The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The name says Sweden. The story is pure Brooklyn. Dirkes took the word suédé, that soft, napped leather associated with Scandinavian craftsmanship, and made it the entire concept. One material, explored from every angle. Dirkes, the self-taught perfumer behind Euphorium Brooklyn, built his house on invented histories and uncompromising vision. Suédois fits perfectly: a fragrance that draws from Swedish material culture and transforms it through an American outsider lens. The result feels neither fully Scandinavian nor conventionally Brooklyn. It exists in its own invented space, which is exactly where Dirkes wants his work to live.
What makes suede interesting as a perfume note is its inherent contradiction: leather that's been buffed into softness. Not the sturdy hide of a jacket, but the worn-in warmth of something that's been touched countless times. Dirkes starts with Indonesian sandalwood, known for its creamy, almost buttery character, and builds outward from there. The birch tar provides the smoky dimension, that Scandinavian tradition of woodsmoke and cured leather, while the castoreum adds animalic depth without aggression. It's a study in texture, not a list of ingredients.
The evolution
The opening arrives with birch tar's sharp, smoky edge, a statement that disappears faster than expected. Within minutes, suede takes over. Not leather. Suede. That buttery, warm nap that's tactile and close. Wildflowers and anise add an unexpected herbal-green note that keeps the smoke from feeling heavy, creating a brief moment of fragility before the warmth fully settles. The heart centers on that suede accord, with clary sage adding aromatic depth and raspberry contributing a faint, jammy sweetness that reads as skin-warm rather than fruity. Castoreum lingers here, giving the mid-phase an animalic quality that feels intimate rather than assertive. This is the fragrance's most personal phase, the part that smells different on everyone. The drydown shifts into cream and resin. Labdanum and benzoin create a balsamic warmth, while sandalwood and vanilla cream blend into something that lasts 8-10 hours on most skin types. Ambergris adds a salty sweetness, and tonka bean provides coumarin's hay-like warmth without ever becoming masc.
Cultural impact
Within the niche leather category, Suédois occupies a specific position: it's the fragrance that makes leather approachable. Where traditional leather accords lean into smoke, cade, and birch tar as aggressive statements, Dirkes uses these same materials as texture, a whisper, not a shout. The fragrance has found an audience among people who want the depth of a smoky leather but the softness of something worn close to the skin. It's a study in restraint within a category known for excess.
The House
Euphorium BrooklynEuphorium Brooklyn is a niche fragrance house founded by artist and self-taught perfumer Stephen Dirkes in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The brand draws its name and inspiration from a fictional enterprise called Euphorium Bile Works, which the founder's mythology places in 1860s Brooklyn. Each fragrance from the house carries this narrative weight, blending historical fiction with olfactory artistry. The collection spans dark, smoky compositions like Wald and Cilice, alongside brighter studies such as Ume (inspired by Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji) and the gourmand Chocolatl. Handcrafted with reportedly rare and exotic materials, the house occupies a distinctive position in contemporary niche perfumery, appealing to collectors who value unconventional storytelling and bold, characterful scents.
The Creator
Stephen DirkesDirkes brings a filmmaker's sense of pacing to fragrance composition. He builds scents that reveal themselves gradually, with layers that do not simply coexist but interact.
