Welcome to Scentrified Interviews, where I explore the stories, inspirations, and dreams of selected people from the perfume industry – people who have truly dedicated their life to the pursuit of scentual excellence. Happy reading!
A quick prologue: I first met Andrej Babicky in the Xerjoff boutique in Milan. We had previously exchanged messages on Instagram, but at the time I wasn’t even aware he worked there. Some years, and many laughs, perfumes and conversations later, I invited myself to his home. I was curious to learn more about what makes him tick, and what his vintage miniature perfume collection looked like. Read on to discover what I found…
Andrej Babicky outside his home in Milan, 2025.
Andrej talks about perfume like someone who has already made peace with the idea that the path is rarely linear. His route passed through biochemistry and the food and flavor industry, through theatre and philosophy, and then somehow, without him fully noticing, into scent. He began with raw materials, with the chemistry of extraction rather than composition. He collected, studied, hoarded. Vintage flacons from flea markets, quiet lavender absolutes, Art Nouveau labels softened by time. Perfume, for him, was never a product first. It was something deeper than that.
Perfume bottles and materials are everywhere in Andrej’s apartment.
During the second Covid-19 lockdown he stepped away from his job at Zhor. A PR manager he knew called and asked if he wanted to join the new Xerjoff boutique. He liked that Xerjoff treated him as a person rather than a position. Just as important, they allowed him to continue everything else: the podcast, YouTube, and his experiments with natural perfumery. The boundary between Xerjoff and his own work definitely exists, but it feels like a conversation rather than a conflict.
“I don’t see myself as a perfumer. I prefer olfactory artist. It leaves room to breathe.”
His fascination with raw materials remains. Mimosa as soft as morning light. Benzoin that feels like resin storing a memory. Lavender that has been lifted into something luminous rather than rustic. He speaks about ingredients the way someone speaks about light, how it moves, how it behaves, how it falls across a surface. Composition comes later.
Photos from a very special evening with Siuno, outside of Florence, Italy. Right side: Andrej and Amanda from Siuno.
Siuno arrived through teaching. The founder, Amanda, found him through the natural perfumery school where he teaches. She asked him to create two scents – one inspired by Aurelius, something grounding, something steady, and another called Kalyptos. He usually says no to requests. “Because I’m lazy,” he laughs. “Perfume making is a lot of work.” But she gave him complete freedom, and that changed everything.
He sent a formula for Kalyptos: eucalyptus, lifted by algae. Somewhere in the never-ending email thread, the dilution of the algae disappeared. Instead of a small percentage, it became the centerpiece. The perfume shifted from bright, clear green to something darker, denser, more opaque. A mistake, but one that revealed something unexpected. They produced fifteen bottles for Pitti Fragranze, simply to see how people would respond. The reaction was warmer than he expected. The Italian audience recognized something that was not nostalgic and not trend-driven, but present.
A couple of my captures of Aurelius, a stunning natural fragrance.
He is now working on the quieter parts: compliance, visual identity, language, and how to speak to both Italian and Australian audiences without losing the original mood. Slow and careful work. The type that leaves no visible trace, yet shapes everything.
He still teaches in two schools. He still collects vintage bottles, some nearly a century old. He still refuses to buy a perfume if the scent and the packaging do not speak the same language. The outside should whisper something true about the inside.
He describes his practice with a kind of gentle distance. Not a job, not a strategy, but a way of thinking. Moving through the world nose first, following whatever reveals itself when you allow it.
Just a few of the vintage mini perfume bottles in Andrej’s vast collection.
PS. Don’t forget to follow me @scentrified and Andrej @hereticgarden on Instagram. And if you’d like to see your boutique, brand or perhaps yourself on the blog, please send an email and let’s talk!