Though invisible, scent is powerful. We often forget its impact until a certain aroma triggers a rush of memories or feelings. The reaction is biological: When we use our sense of smell, it sends signals to the regions of the brain responsible for emotion and memory.
Scent’s role in the home has come to the forefront in recent years. The pandemic and its lockdowns keenly refocused our attention, and how our bodies and minds respond to interior spaces. “We now know that there’s an intrinsic link between our home environment and our mental wellbeing,” says Pippa Jameson, writer and founder of The Sensory Home. “Scent plays a significant role; it can lift mood, reduce anxiety, and foster a sense of comfort and belonging.”
Accordingly, the market around home fragrances has boomed. The scented candle market reached close to $600 million in 2024, and is due to grow to over $800 million by 2034, according to Expert Market Research. Case in point: fashion brands like Loewe, Celine, Alexander McQueen, and Bottega Veneta, as well as celebrities like Drake and Harry Styles have all launched their own scented candles in recent years. Incense, meanwhile, has moved beyond fusty hippie associations to become a must-have interior enhancement, as evidenced by the recent proliferation of artfully designed incense holders.
What is scentscaping?
For many, home fragrance doesn’t stop at candles and room sprays. These days, a more evolved approach to interior aromas has taken hold, and it’s growing fast. “Scentscaping is the harnessing of fragrance in a space to create a specific atmosphere, guide emotional responses, and enhance the overall sensory experience of an environment,” says Franky Rousell, founder of interiors firm Jolie, which creates bespoke scents for different spaces. “Scent can influence our mood and energy, sparking creativity in a collaborative zone or instilling a sense of grounding and calm in a wind-down area.”
The practice of scentscaping is an established part of wedding planning—many couples opt for custom scents to enhance the day—as well as hospitality and event branding, where it strengthens loyalty through emotional connection.
It makes perfect sense, then, that scent’s ability to transform mood or evoke certain feelings should be applied to the home too. After all, scent can help melt away the stresses of the outside world, and transition us into home mode. “When I’m designing a space, the first thing I think about is: what is it going to smell like?” says London-based interior designer Miminat Shodeinde, who describes the experience of coming back to a place that “smells like home” as fostering “a real sense of wellbeing that makes you automatically relaxed.”
Personalizing home fragrance
When crafting a home interior, Shodeinde and her practice Miminat Designs begin with a scent questionnaire for the person living there: “What are your top three notes? Are you earthy, watery, or floral?” From there, she develops bespoke incense sticks, along with a specially designed incense burner.
At Jolie, Rousell starts with “emotive keywords” that prompt the homeowner for how they want each space to feel. All design decisions, from color and texture to scent, emerge from these words. “We’ll pull fragrances off our shelves and choose certain notes that really align and support that mood,” she says, adding that the process is informed by extensive research into neuroscience and consultation with aromatherapists.
“We think about it like sheet music,” says Rousell. “You have your base notes that carry you like a rhythm through your entire property. Then what you can really play with is the top note, that little flute. I love the fact it’s like this orchestral ensemble.”
Scent zones
At a project in Southeast London, Jolie developed carefully curated scents for new luxury apartments. “We very much zoned it by area,” says Rousell. While the relaxing and stress-reducing base notes of sandalwood and patchouli underpin the whole home, top notes range from amber in the entrance space (“It just really gives this elevated sense of welcome, warmth, and prestige,” says Rousell) to neroli in the kitchen, which creates a sense of “refreshment” and has the power to “really uplift you in your day.”
Space-specific scentscaping can also help transition between different parts of your life—especially if you use your home as a workplace. “When you work from home, the line between work and rest time can easily blur,” says Rousell. “We need clear neurological cues to help our brains separate the two. Scent can help to signal the shift from focus to rest, from productivity to presence. By zoning your space with different fragrances, you can create invisible boundaries that support both concentration and calm.”
Brigette Romanek, founder of LA-based Romanek Design Studio and interiors guru to the stars (clients include Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyoncé), likes to “layer scents” to transform a room. “I use candles with notes of fig, amber, or cedar,” she says. “If we want something brighter, I like tomato or basil-infused scents.” Practicing what she calls “scent styling”, Romanek also integrates aspects such as bowls of fragrant fruit, herbs like lemon or rosemary, and fragrant flowers. “Find what’s best for you, and enjoy,” she says.
Completing the space
For interior designers Width Over Ears (WOE), the olfactory plays “a huge role” in the conception of space, says Justin Coates, co-founder of the LA-based studio along with Nicole Choy. Fragrance choices respond to who the client is and how the space functions for them, and reflect the raw materials, color palettes, lighting strategies, and textural finishes chosen.
“As the project heads towards the finish line, we visit our local scent shop and spend a couple hours pulling a dozen or so fragrances that intuitively feel related to the project,” says Coates. WOE organizes a blind smell test with the client, having a conversation about how they want to experience scent in their home, resulting in a series of practical items such as candles, incense, fabric spray, hand soap, and body fragrance.
Fragrance companies and consultants are also increasingly developing bespoke scents for home projects. Air Aroma, a global scent branding agency that works with private homeowners as well as large companies and hotel groups, reports a rise in demand for custom home scents. “A home is a sanctuary, and residential scent design is a new avenue and method of self-expression,” says CEO Alan van Roemburg.
Air Aroma collaborates with a client on a scent concept, including a smell-sampling process, resulting in a bespoke fragrance and installation design (such as specialized diffusers). “We aim to recreate people’s own life journey expressed in scent: What’s nostalgic to them? What feels magical? It’s a highly personal and in-depth process,” says van Roemburg. Individual tastes, upbringing, culture, and memories all play a part in shaping the ideal scentscape.
In a world saturated with drool-inducing social media pictures, how things look tends to take priority when crafting the ideal home. But ultimately, concludes Jameson, “it’s time to move beyond visual aesthetics and instead ask: how does this space make me feel? By designing with your senses in mind, you’re creating a space that is working for you, rather than against you.”