Raer Scents | Enclosing Botanical Wildness in the Contours of Berlin

“I wanted a bold, distinctive fragrance made from fairly traded natural materials. I could not find one, so I made it myself.”
Ted Rohn (founder and perfumer)

Raer Scents is an independent Berlin perfume brand that builds contemporary fragrances using only materials obtained from plants. Tracing its roots leads to the period when it operated under its former name, AER Scents. Fashion, graphic design, Berlin’s underground culture, and a collaboration between two friends: these fragrances were born where several worlds intersected.

Today, the person presented as founder is Ted Rohn. Articles about AER Scents from around 2018–2020, however, feature two people, Ted Young-Ing and Stefan Kehl. Although the names may appear different, Rohn is the person previously introduced as Young-Ing. To understand today’s Raer Scents, both the current work centered on Ted and the early work begun by two people are indispensable.

Basic Information
The Founder and the Brand’s Beginnings
The Brand’s Commitments
The Fragrance Lineup
Incidentally…

Basic Information

Brand: Raer Scents, formerly AER Scents
Founded: 2017
Founder: Ted Rohn. Older materials use the name Ted Young-Ing. In the early founding period, Stefan Kehl is recorded as a co-founder and a central figure in perfumery.
Based in: Berlin, Germany
Official website: https://www.raerscents.com/

Rather than a detailed chronology of birthplace, date of birth, and school years, what conveys Ted’s character is his memories of scent and the work accumulated in design. The two names, Young-Ing and Rohn; the brand’s change from AER to Raer. Instead of filling the reasons for those name changes with speculation, it is worth looking at what he continued making before and after them.

The Founder and the Brand’s Beginnings

From Memories of Perfume to the World of Design

For Ted Rohn, perfume was not a category of merchandise he selected later. He cites three formative memories: Aramis (in Japanese) on his father’s bathroom counter, the Patou his mother sprayed before going out, and his own first perfume, Geoffrey Beene’s Grey Flannel.

“Perfume has the power to evoke memories. I remember my father’s Aramis and the Patou my mother wore before going out.”
Ted Rohn

Yet his first area of expertise was visual design, not perfumery. He worked as a graphic designer at the London branding agency The Partners, then became art director at Gucci (in Japanese) and Yves Saint Laurent (in Japanese) during the Tom Ford era, contributing to several perfume projects. He subsequently became head of creative at furniture retailer Habitat and art director at cycling-goods brand Brooks England, and also founded the vintage cycling event “Tweed Run.”

Although he has lived and worked in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and elsewhere, his immediate reason for moving to Berlin was not work, but “love.” According to his own account, as he traveled between London and Berlin, where his Austrian husband lived, he realized how strongly Berlin stimulated him each time he returned. Around the same time, his friend Stefan Kehl also returned to Germany from New York, and both were looking for a new project.

Asked about the greatest lessons he learned in fashion, Ted cites “the pursuit of perfection” and a holistic view of design that considers not only a product in isolation, but the space around it. This background seems to lead directly into Raer Scents’ later approach of treating materials, names, labels, the atelier, and sourcing as parts of a single philosophy.

AER Scents Began with One Perfume

It began with the inability to find the perfume he wanted. The brand tells the story of Ted seeking a modern, distinctive perfume that was also natural and sustainable, then making the first prototype with a friend. That friend, Stefan, recalled in a joint interview in 2019 that he made a perfume for Ted, a longtime friend. Both liked the result and thought it could become a brand.

“I made a perfume for Ted. We liked it very much and thought we could shape it into this brand.”
Stefan Kehl

AER Scents began operating in Berlin at the end of 2017. An introduction the following year reported that Ted Young-Ing and Stefan Kehl, who was also a makeup artist, founded it in December 2017. The first four scents were Nagarmotha, Cade, Ambre, and Cedar. Current profiles put Ted in the spotlight, but that first collection retains the imprint of the period when the two launched the brand together.

Reading interviews from the time, Ted discusses his experience in design and brand building, while Stefan discusses his research into natural essences and the first perfume he gave Ted. Those accounts alone, however, do not justify assigning the roles as “Ted for appearance, Stefan for scent.” Ted’s eye and sense of brand design, and Stefan’s exploration of natural fragrance materials (in Japanese): early AER Scents took shape where the two overlapped.

Ted also studied perfumery himself, and his profile describes him as “largely self-taught, apart from a brief period at ISIPCA,” the French specialist school for perfume and cosmetics. During the former brand era, he described a creative process that combined inspiration and experimentation with mathematical design, waiting about a week each time a trial matured and adjusting proportions over weeks or months.

“Making perfume is half art and half science.”
Ted Rohn

White Pepper and Ylang Ylang joined in 2019, expanding the initial four fragrances to six. Numbered works continued to be added, and the current official collection comprises ten fragrances, 01 through 10.

