Lena Norling - Scent Developer
Lena Norling is a Scent Developer and, as she puts it herself, a life enthusiast. “I get my strength from my family and good friends, without whom I would not be myself truly. Drawn to continuously creating scents, in love with life’s small wonders, from morning dew on a field in spring to crispy cool air on a starlit night in December. Broadening my horizons through travelling, bringing home joyful memories and inspiration for my work as well as personal growth.” “The path to becoming a scent developer is different for everyone, and you can learn the trade through schools and apprenticeships.
I learned the trade from my Grandmother. She made me fall in love with expressing my innermost feelings through the creation of scents.” In 2016 Lena collaborated with FRAMA to create their first signature scent. “It started as a seed of an idea, way back when Frama first opened their flagship store in the old pharmacy Sct. Pauls Apotek in Copenhagen. The pharmacy, with its empty antique wood-lined shelves, beautiful ceilings and details inspired me. I approached Niels, Frama’s founder, with my idea to create a scent in honor of the building and its history - so this is how it all began. I created the first scent from the oils I had in my fragrance library at home. It took me approximately eight months to create the scent, which Niels and I later named St. Pauls Eau de Parfum.”
“My creative process, when developing scents, starts with an inspiration which grows into a story within me. I find notes and gradually and meticulously string them together until I finally have a bottled symphony. The process to get there comes from dwelling on my inspirations, mood boards, days on end in my fragrance library. I go for walks in the forest or travel to reach an inspirational space in which the story can be told in its subtle entirety. It can take months and mostly years to create a perfect scent. The inspiration comes from little details in everyday life, meetings between people I care for, any little detail, but mostly the ones which moves my inner core." “Aesthetics means something to me, in the way that I find it in the small details - often little imperfections or a glimpse of a moment, which catches my eye and moves my heart. Aesthetics provide the off set from which I enter into a creative sphere, only to emerge once a new fragrance-story is ready to be told.”
“Every morning I spend a few moments sitting by my window watching a flock of birds flying from one roof top to the next, back and forth. I have never understood why they have this routine, but they do. Their routine has become part of my routine and daily meditation to watch them spread their wings, fly only to return a few minutes later.” “I love Copenhagen with all its little nooks and hiding places, parks, museums and cultural heritage. There are numerous treasures to be found but if I am to choose only one, my preference in this very moment would be Østre Anlæg as it is close to home. When I go for walks there I often pop by SMK and the Hirschsprung Collection to look at their exhibitions, each time equally inspirational and always adding new dimensions and revealing new details.