Something changes in the Swedish air as autumn arrives, bringing a weight that feels like more than just a drop in temperature. The coastal winds around Varberg start to carry whispers of the old world, where the wilderness is a living, breathing force of nature. Monica Kylén and Mats Johansson, the founders of L:a Bruket, have always understood this primitive sensation.
Founded in 2008, the Swedish brand grew from a functional need to protect the skin from the harsh elements of the West Coast – the salt, the wind and the biting cold. Before they became a global name in coastal skincare, Kylén was a ceramicist and that history of shaping clay by hand is what gave the brand its soul. They have spent nearly two decades perfecting sea salt scrubs and seaweed baths, but they are now moving into a more ethereal space.
The duo has just launched a new fragrance collection that looks back towards the myths and elemental powers of their heritage. “Swedish folklore has always grown from our relationship with nature – its power, its unpredictability, its mystery,” says Johansson. He believes that the stories of spirits and unseen beings were once the only way to explain the monumental shifts in the world around us.
The transition from ceramics to scent felt like a necessary step for a brand so obsessed with the environment. Kylén and Johansson wanted to capture the feeling of the Swedish landscape without the usual artificiality that plagues modern perfumery. They collaborated with perfumers Mylène Alran and Grégoire Balleydier to build something that felt honest and unembellished. “Fragrance has always linked us to this heritage,” says Johansson, noting that there is a fine line between the real and the unreal in their corner of the world.
They have opted for compositions that use over 90% natural ingredients and a plant-based base with no synthetic dyes or UV filters involved, meaning the liquid inside the bottles will evolve naturally over time. “Slight changes in colour over time are part of the experience, while the scent itself remains fully stable – reflecting the living, changing quality of nature,” explain the founders.
A shared thread runs through the heart of the trio in the form of Geosmin. Most people know it as the smell of rain hitting dry earth after a long dry spell, a scent that triggers something ancient in our brains. “We included Geosmin in all three fragrances because it carries the smell of rain on earth – the freshness after a downpour, the living scent of soil and forest,” says Johansson. Humans have a remarkable sensitivity to this compound, often perceiving it as a memory or an instinct rather than just another ingredient. It acts as a physical bond to the world outside, pulling the wearer back to the basic elements of survival and life-giving water.
‘Blixt,’ the first of the scents, focuses on the electric tension of a storm. The name itself speaks of lightning and the composition tries to bottle that fleeting moment of atmospheric change. “Blixt was born from the moment a thunderbolt strikes water, a flash that shakes the air and hums across the forest,” says Kylén. The goal was to create a sensation that felt electric, almost like the smell of a hot iron. Grégoire Balleydier used aldehydes to achieve a metallic brightness, but the addition of black powder is what gives it a crackling sparkler effect. Mineral tones of rain-soaked stone and warm amber provide a counterweight to the ozonic top, creating a vibrant diffusion that feels like the air is humming.
Descending from the sky into the depths of the woods, ‘Övernatur’ takes its cues from the damp richness of the forest floor. This fragrance aims to evoke the air of the trees after a heavy downpour, where evergreen foliage unfurls with a fresh, raw intensity. “The slightly swampy nuance in Övernatur comes from geosmin, which is present at a relatively high level in this composition,” says Johansson.
He admits that the real challenge was to prevent that humidity from feeling dense or heavy. Thus, to keep the scent from becoming overly humid, they built a structure with verticality, using aromatic top notes of fir needles and spruce resin to create a sense of open space. Patchouli sits in the middle to provide a dry, woody dimension that balances the wet impression of the oakmoss and lichen. The scent feels like a walk through a wilderness that is busy regenerating itself, a gentle reminder that the earth is always alive beneath the fallen leaves.
Meanwhile, ‘Dísir’ offers a much softer perspective, looking towards the ethereal light of a Nordic morning. The inspiration came from a very specific scene Kylén witnessed: mist hovering over a dry meadow at dawn. “Dísir is the expression of a landscape’s texture: light, mist, earth and warmth coexisting in natural harmony,” says Kylén. To capture that delicate haze, the team used a powdery floral texture built around iris bloom, balanced with a watery green facet from cucumber essence to bring a sense of transparency. A subtle rice steam effect provides an airy warmth, mimicking the sensation of humid morning air being kissed by the first rays of sunlight.
The bottles themselves are a tribute to where it all started. Their sculptural lines echo the classic ceramic forms Kylén used to create in her workshop. “The bottle is an ode to Swedish craftsmanship and our origins,” says Kylén. Every detail has been considered, from the tinted glass made in France to the biodegradable wood and cork caps. The design sits in that paradox between primitive forms and Nordic modernism, feeling warm and honest in the hand. It was important to the founders that the physical object reflected the same lack of artificiality as the scent inside. They wanted a bottle that felt like it could have been pulled straight from the earth or shaped by the elements over centuries.
Launching three scents that are so elemental and raw is a bit of a departure from the polished, synthetic world of commercial fragrance. Kylén and Johansson believe that people are looking for something wilder and more connected to the outdoors. “There’s a magic in the natural world that we rarely notice today,” they explain. The duo sees these fragrances as an invitation to pause and feel the subtle presence of the wind shifting or the water moving.
Stories are being told through their scents, carried by wind and water, echoing with words from Old Norse and the superstitions that continue to shape Swedish life. They are meant to be worn by people who want to carry a bit of that untamed wilderness with them into the everyday.
Whether you find yourself drawn to the electric charge of Blixt, the forest floor of Övernatur (our personal favourite) or the misty sunrise of Dísir, the fragrances offer a way to inhabit a landscape that is both real and unreal. They represent a continuation of the vision L:a Bruket has had since that first lump of clay was shaped in Varberg.
Discover all the new fragrances here.
photography. courtesy of Julius Bohlin
words. Gennaro Costanzo
