Nomenclature: A Tribute to Synthetic Fragrance at the Intersection of Poetry and Science

“You may not know their names. But you have certainly smelled them. And without them, your perfume could not exist.”

— Karl Bradl, co-founder of Nomenclature

Basic Information
The Founders and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Commitments
The Fragrance Lineup
1. Molecular Collection
2. Modern Eclectics Collection
By the Way…

Basic Information

Year founded: 2015
Founded in: New York, United States
Founders: Karl Bradl & Carlos Quintero
Official website: nomenclature.nyc

“Nomenclature,” the English word for a system of naming, derives from the Latin for “calling by name.” The name embodies the brand’s mission to celebrate design in perfume chemistry.

The Founders and the Brand’s Origins

Karl Bradl: A German Boy Captivated by Scent

The story of Nomenclature begins where not one but two lives intersect.

Karl Bradl grew up in a small German town. Fascinated by scent from an early age, he received a Rothschild fragrance from his mother as a Christmas present in the early 1980s, a turning point that would shape the rest of his life.

“I became obsessed with that scent and started exploring the fragrance market. The glamorous eighties were full of designers and their perfumes.”

— Karl Bradl

As a teenager, he tried a wide range of the leading fragrances of the time, including Armani, Yves Saint Laurent’s Kouros, and Dior’s Poison. By the age of 20, he was thoroughly tired of finding that everyone wore the same scents. What drew him back into the world of fragrance was his encounter with niche perfumery. Its mystique made Bradl fall in love with scent all over again.

Bradl moved to Munich at 18 and began working at a bank, but always spent his lunch breaks in the perfume shop across the street. Later, when his friend Robert Gerstner was offered a job in New York, Bradl did not hesitate to join him. In September 1992, the two left everything behind and moved to New York.

Aedes de Venustas: Creating a Sanctuary for Niche Perfumery

In New York, Bradl worked in a SoHo clothing shop while nurturing his desire to introduce the world to the brands that only he seemed to know. Then, one cold evening in January 1995, he and Gerstner were walking through Greenwich Village when they found a small property on Christopher Street. Investing their severance money, they opened Aedes de Venustas, Latin for “temple of beauty,” which would later become known as a sanctuary for perfume lovers.

At the time, New York had no established category of specialist niche perfumeries. One day, Bradl made the bold move of visiting the Condé Nast building without an appointment to pitch directly to a Vogue beauty editor. That editor, Amy Astley, visited the store and featured it in the October 1996 issue, rapidly spreading Aedes’s name among New York’s creative community. Fashion insiders passed samples around, models told photographers, and photographers told stylists, creating a chain of word-of-mouth recommendations.

Within a few years of opening, Aedes had become a cultural hub for journalists, artists, perfumers, and collectors. Rather than simply displaying products, Bradl believed in understanding each fragrance deeply and serving customers without pressure. “I would rather let someone take a sample home than push a fragrance on them” remained the store’s guiding philosophy.

Carlos Quintero: Meeting a “Renaissance Designer”

Nomenclature’s other central figure, Carlos Quintero, describes himself as a “Renaissance designer.” After earning a bachelor’s degree in advertising at the University of Texas at Austin, he studied fashion design at Istituto Marangoni in Milan and later design at Central Saint Martins in London. Having worked for major global companies in fragrance, fashion, and publishing in Italy and New York, Quintero saw design not as something confined to a particular discipline, but as a thought process applicable to every aspect of life: fashion, graphics, furniture, packaging, digital media, accessories, and objects.

If Bradl is an instinctive olfactory thinker pursuing “beauty for beauty’s sake,” Quintero is an intellectual driven by the search for “beautiful, practical solutions.” The meeting of these two contrasting personalities would lead to Nomenclature’s creation.

The Birth of Nomenclature: A Tribute to the “Revolutionaries” of Synthetic Perfumery

The idea began with a question from Quintero.

“Scientists designed these extraordinary compounds as elegant solutions to real problems: finding a compassionate alternative to musk, an ecological alternative to sandalwood, or a cost-effective alternative to ambergris. I became fascinated by the idea of celebrating design in perfume chemistry.”

