“We had all been used to only the same smells, the same architecture”, reads Stora Skuggan’s back story (or, perhaps, a poem is more accurate), “Until the monsoon came”. Acutely self-described as a “Niche perfumer”, the Swedish brand boasts five co-founders. All fragrances are handmade in Stockholm and presented in distinctive bottles with orb-shaped tops to emphasise the company’s mystical aesthetic. Given idiosyncratic names such as Milkmoon, Thumbsucker and Silphium – the latter of which denotes an extinct plant used by ancient civilisations as a perfume, medicine and aphrodisiac, further alludes to the label’s penchant for peculiarity. Choose from a selection of ethereal scents, seemingly intended to transport the wearer to a world far beyond our own.