From AER to Raer

Over several years, every perfume formula was revisited, ingredient quality was improved, and the brand’s direction was reconsidered. The name changed from AER to Raer alongside those developments. Words describing this new beginning remain on the former official website. Fragrantica was already presenting it as a renamed brand in March 2024. More than an exact renaming date or an etymology for the new name, those years of reworking form the background to “Raer.”

In this reorganization, earlier works did not merely carry their names forward: their ingredients and formulas were updated too. The product pages state that Nagarmotha reached its current formula in May 2023, and Cedar+Ginger in April of that year. Holy Basil, Jasmin+Pandan appeared in 2024 and has since progressed to the September 2025 version. Rather than a rebrand that changed only the logo, this was a fresh beginning extending to formulation and sourcing.

Today, Ted is presented as Raer Scents’ founder and perfumer. Yet the current title cannot be projected backward to make even the early fragrances solely his work. The collaborations developed with Stefan and the current work of updating formulas need to be viewed within their respective eras. Changes in their roles and the operating structure are difficult to describe as a simple succession story.

The Brand’s Commitments

What “100% Botanical” Means

Raer Scents’ “100% botanical” position means using fragrance materials extracted from plants and choosing plant-derived alcohol as well. It does not rely on synthetic fragrance ingredients, petrochemical-derived fragrance materials, colorants, or synthetic fixatives, and uses ethanol made from organic grain. The brand describes its products as vegan, cruelty-free, and biodegradable.

The brand also calls this “chemical-free.” Scientifically, however, flower essential oils and the scents of wood and resin are all collections of chemicals. It does not mean that no chemical substances exist in them. Raer Scents chooses methods such as distillation, expression, and carbon-dioxide extraction to obtain scent from plants and builds its fragrances without synthetic aroma chemicals.

It is also interesting that the use of only natural materials is not presented as a simple hierarchy over synthetics. In an interview from the AER Scents period, Ted said natural perfumes and molecular perfumes were “different, not good or bad.” In his own creative work, however, he values the complexity arising from the many aromatic molecules in natural Bulgarian rose.

“Where to Buy” Ingredients

The brand trades directly with farmers and small producers, using not only sustainable cultivation and harvesting but also fair payment to producers as selection criteria. Its business partner Cynthia Chua reportedly invested in a farm in southern France, supporting an arrangement that lets the brand grow organic ingredients with farmers. The team also forages for some materials itself.

“We must not make sustainability in the perfume industry just a matter of packaging. We need to talk about ingredients.”
Ted Rohn

Under its own sourcing policy, Raer Scents avoids oud and hinoki, which it judges unsustainable, and obtains Indian sandalwood, Paraguayan guaiacwood, and Moroccan Atlas cedar from managed sources. It also uses upcycled materials such as vetiver re-extracted from biomass that would otherwise be discarded after extraction. The cedar oil in Cedar+Ginger is extracted from offcuts, sawdust, and shavings generated by sawmills in the United States.

Sustainability is, first of all, the brand’s own stated sourcing standard. The whole system, including certification for individual farms, trading partners, sourcing quantities, and environmental impact from manufacture to disposal, is not visible. Raer Scents says approximately 85–95% of its contents are organic, while not claiming organic certification for the finished perfumes themselves. It makes scent while accommodating the differences among materials, including those harvested wild or grown through traditional farming.

Manufacturing That Takes Time

At the Berlin atelier, a concentrate of natural fragrance materials is first compounded and macerated at 14°C in darkness for a minimum of six weeks, a maturation stage that lets the materials come together. It is then blended with ethanol, cold-filtered, and bottled by hand.

The atelier holds samples of approximately 1,000 natural fragrance materials from around the world. Bulk ingredients are stored in UV-shielded refrigerators at 5°C under a blanket of argon gas to limit oxidation. Bottled perfumes are reportedly refrigerated until shipping as well. Explaining a small brand’s “handmade” process in concrete terms of equipment, temperature, and time reflects Raer Scents’ characteristic transparency.

Scent and Design

The brand takes inspiration from the Bauhaus tradition and Berlin’s energy. Its aim is “modern, linear scents made from rare traditional materials.” Linear here refers to a composition in which a central material or accord remains relatively consistent, rather than top, middle, and base changing dramatically. Product names that simply combine a number with the central ingredients likewise put the contours of materials ahead of decorative storytelling.

The policy is to keep packaging minimal and recyclable, and metal caps have been replaced with handmade black porcelain caps. Paper and cardboard include FSC-certified and recycled materials, algae-based inks are used, and packaging is produced in Europe. The brand also frankly explains that it has not found a practical alternative to the plastic tube in the sprayer.

Thinking of a brand as a whole, including the bottle, logo, and packaging: this attitude connects to Ted’s accumulated work in design. Yet overall brand design and the identity of whoever made each individual object are separate questions. Rather than grouping everything under a single author’s name, one can see his aesthetics in the concise contours that run from fragrance to appearance.

