Teddy Haugen
Teddy Haugen makes fragrances the way some people fall into cooking: by paying attention, then refusing to look away. A self-taught perfumer based just outside San Francisco, he traces his beginnings to a casual curiosity about scent that quietly grew into something he couldn't shake. What started as collecting became studying, and studying became the foundation of his eponymous indie brand, Teddy The Perfumer. His first formula was a fougère, a classic structure he reinterpreted with a sweet thread running through its bones, designed to read just as well on skin as it does on anyone who borrows the bottle. He also serves as Creative Director of House of Cosmo, a role that lets him translate his sharp editorial instincts across a wider creative platform. Independent to his core, Haugen runs his brand without a safety net, building every formula from his own nose and his own instincts. The result is a young house shaped by instinct over pedigree, where each release reads like a personal confession rather than a market calculation.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Teddy composes
Haugen's work reveals a perfumer drawn to the architecture of classic masculine structures while pulling them toward something softer, sweeter, and more inclusive. The fougère foundation of his debut shows a comfort with herbal and aromatic conventions, treated here with a gourmand sensibility that keeps things approachable. He designs for shared wear, building compositions meant to fit both men and women without compromise, a choice that shapes everything from his material choices to his drydowns. Expect clear bones, confident sweetness, and an emphasis on scents that perform as daily signatures rather than statement pieces. His style reads modern indie through and through: technically grounded, emotionally generous, and unafraid to let a recognizable structure carry a fresh idea.
Philosophy
What drives Teddy
Haugen talks about fragrance the way most people talk about identity: as something personal, evolving, and never quite finished. He has said that everyone's nose works a little differently, and his entire creative practice seems built around that truth. Rather than chasing what sells or what already exists, he leans into individual perception, treating each formula as an invitation rather than an instruction. His philosophy prizes accessibility without dilution. He wants his scents to be wearable, gender-fluid, and emotionally legible, pieces you can actually live with instead of admire from a shelf. The sweetness threading his first fougère was a declaration of intent: tradition can carry warmth, structure can still surprise, and rules exist to be bent with care.
The houses
Maisons Teddy composes for
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