About Escentric Molecules

Escentric Molecules owes its existence to an aroma molecule that does not occur naturally. Iso E Super was developed in a laboratory at the IFF in 1973. Until the launch of Escentric Molecules, it remained unknown outside the world of perfumery, although its elusive presence hovers at relatively low concentrations in the background of many fragrances for both men and women. It is valued among perfumers for its velvety, enveloping effect.

When perfumer Geza Schoen smelled Iso E Super in isolation for the first time, something clicked. "I realized that the common denominator of all the fragrances I liked was that they contained a large dose of it. Iso E Super is very unusual. You can never get enough of it. One sniff and you want the whole bottle. It is like a drug."

Schoen began experimenting, creating fragrances containing Iso E Super in outrageous proportions. One evening he went even further. When he went out for a drink with a friend, he suggested that they spray on nothing but the flavor molecule itself.

The effect was immediate. As soon as they sat down at a bar, a woman approached them and asked for their scent. When Schoen spoke to her, it became clear that the connection between the scents she liked was also a large dose of Iso E Super. Schoen realized he was on to something. His suggestion was bold. He would create two fragrances in homage to this enigmatic attractant. A fragrance would contain an unprecedented 65% of the molecule. The rest of the formula would consist of ingredients designed to underline its somber mood.

If this was already a radical step, the second fragrance was completely unconventional. It would only contain the Iso E Super molecule. "I thought this would only appeal to the artists, the freaks, the misfits."

He was wrong. From its launch in 2006, Escentric Molecules has been a phenomenon. The first pair of fragrances, 01, was followed by Schoen 02, 03, 04 and 2020 with a fifth pair, Escentric Molecules 05. Each pair focuses on those rare fragrance molecules that have the radiance and depth of character to stand on their own.

design philosophy

Escentric Molecules' visual language reinforces perfumery as science + art.

Each aroma molecule of series 01, 02, 03, 04 and 05 is explored in binary pairs:

Escentric fragrance - one formula
Molecule fragrance - a molecule

This binary pair, which is the focus of Escentric Molecules, leads to an emphasis on binary notation in the design. Binary is explored in a variety of ways, some esoteric, others easily decipherable, like the classic binary code.

01100101 01110011 01100011
01100101 01101110 01110100
01110010 01101001 01100011

used in Escentric 01 construction and decoded to 'escentric'.

01100101

used in interpretation of Escentric 01 and decodes to 'e'.

01101101 01101111 01101100
01100101 01100011 01110101
01101100 01100101 00001010

used in the construction of molecule 01 and decodes to 'molecule'.

01101101

used in Molecule 01 design and decodes to 'm'.

Feel free to shine a light on Molecule 01's bottle as well and watch the code transition from dark to light as if 01 coexists in a parallel dimension.

The perfumer Geza Schoen

Perfumer Geza Schoen has a reputation as a rebel in the fragrance world.

In 2001, disillusioned with the increasing commercialization of the industry, he quit his job at perfume maker H&R in Paris and moved to London. Here he met the designers Brian Kirkby and Zowie Broach from Boudicca, with whom he worked for several years on the creation of their idiosyncratic fragrance Wode.

It was 2006 in London when he launched Escentric Molecules: Often referred to as the "anti-fragrance brand", Escentric Molecules has exceeded all expectations and become an exponential success.

In 2009 he initiated The Beautiful Mind Series, collaborating with outstanding women from diverse creative fields to create fragrances dedicated to the power of the feminine mind. Over the course of his career, Schoen has contributed to conceptual projects such as Paper Passion, a fragrance with Steidl, Wallpaper* and Karl Lagerfeld, and collaborated with artists such as Wolfgang Georgsdorf, for whom he created 64 fragrances for Smeller, an olfactory organ that audiences like a piano can be played to create aroma landscapes.

In 2005 he returned to his native Germany, where he lives and works in Berlin.