Redefining the way we use letters by designing an archaic luxury perfume brand

“Everyone who can write must know the origin of our alphabet,” says designer Rob Stolte from Autobahn, an internationally-awarded design studio from the Netherlands specialized in typographic designs. When Stolte grew up, he had trouble spelling and writing. He’d rather drew a picture to tell a story than to write words on a piece of paper. When Stolte was introduced to the idea that letters are images in art school, everything changed. Starting his own design studio provided him the possibility of turning his weakness into a strength: expressing himself trough typographic images and letters. His interest in history and design came together in the believe that everybody that can read and write should know the history of our alphabet and letters. In 2018 the studio published the book A is van Os (A is for Ox) about the origin of our letters. The book shows the development of our alphabet in more than 4000 years. The aim of Autobahn: be more creative with letters. To tell this story to different audiences made Stolte wonder if our alphabet can be conveyed in other – sensible – ways. “Now we know where our letters come from, we also know how they smell,” says Stolte. “For the first time in history we can create a scent-based writing system.”

The collaboration with Mark Buxton is incredibly inspiring according to Stolte: "It's like working with the godfather of perfumes... His knowledge of perfumes is grandiose and he can design beyond known boundaries." Buxton has over 25 years of experience and he designed for the biggest luxurious brands such as Givenchy, Versace, Van Cleef & Arpels, Paco Rabanne, Lagerfeld, Burberrys, Cartier, Chopard, Ferré... Since Mark has dedicated his talent for the niche perfumery, he has collaborated with brands such as Riaz Danz Perfumes, Elternhaus, Wiener Blut, Linari perfumes, House of sillage, Zoe Karssen, Brooklyn Soap company, Verdúu perfumes, Folie à plusieurs, Romy Kowalewski 2787 Perfumes Barcelona, Le Labo, Comme des Garçons, Renegades, Thorsten Biehl Kunstwerke and Calé Perfumes. He also created the perfume “L’air de Panache” for the Wes Anderson’s movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. His daring handwriting was discovered when he created the first Comme des Garçons Fragrance. After, he was quickly recognized in the Haute Parfumerie and participated to artistic projects such as MoslBuddjewChirstHinDao, a “Unifaith” fragrance and the “Whole lot of non-scents” book by Chandler Burr.

“Scents are not challenging enough. We are the freaks who will change that,” Buxton replies to the question why he is enthusiastic about GLYPHS. “Every perfumer in the niche perfume industry is looking for a project like GLYPHS. It is bigger than just a perfume, you tell a story with it. History is in the making.”

GLYPHS is a series of works of art captured in perfume. Since the first letters were cut in stone, each perfume is presented in a unique, handmade stone holder. The package comes with information about the development of the letter, including three free fonts that represent the development of the alphabet. Each bottle comes with a roller ball and spray option, to either write as a poet or to spray as an artist.

You can contribute to the realization of the project in different ways. The pledges for a 15ml bottle start at €85,– and include worldwide shipping. It is also possible to be part of a unique “Perfumance”: a meet & greet with Autobahn and Mark Buxton including a limited edition framed artwork with scented calligraphy.