By Elias Feghaly | KULLI Atelier | Louisville, Kentucky
Sometimes a custom perfume begins with a list of fragrance notes.
Sometimes it begins with a flower, a memory, a place, a person, or a piece of music.
And sometimes it begins with a phone call and one simple question:
“Do you want it to smell like new paper—or an old book?”
That question became the beginning of one of my favorite creative challenges at the KULLI Atelier Perfume Bar in Louisville, Kentucky.
My client wanted to capture the feeling of a book through perfume. Not simply something woody or warm. Not a fragrance that happened to have a literary name attached to it. We wanted to translate the experience of a book into scent.
And once we talked, I realized there was an important distinction.
A new paper has a feeling.
But an old book has a life.
It has been touched. Opened. Closed. Carried. Forgotten. Rediscovered. Maybe passed from one person to another. The pages have changed with time. The binding has softened. The book itself has become part of the story.
That was the feeling I wanted to recreate.
Not just “book.”
Memory. Age. Paper. Intimacy. Story.
And that is exactly what I believe a signature perfume can do.
A Signature Perfume Can Begin With a Story
At KULLI Atelier, I don't believe custom perfume has to begin with:
What are your favorite perfume notes?
Sometimes the better question is:
What do you want someone to feel?
That opens an entirely different creative door.
For this project, my conversation with the client became part of the formulation process.
When I asked whether he imagined fresh, new paper or the smell of an old book, his answer gave me the direction I needed.
Old book.
Immediately, my mind went somewhere different.
I wasn't thinking about making something simply “nice smelling.” I was thinking about opening an old novel and bringing it close to your face. Walking between shelves in a quiet library. Finding a book that has been sitting untouched for decades. That warm, dry, slightly mysterious aroma that tells you this object existed before it reached your hands.
That became the brief.
How do you turn that feeling into perfume?
That is where perfumery becomes fascinating.
You don't necessarily need an ingredient literally called “old book.”
Instead, you build an accord: different aromatic materials working together to create the impression of something that may not exist as a single perfume ingredient.
I won't give away the recipe—that's part of the magic. 😉
But I began working with materials that could suggest the different dimensions of an old book: dryness, aged paper, warmth, wood, binding, dustiness, and the subtle softness that develops with time.
Individually, the materials tell different stories.
Together, the goal is for your brain to say:
I know this smell.
That's the beautiful intersection between perfumery, memory, and imagination.
Your Brand Already Has a Scent. What If We Created It?
This experience made me think even more deeply about what we're building at KULLI Atelier.
Because this isn't only something we can do for an individual.
Imagine doing it for a business.
A hotel.
A distillery.
A publishing company.
A fashion designer.
A musician.
A filmmaker.
An art gallery.
A restaurant.
A wedding venue.
A boutique.
An author launching a new book.
Or a company that simply wants its customers to experience something they can't experience anywhere else.
What does your brand smell like?
That's a strange question until someone asks it.
Then suddenly, there are a thousand possibilities.
If you're a hotel, perhaps you want guests to recognize your property before they've even reached the front desk.
If you're a distillery, perhaps there is a feeling surrounding your spirit—wood, warmth, celebration, place and craftsmanship—that could inspire an entirely different sensory experience.
If you're publishing a novel, perhaps the world inside those pages could become a fragrance.
If you're a musician, maybe your next album has a scent.
If you're a fashion designer, perhaps your collection isn't complete until people can experience its atmosphere through fragrance.
That's where custom parfum becomes storytelling.
Your Perfume Doesn't Have to Smell Like Everyone Else's
The fragrance industry is enormous, and there are beautiful perfumes everywhere.
But I am particularly interested in the opposite end of that world:
small batches, handmade experiences and fragrances with very specific stories.
KULLI Atelier is a small business. That allows me to approach perfume differently.
I can sit with someone.
I can listen.
I can ask weird questions like:
“New paper or old book?”
😂
And sometimes that one question changes the entire project.
That's what I love about working one-on-one with clients, artists and other business owners.
We're not starting with a mass-market focus group asking what fragrance will appeal to the greatest number of people.
We're asking:
What represents YOU?
What represents your company?
What represents this book?
This hotel?
This bourbon?
This collection?
This moment?
This person?
This memory?
That's much more interesting to me.
Custom Perfume for Businesses, Hotels, Distilleries, Authors & Artists
One of my goals for the KULLI Atelier Perfume Bar in Louisville is to collaborate with more businesses and creatives who want to use fragrance in unexpected ways.
And I especially want to work with unique businesses that want to create unique experiences.
Imagine checking into a boutique hotel and discovering a fragrance created specifically around that property.
Imagine attending a bourbon experience and exploring aroma in an entirely new way through parfum.
Imagine going to a book launch and discovering that the author and publisher created a perfume inspired by the world of the novel.
Imagine buying an artist's work and discovering that the exhibition has its own scent.
Imagine attending a fashion show where the clothing, music, lighting and fragrance are all telling the same story.
Or imagine launching your business's signature perfume in a small handmade batch that customers can actually take home.
Perfume can become merchandise.
It can become an experience.
It can become a gift.
It can become part of hospitality.
It can become part of an event.
But most importantly:
Perfume can become part of your story.
Why Scent Is So Powerful for Storytelling
There is something incredibly intimate about fragrance.
You can see a photograph and remember a place.
You can hear a song and suddenly remember someone.
But scent can create that same emotional transportation without saying a single word.
That is why I'm increasingly fascinated by perfume as a creative medium.
