Skandinavisk was started by a curious English chap, Shaun, who fell in love with a blonde Scandinavian gardener and never left. He was joined by a second English emigrant, Gerry, who shared his love for Scandinavia and a Danish designer, Line, who captured their combined experiences and translated it all into our distinctive design DNA.
Founded in 2012, our home and body fragrance collections are inspired by over 20 years of travels across the Nordic region. We create subtle, refined scents based on aspects of Scandinavia we consider to be precious to the inhabitants and exotic to the outside world, and we blend them with colour, symbols and a single local word rich with meaning to create unique impressions of Scandinavia.
Living Scandinavian is not just which part of the world you come from, it’s also how you think, how you treat others and the nature that surrounds you, and what you treasure. We believe a more Scandinavian approach to life offers a blueprint for a better future in a world that’s forgetting how to listen to quieter voices.
Imagine a great land at the end of a long rocky track. A land populated by silent forests, silvery lakes, secluded islands and mountains of snow. Where nature dominates and seasons dictate.
A land larger than Germany, France and Italy but one-tenth of the people. With more boats and bicycles than those owning them, and a border to continental Europe just sixty kilometres long.
This is a land that has plotted its own course, shaped a different way of living over centuries. Where community, consciousness and timeless values of trust, equality, respect thrive. Where its inhabitants place the greatest priority on life balance, on fellowship, family and friends, and on everyday moments of shared happiness.
Romantic? Idealistic? We think not. It’s genuine. And it’s something everyone should experience.
We have always been inspired by the Scandinavian design tradition – of function over form, of minimal aesthetics and understatement, and of responsible sourcing and production practices. You can see this reflected in our choice of elements and materials, in their simple, clean lines, and their origin and footprint.
We call our fragrances ‘chapters’, and each chapter has its own name, colour and graphic symbol, many of which can be found inside our pattern motif. To name each chapter, we choose words from the Nordic languages, words that mean something to people here, but the rest of the world has literally no connection to, and almost certainly can’t pronounce.
In essence, our pattern motif tells the story of Scandinavia and each symbol represents one of those chapters.
06.06.2022
Discover the story and ideas behind our most popular floral scent ROSENHAVE, and the delight of the Nordic rose.
Read more26.10.2022
Shaun Russell on the circuitous journey taken to develop and create Skandinavisk’s new scented candle refills.
Read more09.10.2020
Our journey into the undiscovered scent territory of Scandinavia has thrown up revelation upon revelation, and much more than just pine and snow...
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