— Carlos Quintero

Starting from the question “Are synthetic fragrance materials villains or unsung heroes?”, the two reached a conviction: behind the great modern perfumes lay the revolutionary invention of particular synthetic molecules. The aldehydes in Chanel No. 5, Hedione in Dior’s Eau Sauvage, and ethyl maltol in Angel are all examples of creations that could not exist without synthetic molecules.

Yet these molecules had long gone unmentioned. As Bradl puts it, “You may not know their names. But you have certainly smelled them. And without them, your perfume could not exist.” This mission to “call these unknown revolutionaries by name” is the meaning behind Nomenclature.

In 2015, the New York niche fragrance brand Nomenclature made its debut with four perfumes. Its chosen launch venue was Pitti Fragranze, the international fragrance fair in Florence. Since then, the brand has steadily expanded its range and now offers a total of 17 eaux de parfum across two principal collections.

The Brand’s Commitments

A Philosophy That Places “Captives” Center Stage

At the heart of Nomenclature is the decision to make exclusive synthetic aroma molecules known as “captives” the protagonists of its fragrances. Captives are aroma molecules developed in-house by major fragrance manufacturers such as Firmenich, Givaudan, Takasago, and IFF. Rather than being sold openly to outside companies as raw materials, they are used in the producer’s own compositions, generally by that company’s perfumers: treasures protected as corporate secrets. Only a few emerge from each company every year, the fruits of time-consuming and costly research and development.

Bradl explained this approach in an interview.

“A 100% synthetic perfume can tend to be a little flat. We reverse the conventional structure: the synthetic material defines the fragrance’s leading character, and natural materials are added to round it out.”

— Karl Bradl

This reversal is Nomenclature’s philosophy. Whereas perfume is often discussed as a composition in which naturals take the lead and synthetics provide support, Nomenclature deliberately reverses that balance. It does not, however, aim to be entirely synthetic, but maintains an equilibrium in which synthetics lead and naturals play supporting roles.

Quintero has also spoken clearly about the safety and sustainability of synthetic fragrance materials.

“Synthetic materials are simple molecules. They can be refined into well-tested molecules that are less likely to be allergens. Natural materials are more complex, so they have more elements that can trigger allergies. A synthetic might have only five possibilities, whereas a natural might have a thousand.”

— Carlos Quintero

A Fragrance Designer Who Is “Not a Perfumer”

Bradl does not call himself a “nose,” or perfumer. His role is to develop the concept for each scent, select the notes and raw materials, and guide the perfumer throughout the development process. This distinctive position might be called that of a “fragrance designer”: the product of olfactory intelligence and conceptual thinking cultivated through years of curation at Aedes.

The actual composition, meanwhile, is entrusted to some of the industry’s legendary noses. A principal collaborator since the brand’s founding has been Frank Voelkl, who joined Firmenich, now dsm-firmenich, in 2005. He has created numerous era-defining scents, including Le Labo’s Santal 33. Voelkl describes his approach in these terms.

“If you compare perfume creation to the art of painting, using molecules is like drawing precise lines. Using natural materials is like working with broad brushstrokes.”

— Frank Voelkl

Other contributors include Patricia Choux, then with Takasago, who created two of the four debut fragrances; Bertrand Duchaufour, a cult figure in niche perfumery; and Nathalie Feisthauer, who runs the independent atelier LAB scent. Each fragrance is entrusted to one of the leading noses of its time.

The Design Philosophy of the Bottles and Packaging

Nomenclature’s bottles embody the fragrance concept itself through minimalist design. As Carlos Quintero explained, “Everything is designed, through 360 degrees: the bottle, the packaging, and even the ingredients inside are synthetic materials designed by human hands.” The visual identity and the fragrances are conceived as a system communicating one consistent message.

The perfume names use a distinctive format incorporating an underscore, as in adr_ett, efflor_esce, and shi_sõ. This visual code recalls the notation of chemical formulas and succinctly expresses the brand’s identity as a hybrid of poetry and science.

The Fragrance Lineup

Nomenclature’s current range is broadly divided into two collections.

Molecular Collection

The brand’s core collection focuses on important aroma molecules that revolutionized perfumery, particularly captives developed in-house by fragrance manufacturers. Each creation celebrates their history, chemistry, and poetry. Below are ten principal fragrances introduced over the course of the brand’s history, beginning with its founding.