A fragrance doesn't have to explain itself.
You smell it.
You experience it.
You associate it with something.
And eventually, that fragrance itself can become part of the memory.
That makes scent especially interesting for businesses centered around hospitality, art, food and beverage, entertainment, publishing, luxury, fashion and experiences.
You're giving people another way to remember you.
Authors and Publishing Companies: What Does Your Book Smell Like?
The Old Book Project opened a door that I would love to explore further.
Books and perfume belong together.
Both can transport you somewhere else without requiring you to go anywhere.
A book creates a world through language.
Perfume creates one through scent.
Imagine an author releasing a novel and working with KULLI Atelier to create a signature parfum inspired by the story.
Maybe we interpret a location from the novel.
Maybe it's a character.
Maybe it's an object.
Maybe it's a particular scene.
Or maybe, like this project, we recreate the emotional experience of the book itself.
It doesn't need to be literal.
It needs to be evocative.
For publishers, bookstores and authors looking for unique book launch ideas, experiential marketing or creative merchandise, fragrance creates another dimension through which readers can enter the story.
And because we can work in small batches, the concept doesn't necessarily need to begin with thousands of bottles.
We can begin with an idea.
Kentucky Distilleries: Let's Talk About Aroma
Being based in Louisville, Kentucky, I can't talk about sensory storytelling without thinking about bourbon.
The worlds of spirits and perfume have something beautiful in common:
The nose matters.
When someone experiences a spirit, aroma is part of that experience. People search for familiar impressions and describe what they're experiencing through sensory language.
Perfumery does the same thing in its own way.
That creates an exciting opportunity for Kentucky distilleries and bourbon brands that want to offer visitors something beyond the traditional tasting.
What if a spirit inspired a fragrance experience?
What if guests explored aroma, experienced the spirit and then created something personal to take home?
I'm interested in collaborations that respect both crafts rather than simply putting the word “bourbon” on a perfume bottle.
Two worlds. Two crafts. One sensory experience.
For Kentucky bourbon tourism, hospitality and experiential events, I think we've barely scratched the surface of what's possible.
Hotels: Give Your Guests Something They Can Remember
Hotels understand atmosphere better than almost any other business.
The architecture matters.
The lighting matters.
The bedding matters.
The music matters.
The service matters.
And the scent matters.
For boutique hotels, luxury properties and hospitality businesses, a signature fragrance can become part of the identity of a space.
But we can take that concept further.
Instead of simply scenting a lobby, what if guests could participate?
KULLI Atelier can develop custom perfume experiences and mobile perfume bar concepts that transform fragrance into an activity.
Guests aren't simply smelling your brand.
They're interacting with it.
They're creating.
They're making a memory.
And potentially, they're taking that memory home in a bottle.
That's the type of hospitality experience people talk about afterward.
Artists: Let Me Turn Your World Into Parfum
This invitation is especially personal to me because I understand what it means to create.
If you're a musician, filmmaker, painter, photographer, fashion designer, performer or multidisciplinary artist, your work already has an emotional language.
Let's explore what that language smells like.
You don't need to understand perfumery.
That's my job.
You can come to me and say:
“This is what my work feels like.”
Show me your paintings.
Let me hear the music.
Tell me about the character.
Show me the clothing.
Tell me about your childhood.
Describe the room.
Tell me the memory.
Tell me the feeling you want someone to have.
Then we start translating.
That's the part I love.
Make Your Signature Perfume in Louisville, Kentucky
You don't need to be a major corporation to create a fragrance.
You don't need to order thousands of bottles before you're allowed to have an idea.
And you certainly don't need to already know exactly what your perfume should smell like.
Start with your story.
At the KULLI Atelier Perfume Bar, we can explore that story together.
Maybe you're an entrepreneur looking for a signature scent for your business.
Maybe you're planning an event and want a mobile perfume bar in Louisville.
Maybe you're an author looking for an unforgettable book-launch experience.
Maybe you're a hotel searching for a new guest experience.
Maybe you're a Kentucky distillery interested in exploring fragrance alongside spirits.
Maybe you're an artist who wants to turn a body of work into parfum.
Or maybe you're simply someone who wants a fragrance that feels unmistakably like you.
Make perfume.
Make your signature perfume.
Make something people cannot find anywhere else.
From an Old Book to a New Memory
I keep coming back to that phone call.
“New paper—or an old book?”
Such a small question.
But once my client answered it, an entire sensory world opened.
That's what makes custom perfume exciting to me.
It isn't simply about choosing whether you like floral, woody, fresh or sweet fragrances.
Sometimes we're trying to recreate something much harder to describe.
The smell of an old book.
The garden behind your childhood home.
The feeling of walking into your favorite hotel.
The spirit your distillery spent years developing.
A character from your novel.
Your mother's favorite flower.
The night you fell in love.
The city you left.
The place you finally came home to.
Those are perfumes I want to create.
At KULLI Atelier, I want fragrance to be personal, artistic and alive. I want to continue making handmade parfum in small batches, creating one-of-a-kind perfume experiences, and collaborating with people and businesses who believe their stories deserve to be experienced differently.
So if you're a business owner, hotel, distillery, publishing company, author, artist, musician, designer or creative brand, I have one question for you:
If your story became a perfume, what would it smell like?
Let's find out.
KULLI Atelier
Perfume Bar • Parfum • Fine Jewelry • Art • Design
Mellwood Art Center | Louisville, Kentucky
Call or text: 502-509-3344
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