of perfectly appointed homes, first came the architect, then the interior designer, the art concierge and the lighting specialist. Now, for those who truly take their interiors seriously, there’s another crucial expert to add to the address book. These olfactory specialists don’t just create home fragrances in the form of decadent, three-wick candles and elegant reed diffusers. Instead, they act as consultants and translators, transforming both personality and visual cues into a structured scent profile that is completely tailored to the home – plus a dispersal system to ensure that the aroma follows you wherever you go. Think of it as an immersive sensory experience, just for you and your guests.

“We look at all the facets of the interior: the geometry, the colors, the tactilities, the materials, the decoration pieces, objects,” explains Wim de Raaij, scent architect and founder of Nose and Partners. “We translate that to scent characteristics. We are an enhancer. We don’t build environments; we enhance what is already there.” The aim, he explains, is for the thing that lingers on the nose to feel intrinsically connected to its surroundings and, just as importantly, carefully aligned with the residents of the space.

An earthy, enveloping interior, for example, might call for a touch of patchouli, tonka bean and the powdery softness of Peru balsam. For a room of darkly lustrous surfaces and a surfeit of leather, he might lean into a deep cognac note or create a surprising, uplifting hybrid with something fruity.

The possibilities for entertaining are equally intriguing. Moltz is often called upon to create a fragrance journey for a particular occasion. He begins by considering the moment, the guests, the music and the season. “Is it a wild party or intimate?” he asks. “Taco night – Mexican tuberose? Cocktail party? Something quiet and woody.” Or perhaps something more adventurous: “I love the idea that you could walk into a party in a Manhattan loft and suddenly smell a desert at night.”

But restraint, he argues, is essential. “You don’t want the perfume to be the party. You want it to make the party more memorable.”

So, should a home have one signature scent or several? Here, the experts have slightly different philosophies.

De Raaij favors a consistent olfactory identity, particularly when a property’s rooms share an aesthetic language. Bespoke fragrances can be distributed through candles and diffusers or more discreetly through specialist scent systems, sometimes connected to a home’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning infrastructure. Different zones can be programmed independently, allowing fragrance to become part of the building’s wider sensory design.

Moltz, meanwhile, prefers a more fluid approach. “You don’t listen to the same album every day,” adds D.S. & Durga co-founder Kavi Ahuja Moltz.

Ultimately, although the mood might change a little according to whim, Moltz suggests that the underlying layers can still give your space its unique identity. “Wood floors, old books, cooking, flowers, furniture, the people who live there. All of these contribute to the smell of a home. I wouldn’t necessarily burn five different candles at once. That’s usually a mess. But I love when you walk through a house and the atmosphere changes subtly from room to room. It’s like moving through different movements of a piece of music.”

And there you have it: olfactory architecture really is a powerful artistic medium in its own right. Beneath the complex frameworks, de Raaij sees the premise of the whole exercise as extremely simple. “If you close your eyes and you walk in, you still experience where you are,” he says. “You have the interior, which is quite static. With music, it becomes a little more dynamic. But with scent, it makes it come alive.”