David Pybus
David Pybus built his perfumery career from the ground up, beginning not in a fragrant atelier but in the laboratories of Boots and ICI, where he trained as a chemist. Over three decades in the cosmetic and toiletry industry gave him an unusually technical foundation in fragrance composition. In the late 1990s, he founded Scents of Time, a British house with a singular premise: recreating the scents of ancient civilizations. Pybus called himself a 21st century alchemist, and his approach earned him the nickname Indiana Jones of Scent among colleagues. His work caught mainstream attention when he pitched successfully on Dragons' Den, bringing perfumery's historical dimensions to a wider British audience. Beyond commercial fragrance work, he brought his expertise to university lecture halls and cruise ship stages, treating audiences to the history hidden in every perfume bottle. He also co-authored The Chemistry of Fragrances with Charles Sell, contributing to the formal study of scent science.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How David composes
Pybus works primarily with ancient and historical materials, reimagining ingredients that perfumers used millennia ago. His reconstructions require both scientific rigor and creative intuition, as he translates fragmentary historical evidence into cohesive scent compositions. He gravitates toward resinous, smoky, and aromatic materials with deep roots in perfumery's origins: frankincense, myrrh, cedar, and botanical materials preserved in ancient trade routes. His style balances scholarly precision with an almost adventurous spirit, crafting fragrances that feel like time travel rather than simple scent.
Philosophy
What drives David
For Pybus, perfume is history you can wear. He approaches fragrance creation as archaeological investigation, poring over ancient texts and archaeological evidence to reconstruct scents that civilizations once loved. Rather than chasing trends or market demands, he follows curiosity into antiquity, asking what Cleopatra's court might have smelled like, or what incense filled Roman temples. This dedication to historical authenticity sets him apart from perfumers focused purely on commercial appeal. He believes fragrance carries cultural memory, and his work attempts to recover that lost sensory heritage for modern noses.
The houses