Meet the creatives bringing Escentric Molecules’ disruptive new era to life
Escentric Molecules has been doing things differently for 20 years. Since the disruptive fragrance house was founded two decades ago, it’s challenged all the conventions of modern perfume, with its genderless scents that forgo trends and traditions alike. Today, it still stands by its original fragrances Molecule 01 and Escentric 01, designed to respond to the wearer and reveal their identity. Rather than obscure or transform it, the scents react uniquely to each wearer’s skin and have become the core of the house’s cult following over the years.
The fragrances themselves are built around a single aroma-molecule. Instead of a prescriptive, top-down scent, this brings out different facets of the wearer’s scent, resulting in an intimate and instinctive aroma. Molecule 01 is made from 100 per cent Iso E Super, dissolving the boundary between wearer and fragrance with a magnetic, wood-tinged scent that shifts and evolves over time. Escentric 01, meanwhile, adds a precise edit of 18 other ingredients to the allure of Iso E Super (diluted to 65 per cent), including hints of lime peel, pink pepper, green jasmine bud, and balsamic notes.
This approach remains defiantly minimalist in the perfume landscape of 2026, but it can be traced all the way back to the countercultural roots of the brand – namely, creative director and co-founder Paul White’s visual work with experimental musicians like Björk, and perfumer and co-founder Geza Schoen’s connection to the creative scene in Berlin, where his fragrance lab is based. In SHARED C0DE, the third and final chapter in the brand’s new C0DE WITHIN campaign directed by Services Généraux, the creative universe expands even further, bringing together three creatives working at the bleeding edge of music, performance, art and fashion. While each featured talent has their own distinct personality, in the campaign they’re united by the shared language of Escentric Molecules, mirroring the broader fanbase of the brand, which offers a diverse outlet for individual interests and identities.
The model and actress Soap Collins, the performance artist Ratty Sleigh Johnny, and the musician Mayah Alkhateri star in the striking campaign video, proving that the brand’s experimental outlook shows no sign of changing two decades in. The three creatives also demonstrate the versatility of Escentric Molecules’ fragrances in the brand’s ‘Code of Conduct’ series, giving their own takes on Molecule 01 and Escentric 01, and how they fit into their creative practices. Learn more below.
Born in LA and based in London, Soap Collins is a painter, model, and actress known for lead roles in films including Maria Belafonte’s Pockets of Heaven. Spanning several creative worlds, she draws a parallel between her own practice and how Escentric Molecules enables her to express herself: “It’s part of the tapestry of a person… of a collage.”
The fragrances go beyond just smell, Collins says. “While they smell good, that’s not really what it’s about… it’s so much more. It’s much more personal and more thoughtful. It’s a mood.” While Collins might be a star in her own right, she adds that individuality – be it expressed through art, performance, or scent – isn’t about standing out, necessarily, but that each person is made up of a unique combination of elements, like a “deck of cards”. “There is not one single person on the planet that is like another one, and that is the most special thing.”
Creatively, the London-based performer Ratty Sleigh Johnny is hard to pin down. Best known as one half of Rat Section – whose eclectic sound blends elements of industrial techno and shimmering trip hop – Johnny’s music looks beyond the boxes of genre and merges all parts of creative performance to reflect his interest in fluid identities. Summing up his practice in three words, he simply says: “What I do.” That includes music, performance art, choreography, space design, and more, with several elements coming together in immersive live sets. This fluidity makes him an appropriate spokesperson for Escentric Molecules’ fragrances – focused, but never prescriptive.
Of Molecule 01, he says: “It connects to my practice in terms of just honing in on one specific element, and really reinforcing that… It fits into how I express myself by making a choice about how I want to carry on, how I want to move, how I feel, and having agency over that.” Ultimately, he suggests, both his creative practice and the fragrance are about expressing what’s unique to you as a person. “Individuality, to me, is being yourself. Period.”
As half of the multidisciplinary duo Kiss Facility alongside Salvador Navarrete (AKA Sega Bodega), Mayah Alkhateri describes the key elements of her music as “rebellion, empowerment, and healing”. The Emirati-Egyptian musician leans into the hauntological shoegaze revival sometimes dubbed ‘zoomergaze’, but by no means is she led by trends. Instead, she says, she’s guided by “expressing myself freely without fear” – an important principle of creative work. “What can’t be replicated about a person is your life choices and experiences.”
For Alkhateri, Escentric Molecules is also about communicating those unique elements of your personality, with a romantic and intimate edge. “The scent is close to love at first sight,” she says, connecting it to her practice via a “form of ritual”. “I would describe Escentric Molecules as a way to define yourself and how you introduce yourself to people through your scent.”
Head here to discover Escentric Molecules by curating your own complimentary Discovery Set, featuring five scents of your choice. Available for a limited time exclusively for Dazed readers.
