Tomas Hempel
A Swedish independent perfumer and Stora Skuggan co-founder who moved from design into scent, turning peculiar smells and stories into functional structures through long iteration.
Sweden
About Tomas Hempel
Tomas Hempel is a Swedish independent perfumer and co-founder of Stockholm's Stora Skuggan. Fascinated since childhood by peculiar smells rather than only pleasant ones, he chose perfume as a way to reach other people without relying on speech.
Career
After working as an art director in the design industry, Hempel moved his interest in smell into a profession. He describes himself as self-taught while acknowledging several experienced mentors, reshaping their knowledge into methods he can believe in. Years of hobby-level trials with collaborators led to the house, and he has now combined creation with brand operation for more than a decade.
Creative Style & Philosophy
Myths, lost plants, and unexplained natural phenomena are researched, then reduced to physical textures such as mineral cold, resin, or smoke. Marketed formulas often require more than a hundred iterations to become room-filling without aggression. Lack of access to corporate captive materials is treated as a prompt to invent technique from a smaller palette.
Signature Works
- *Pine Eau de Parfum* — Shoot, needle, bark, and resin gathered into the many facets of one tree.
