Perfume blends art and function in scent-making.

A writer describes artisanal perfume—from Iceland’s Fischersund shop to Toronto perfumer Elizabeth Connors—and notes that some companies market 'functional' fragrances that claim mood effects while peer-reviewed evidence is limited.

The article examines contemporary perfume as both a creative practice and a consumer product. It recounts a visit to Fischersund, an Icelandic shop founded by members of the band Sigur Rós, where a shopkeeper led a scent tour paired with poems and offered a small cup of homemade schnapps. It also profiles Toronto perfumer Elizabeth Connors, who moved from collecting fragrances to making her own blends and founded Pulp Fragrance. The piece highlights a parallel trend toward so-called functional fragrances that claim mood effects, and notes that such claims currently lack peer-reviewed confirmation. What we know: - Fischersund is described as a family-run perfume store founded by members of Sigur Rós, with glass ornaments, candlelight, scent tours and poems paired with fragrances. - The writer reports being offered a small cup of homemade schnapps during the shop visit and taken on a guided scent tour. - Toronto perfumer Elizabeth Connors began as a collector, bought a starter kit of small scent vials, and developed Pulp Fragrance with themes like gothic romance, pulp horror, Twin Peaks-inspired releases and short runs tied to new moons. - Starter kits are described as containing small vials of botanicals, spices and musks that perfumers combine to make fragrances. - The Ibiza-born company Amatrius is reported to market fragrances intended to influence mood, citing more than 35 years of research by Dr. Hanns Hatt; CEO Nora Naisbitt is quoted on scent reaching the amygdala quickly. - The article notes that the functional-fragrance trend is growing in popularity but that peer-reviewed studies supporting mood-related claims are limited, and gives a price example: a Fischersund discovery set is reported at about $98 versus roughly $300 for a bottle. Summary: The piece presents perfume as a form of personal and artistic expression while also describing commercial efforts to frame scent as biologically functional. It reports specific examples from an Icelandic shop and a Toronto artisan, and it notes that scientific backing for mood-related fragrance claims is limited. Undetermined at this time.