November 2025
Fragrance lately
In conversation with Frida (Freideriki) Michailidou from OLYMRA
Please introduce yourself in 3 sentences:
Hi, I’m Frida, I’m a scientist (chemist) by training. My passion is perfumery, and I am the founder of fragrance brand OLYMRA. My mission is to merge art, science and heritage through my fragrances.
How did you start out in the fragrance industry and what is the story behind OLYMRA?
I started through my scientific career officially, unofficially as a hobby. As a hobby, I have been doing perfumery for many years - as a young student I was just mixing up essential oils and trying to learn things. Then, when I was a researcher and lecturer at ETH Zurich (with a focus on biochemistry, enzymology and sustainable chemistry), I got a grant at an interdisciplinary institute called Collegium Helveticum to do my own project in fragrance chemistry. Our aim was to make fragrances more sustainable by creating plant-derived molecules instead of harvesting them - while also studying consumer behaviour to understand how people would respond to these greener fragrance technologies. This then enabled me to decode, and recreate, the scents of Mount Olympus. After this scientific endeavour, I decided to translate this project work into my own brand.
How do you create your fragrances?
I have a scientific as well as intuitive approach. A big part of my work is making fragrance accords based on the reconstitution of rare plant scents in the ways described above.
However, when it comes to the final perfume, I have a very intuitive approach - I prioritise my artistic vision versus many things such as cost, longevity, sillage, etc. It takes me ages to develop a perfume - I do a lot of trials and want to make sure I exhaust the space of what’s possible artistically. Unless I’m working on a brief for a client, I usually start with a very high-level idea - the scent of a place, or what I’m now trying to do more, making something for a person.
Any perfumer / artist / person you’d like to collaborate with on a fragrance?
There are people I admire a lot - for example Ormonde Jayne (find interview here in July 2024 edition) - I really like how she has built a very elegant, modern brand.
Someone I would like to collaborate with is Antonio Gardoni from Bogue Profumo - I really like his experimental approach - I find it very daring and cool.
Mostly though, I’m looking for very interdisciplinary collaborations, for example with the world of music, architecture, visual arts. In the future I’d like to do something that breaks the boundaries through different media of expression in the art space.
Favourite ingredient / aroma?
My favourite ingredients are hyraceum, beeswax, and Ambrofix. I love hyraceum because something perceived as ‘low’ can create such incredible warmth and even ‘class’. I remember how I felt the first time I smelled this material: a tension between slight disgust and uncontrollable attraction. This feeling captures, for me, the scent of limerence, so it’s probably my favourite animalic scent. It does demand skill, though; if it isn’t blended or aged properly, it can easily go wrong. I also love beeswax for its warmth and Ambrofix because it’s a true scientific milestone in perfumery and biotech. And finally, the aromas of achillea plants are very close to my heart, obviously ;).
What’s your first olfactory memory?
I remember smells from childhood a lot. Herbs and plants from my region in northern Greece. In Crete where I spent my summers at my grandmother’s - a very strong memory is her garden that smelled of cats and jasmine.
Any favourite perfume or one that has a particular memory you’d like to share?
I do love my perfume Achillea - it’s very special to me because it reminds me of the expedition to Mount Olympus where I went to study the rare plant that names the perfume.
In terms of other people’s perfumes, I like many. I like some from Andy Tauer - mostly Incense Rosé because it reminds me of the period where I was working at Collegium, which was very interdisciplinary and had no boundaries - you could wear whatever you wanted, whichever perfume you wanted. This perfume to me means unapologetic self-expression.
If you weren’t in the fragrance industry, which industry would you like to be in?
I was in the scientific and academic industry, so realistically I would have stayed in pure science. But I think I would have really enjoyed architecture, because to me it’s similar to fragrance: both shape the world around us, and both are created to meet human needs that we often overlook. Scent is incredibly primal, yet people tend to ignore its influence. Architecture works the same way; at its best, it creates harmony between a person and their environment. That idea of designing something that supports human experience, even in subtle ways, is what connects the two for me.
If you could change anything in the industry, what would it be?
In one word: more authenticity. I would like more universal transparency, that rules apply to everyone. Dupes should disappear from the face of earth - although I understand they serve a purpose ie. enabling access to perfumes to everyone, I think there should be more solutions from the local economy to solve this problem instead of stealing people’s work and promoting relentless over-consumerism. I would like to see a market allowing for more artistic freedom vs. being such a distributors market. I would like to see more honesty, truth and care - artistically speaking - and less cultural appropriation across the board. Everyone has a new perspective to offer, and I’d like to see that authenticity more. I would also like sustainability to be a little more respected across various facets in the industry.
Any upcoming project / launch you want to share?
I just launched! I sent the first Swiss packages today - really exciting times. I have very big plans for the future, such as interdisciplinary artistic collaborations with other artists from other artistic media. I’m also planning the next perfume - I want to do something that still honours Greek heritage but this time it will be more gourmand.
I am also working on two bespoke scents for two friends of mine - also as a case study to see if I can roll out a bespoke scent service. This is a big dream of mine. It’s really nice - you get to know people very deeply when you make something so personal for them.
Any question you’d like to answer that we haven’t asked?
More than a year ago, I gave a TEDx talk on my Mount Olympus expedition, exploring how I connect sustainability with natural heritage - and how I believe heritage should be honoured in perfumery.
Tune of the day: Astor Piazzolla - Libertango
Fragrance of the day: Today, I wanted to wear something very comforting - so I’m wearing my three rose perfume: OLYMRA - Persephone
Purchase OLYMRA’s discovery set
A few of November’s highlights in short form:
Estée Lauder Companies, through its corporate investment arm New Incubation Ventures, acquires a minority stake in XINÚ, a Mexico City-based niche fragrance brand founded in 2017. This marks the Group’s first investment in a Latin American brand
Monogram Capital Partners acquires a majority stake in LA-based niche fragrance retailer Luckyscent, founded online in 2002 and opening Scent Bar - its first physical store - in 2006 in Hollywood
My fragrance of the day: Aethi Opum by Maya Njie: hay, mineral, coffee opening turning into deep, humid yet sandy earth and woodchips
Fin du film, debut de la montagne, 2025
- Flo