Rebecca Akhyani
Rebecca Akhyani spent twelve years shaping how people experience scent. Her background in chemistry gave her a precise understanding of molecular behavior, while a lifelong fascination with fragrance gave her the intuition to translate that science into emotion. She trained in the field and rose to lead workshops for Givaudan, the Swiss fragrance powerhouse, guiding participants through blending exercises in Sydney's Chippendale studio. Those sessions became a proving ground, where technical knowledge met live audience response. She brought the same rigor to commercial fragrance work, collaborating with Lumira alongside Florian Gallo and Frank Voelkl on the brand's signature line. Her 2021 release for Lumira, Bois D'Epices, introduced her perspective to a wider audience: bright citrus opening into layered florals, anchored by warm spice and wood. The fragrance established her as a perfumer comfortable bridging fine fragrance craftsmanship with accessible design. Rebecca continues to work in Australia, combining education, creation, and the belief that understanding how scent works makes experiencing it richer.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Rebecca composes
Rebecca gravitates toward bright, effervescent top notes. Grapefruit, citrus, and lemon appear frequently in her work, not as fleeting afterthoughts but as deliberate anchors. She pairs that citrus clarity with unexpected warmth: spice, wood, and resin notes that give her fragrances structure without heaviness. Her training at Givaudan shaped a clean, architectural approach to composition. She builds fragrances vertically, with clear transitions between opening, heart, and dry-down. That discipline shows in Bois D'Epices, where the initial zest settles into floral nuance before arriving at a woody-spicy foundation. Rebecca handles both fine fragrance and functional scent, a versatility that reflects her technical grounding. Her style stays grounded in accessibility, never cold or overly academic.
Philosophy
What drives Rebecca
Rebecca approaches fragrance as an applied art, where chemistry serves emotional communication. She resists the idea that perfumery must remain mysterious. Every formula, she argues, can be understood, and that understanding changes how a person perceives a scent. Her workshops reflect this. She asks participants to smell before they think, then brings in molecular structure to explain why certain combinations resonate. This two-step process grounds intuition in science without diminishing the magic. Rebecca believes the most compelling fragrances are those that feel inevitable, where each material seems the only possible choice. She works toward that inevitability through iteration and a deep respect for how individual ingredients behave in combination.
The houses