STORA SKUGGAN
Stora Skuggan is a beautiful and imaginative Swedish line of niche perfumes launched in 2015 by a group of like minded friends studying at Beckman’s College of Design in Stockholm.
Every aspect of the Stora Skuggan line is created by the collective multi-disciplinary talents of Anna Barkne, Tomas Hempel, Ollie Hemmendorff, Jonas Nordin and Martin Niclausson. From concept and stories to finished juice in elegantly decorated bottles, each part of the process occurs in house.
The name Stora Skuggan translates as Big Shadow, referring to the large sparsely populated area of northern Sweden. 70% of the country is covered primarily in coniferous trees and wild Nordic wilderness. The area is mythic, rich with stories of spirits, trolls, elves and witchcraft. Millennia of dense flora have created a looming shadow of fertile mystery. Anyone familiar with the eerie Swedish series Jordskott, might be reminded of the strange arboreal world where modern day logging runs into disturbing conflict with the guardian wraiths and creatures that guard the forests.
The perfumes are extraordinary; it is rare in these launch-saturated days, to discover a collection where each of the perfumes are equally as good as each other. It is a hard thing to achieve, there is usually a weakness somewhere or the sense that scents are shoehorned into awkward formulae in order to fit an overall concept.
The team at Stora Skuggan on the other hand have composed each perfume in meticulous detail, and rather than serve an overriding and rigid brand aesthetic, there is an obsession with enigmatic storytelling, darkness, myth, history and strange flora. Currently there are eight perfumes: Pine, Hexensalbe, Azalai, Thumbsucker, Mistpouffer, Moonmilk, Silphium and Fantôme de Maules.
When the names are this alluring, it is necessary to deliver perfumes that carry through the initial intrigue. What sets Stora Skuggan apart is the impeccable assembly of ideas and unusual materials such as wormwood, salted liquorice (Salmiak lakrits), belladonna, black tea, bitter almond, candle wax and hemlock.
Stora Skuggan perfumes radiate Scandic charm and cool, they are desirable. Playful mythology and exceptional mood making distilled into a line of fascinating fragrances.