Shawn Maher - Chatillon Lux & Maher Olfactive

Much like my hometown of Saint Louis, I find my perfuming style incorporates historical tradition and a desire to incorporate uncharted ideas and explore the uncharted Wild West. What I love about independent American perfumery is that this sense of carrying the past with us without being bound by it. Very often my goal is to take seemingly incongruous elements and materials and find bridges to bring them together, causing someone to smell something familiar but perceive it in a totally new manner. A sort of olfactory jamais vu.

I spent many years writing and playing music and find that composing perfume can feel very similar. Much of my olfactive style I feel is very similar to the ethos I used when songwriting. And in the same way that hearing a song, mode or even just a perfectly placed chord can transport you to another place or evoke a very vivid emotion or memory, so can a scent. That is what inspires me most to explore perfume as a mode of artistic expression.

In 2015, I created Chatillon Lux to tell fragrant stories inspired by the unique and forgotten history of my hometown, a confluence of rivers, cultures, tradition and the great unknown. It was designed to create art for the people, a reflection of St. Louis' gritty arts scene. However, in 2020 I created Maher Olfactive to explore unique and unexplored materials in compositions created as olfactory art for olfactory art's sake. In all of my endeavors, I seek to compose perfumes that create unforgettable memories.