Michael Schrammel
Michael Schrammel arrived at perfumery through a very personal door. In 2015, an obsession with scent led him to study the art of creating perfumes from scratch. He set out to craft something that smelled as good as anything he could buy off a shelf. That private challenge grew into something more serious, and Schrammel began building his own olfactory vocabulary through hands-on experimentation. Based in the American indie tradition, he joined the ranks of For The Scent of It Perfumes, where he became the 168th perfumer in their American Perfumer Series. Beyond creating his own scents, he shares his knowledge with the wider fragrance community through his work with Cafleurebon's "Notes from The Lab" column. Schrammel approaches scent creation with the curiosity of someone who learned every step through trial and error, developing a practice rooted in self-teaching rather than formal training. His work reflects both technical curiosity and a genuine desire to create something worth wearing.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Michael composes
Schrammel gravitates toward darker, more complex fragrance profiles. His work often features oriental woods, smoky incense, and rich fig compositions. He favors ingredients with depth and texture, building fragrances that reward attention over time. His approach emphasizes layering and versatility, as seen in Lucid Dreams, which combines santal, tonka, and incense in a way designed to be worn alone or layered with other scents. His portfolio shows range without sacrificing coherence, from the atmospheric intensity of Monday Warrior to the smoother, more addictive quality of Forbidden Fig. He appears to favor winter-appropriate compositions but has shown comfort working across seasonal territories.
Philosophy
What drives Michael
Schrammel doesn't separate his nose from his environment. He draws inspiration from unexpected places, using unconventional concepts to spark creativity. His work on Monday Warrior, built around a "post-apocalyptic wasteland" concept, shows he treats fragrance as narrative as much as chemistry. He approaches perfumery as both a technical craft and a form of personal expression, building scents that layer well and adapt to different contexts. Schrammel seems driven by the idea that fragrance should do something, whether that means evoking a specific atmosphere or simply making someone feel something they couldn't before.
The houses