Anselm Skogstad
Before he became a perfumer, Anselm Skogstad spent years behind a camera rather than a perfume organ. Born in Munich, he worked as a documentary photographer and photo journalist, his images appearing in publications across Europe. The transition to perfumery came through formal training at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, where he describes the experience as humbling and foundational. In 2020, he launched Der Duft, a platform that brings together select perfumers from around the world. His background in visual arts shapes how he approaches fragrance composition: he speaks about scent the way others discuss composition and light, with an artist's eye for balance and negative space. The brand's philosophy centers on working with international perfumers while Skogstad maintains creative direction, allowing him to curate a coherent vision even when not the sole creator. His own compositions reflect this curatorial sensibility, favoring clarity over complexity.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Anselm composes
Skogstad gravitates toward unexpected combinations that somehow cohere. His work on Der Duft Monopteros demonstrates this appetite for the incongruous, layering coconut and aldehydes with coffee, neroli, raspberry, and cucumber in a composition that defies easy categorization. The result feels both playful and cerebral, a scent that invites analysis without sacrificing wearability. His technical training in Grasse gives him the foundation to execute these unusual visions, but his artist's sensibility keeps the compositions grounded in emotion rather than chemistry. He favors transparent, crisp structures over dense, layered ones, allowing individual ingredients to breathe within the overall architecture. This preference for clarity shapes both his own creations and his direction of the Der Duft house style, which tends toward modern elegance with occasional moments of calculated strangeness.
Philosophy
What drives Anselm
Skogstad approaches fragrance as an extension of his artistic practice rather than a departure from it. He believes that scent operates on a more primal level than visual art, engaging emotion and memory in ways that resist verbal articulation. His creative process begins with what he calls a clear concept, building compositions that serve a specific idea rather than simply smelling pleasant. This intellectual rigor, combined with his artistic instincts, produces fragrances that function as statements. He has spoken about minimalism as both aesthetic preference and ethical stance, arguing that restraint in perfumery often reveals more than abundance. For Der Duft, he seeks perfumers who share this commitment to intention over excess, curating a roster that reflects his belief that great fragrance requires conceptual clarity alongside technical mastery.
The houses
Maisons Anselm composes for
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