Early Modern

Early Modern is a Glasgow perfume house whose perfumes are assembled in small batches by its perfumer, Clara Weale. It launched in late 2020, and a company of the same name was registered in Glasgow in June 2020. The house calls its work a playful exploration of contemporary perfume.

The idea is that perfumes are concerned with their own materiality: each one is built from a short list of raw materials and kept as simple and gestural as it can be. Every product page pairs two lists. The first, called Reality, names what the scent should call to mind, such as lettuce, clay and chalk. The second, called Materiality, names the real ingredients, such as elemi resin, tonka bean and musk. The scents are deliberately abstract, meant to be read through memory and nostalgia.

The range is small and distinct. Life of the Party is a sunny jasmine, orange flower and cardamom on sandalwood, set against sprinklers and a glass of lemon. Veil is a warm, smoky amber of benzoin, labdanum, nutmeg and birch tar. Celadon is a cool, mineral scent of lettuce, clay and elemi. Ex-Libris, a library in scent, builds on neroli, rosemary, patchouli and vetiver. The newest, Heavy Water, is the first of a collection inspired by Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and mixes orris, carrot seed and seaweed.

Early Modern sits in independent, experimental British perfumery: one maker, a small range, an artistic point of view and direct sales through its own website. It suits wearers who like abstract, material-led perfumes and buyers who prefer ideas to a conventional pyramid.