The Four Debut Fragrances (2015): Four Moments That Changed Modern Perfumery

adr_ett — A fragrance starring Helvetolide®, a “zero-gravity musk” molecule. Its name is a German word meaning “neat” or “smart,” while pink pepper, iris, ambergris, vanilla, and tonka bean build a stillness like outer space. The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.
efflor_esce — A “flower of angels” starring Paradisone®, patented by Firmenich in 1996. Neroli, tuberose, bergamot, and osmanthus create a heavenly radiance. The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.
orb_ital — Centered on Takasago’s Orbitone®, a molecule balancing woody and amber qualities, with pepper, rhubarb, violet, and sandalwood tracing a planetary system. The perfumer is Patricia Choux.
iri_del — Starring iris aldehyde, this fragrance presents a sharp, urban iris. It has been described as “an iris that has taken off its aristocratic powdered wig and put on a slim-cut suit.” The perfumer is Patricia Choux.

Later Additions

lumen_esce — An “electric violet” starring Violettyne®, patented by Firmenich in 2000. It expresses violet’s many faces as colors of light. The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.
shi_sõ — Centered on Givaudan’s Glycolierral®, with its cool ivy-leaf scent, and composed with shiso, cardamom, spearmint, and other notes. Its title plays on the Japanese words shiso, the herb, and shisō, meaning “thought.” True to the brand’s explanation of it as “contemporary thought,” it is a modern reinterpretation of classical eau de cologne. The perfumer is Bertrand Duchaufour.
holy_wood — Starring Clearwood®, developed by Firmenich in California in 2014. A product of white biotechnology derived from sugar-cane fermentation, it is also called the patchouli of the twenty-first century. The fragrance is a tribute to 1970s California. The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.
fluo_ral — A reinterpretation of Calone®, which helped bring about the aquatic perfume boom of the 1990s. Inspired by bioluminescent plankton, it challenges the conventions of marine perfumery. The perfumer is Nathalie Feisthauer.
psy_cou — A fragrance that restores the “original modernity” of Coumarin®, a starting point of modern perfumery first used in Fougère Royale in 1882. Saffron, coffee, oud, and palo santo provide depth. The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.
red_wood — An attempt to recreate a giant redwood through scent, centered on Norlimbanol®, developed by Firmenich in 1986. Perfume critic Chandler Burr called this powerful woody note “a genius molecule worth its weight in gold.” The perfumer is Frank Voelkl.

Modern Eclectics Collection

A collection of seven lighter, more wearable fragrances aimed at a new audience, particularly Generation Z. They are characterized by “distinctive yet sitting naturally on the skin, strikingly clean compositions that go beyond single notes.” The seven are night serum, aloeae, pink ivory, minted, neo rose, wood dew, and palmetto. If the Molecular Collection explores the history of molecules, this series occupies a place as a poetic framing of scents found in everyday life.

By the Way…

Iris aldehyde, chosen by Nomenclature for one of its four debut creations, is a molecule that expresses iris in a modern way. The fragrance family of aldehydes is also indispensable to any discussion of the celebrated Chanel No. 5 of 1921. Nomenclature can be said to have brought back into the spotlight the behind-the-scenes protagonists that helped create great perfumes a century ago.

Quintero and Bradl cite Halston Catalyst, the Comme des Garçons Synthetic series, and Escentric Molecules’ Molecule 01 as predecessors to Nomenclature. Their own approach, however, is distinctive in telling each molecule’s “history, chemistry, and poetry” as the story of a perfume, rather than simply presenting a single molecule.

Frank Voelkl is said to have originally aspired to become a diplomat. Having studied at the perfumery school ISIPCA, he reportedly still carries the words of legendary perfumer Edmond Roudnitska close to his heart: “Never lose sight of where you are going.”

Nomenclature made its Japanese debut on April 29, 2024, going on sale at NOSE SHOP’s Azabudai, Yurakucho, and Sapporo stores and its online shop. Going against the natural-fragrance trend, it is establishing a distinctive position in Japan’s niche perfume market.

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