The Leather family is one of the most challenging and rewarding in perfumery. Birch tar, cade oil (distilled from juniper wood), castoreum, suede accords and tobacco create fragrances that smell of tanneries, old saddleries, worn book bindings and tobacco curing houses. They are inherently animalic — fragrances of age, craft and intimacy.

Leather perfumery has deep roots in Grasse, where perfumers first treated leather goods with aromatic materials to mask the smell of curing. The ‘Cuir de Russie’ (Russian Leather) style — birch tar dominant, slightly smoky and medicinal — became one of the most celebrated and imitated traditions in the canon.

For beginners: leather fragrances are among the most challenging to approach but the most rewarding to master. Start with suede — the softest, most approachable leather expression — before moving toward birch tar and cade oil.

“The smell of a thing well-made by hands that knew what they were doing.”