Heritage
A house, in its own words
Broken Anatomy Perfumes was founded in November 2020 by Ryan Handis and his wife Liberty Handis, a husband-and-wife team based in the United States. The project emerged in a period when the American indie fragrance scene was experiencing rapid expansion, with a growing number of small, creator-led houses launching direct-to-consumer lines outside the traditional prestige distribution model. Within its first year of operation, the brand released multiple compositions, including Chasing Memories, Brain Dance, and Burnt Remedy, signaling an ambitious launch pace for a house of its size. The brand's early visibility came largely through online fragrance communities, independent reviewers on YouTube, and aggregator databases that catalog niche releases. Pages & Dreams followed in 2022, extending the catalog and reinforcing the house's commitment to narrative-driven perfumery. As a young independent brand, Broken Anatomy represents a new generation of American perfumers building audiences through digital channels and word of mouth rather than traditional brick-and-mortar retail partnerships. The guiding idea behind Broken Anatomy Perfumes is captured in the house's self-description: 'artisan perfume for the Broken in all of us.' Rather than positioning fragrance as an accessory to aspiration, the brand frames scent as a vehicle for emotional honesty, exploring themes of memory, vulnerability, and personal history. Ryan and Liberty Handis approach perfumery as a collaborative creative practice, with compositions that appear to draw on personal experience and intimate imagery. The name itself, Broken Anatomy, suggests an interest in fragmentation and reconstruction, in finding beauty or meaning in what is damaged or incomplete. This thematic orientation sets the brand apart from niche houses that lean on purely abstract or luxury-coded language. The Handises have spoken about wanting their work to resonate on a human, accessible level, creating fragrances that invite wearers to connect with specific feelings or moments rather than simply projecting a polished image.