Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
A Colorado-based perfumer who came from painting and brings fine-art principles to DSH Perfumes and Japan’s DAWN Perfume collaboration.
United States
About Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is an independent American perfumer based in Colorado. Alongside her own house, DSH Perfumes, she creates the fragrances of DAWN Perfume with Japanese partners and explores connections between visual art and scent.
Career
After working as a painter, she began creating bespoke fragrances at ESSENSE Perfumery in Boston in 1991. She developed her own perfume lines from the early 1990s. In Japan, her collaboration with Undulate Labs and director Yoshiko Anzu led to DAWN Perfume. She also teaches perfume history and fragrance design, and mentors emerging creators.
Creative Style & Philosophy
She brings principles from painting into perfumery, approaching scent through colour and texture. Having worked with natural and synthetic materials, she is particularly interested in the complexity and unexpected facets of naturals. Oakmoss and sandalwood have remained long-standing favourites. Her projects for institutions including the Denver Art Museum and Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art have extended the expressive possibilities of fragrance.
Signature Works
- *Mata Hari* — a DSH Perfumes chypre combining depth with a lighter touch.
- *Bejmat* — a quiet woody fragrance for DAWN Perfume, incorporating citrus, flowers and greenery.
- *Taj Garden* — colourful flowers and green notes meet the warmth of spices in the DAWN Perfume collection.