The Fragrance Lineup

The current core is ten numbered works, Raer 01 through Raer 10. Each names one or more leading materials. Although it uses complex natural ingredients, the collection makes the materials that provide an entry point clear.

Earth, Wood, Smoke, and Resin

Raer 01 Nagarmotha: Centered on the dark, narcotic woodiness of Indian nagarmotha root, layered with patchouli, makrut lime leaf, vetiver, frankincense, and Atlas cedar. Sharp green and citrus accents run through its earthiness: the brand’s starting point.
Raer 02 Cade+Frankincense: At its core are French/Spanish cade, reminiscent of burned wood, and Somali frankincense. Turkish rose, guaiacwood, and vanilla create smoke, leather, and honey-like sweetness.
Raer 03 Ambre+Sandalwood: “Ambre” here is not synthetic amber, but an accord combining resins and woods such as Peru balsam, storax, and amyris. Mysore sandalwood, Bulgarian rose, and magnolia leaf bring creaminess and greenness to its balsamic sweetness.
Raer 04 Cedar+Ginger: A bright woody centered on Virginia cedar, combined with ginger, bergamot, lavender, and pink pepper. Its use of cedar derived from sawmill by-products makes the sourcing philosophy especially apparent.
Raer 05 Black+White Pepper: It reconfigures the classical fougère with black and white pepper, immortelle, tobacco, tonka, galbanum, and oakmoss. Not just spiciness, but dry greenness, metallic qualities, leather, and sweetness intersect.

Flowers and Texture

Raer 06 Tuberose+Ylang Ylang: A dense white floral combining tuberose obtained through enfleurage (in Japanese) using vegetable fat, the traditional extraction method of transferring flower scent into fat through contact, with ylang-ylang from the Comoros. Jasmine sambac, orange blossom, and smoky vetiver give the classical white flowers a harder edge.
Raer 07 Orris+Cacao: It contrasts the powderiness of Tuscan orris (in Japanese) root with the smooth bittersweetness of cocoa beans. The orris roots are reportedly peeled and dried after harvest, then aged in cellars for three years until irones, the core of their aroma, develop.
Raer 08 Labdanum+Oak: Centered on the resinous character of wild labdanum and English oak extract aged for at least ten years. Elemi, black pepper, cardamom, osmanthus, and maté surround a woody sweetness reminiscent of rum raisins.

Greenery and Regeneration

Raer 09 Angelica Root: Using Belgian angelica root, juniper berries, lemon, stone pine, oakmoss, and myrrh, this fragrance has a gin-and-tonic-like opening and the depth of damp roots.
Raer 10 Holy Basil, Jasmin+Pandan: Inspired by the exhilaration of Singapore’s monsoon, it combines holy basil and green Thai pandan leaves with French jasmine, green mandarin, and Alaskan cedar. Rather than simply the end of a numerical sequence, it can be understood as a work that broadens the brand’s view toward Asian culinary and herbal aromas.

The ten fragrances are designed both to be worn alone and to be layered. The official discovery set contains samples of all ten, allowing comparisons of the changes characteristic of natural perfume on the skin and the degree of longevity and diffusion that suits the wearer. The brand gives a guideline of at least approximately six hours of wear and sillage, the distance a scent carries, confined to personal space, but natural materials mean considerable variation according to skin type and amount applied.

Outside the ten regular fragrances, there is also the special edition Neroli+Cannabis, a collaboration with 15WEST. The perfume database Parfumo presents it as a 2025 work and lists Moroccan neroli, Estonian cannabis, green mandarin, orris, and other notes. As a collaboration separate from the regular series, it reveals another expression combining flowers and green leaves.

Incidentally…

The current atelier occupies the top floor of a historic building used by the Association of Berlin Women Artists. In the brand’s account of the building’s history, the association ran Germany’s first painting school for women. To honor that history, Raer Scents regularly hosts art exhibitions as well as perfume workshops.

Across the river stands the Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Mies van der Rohe. For a brand that uses the Bauhaus tradition as a creative guide, architecture belonging to that lineage forms part of the everyday landscape. An atelier that makes scent and the precise contours of modern architecture: Berlin places the two close together.

Ted’s aesthetics are not only about Bauhaus-like clarity. As a young man, he frequented nightclubs and music venues and developed a feel for underground culture. His profile describes an aesthetic combining high and low, the glamorization of the unexpected, strong contrasts, and “beauty with an edge.” This background also helps explain why Raer Scents does not stop at the gentle flowers-and-herbs imagery often associated with natural perfume, but turns toward smoke, soil, char, bitterness, and animalic pepper.

Raer Scents does not use “natural” as another way of saying “gentle scent.” Instead, it leaves in plants’ inherent roughness, complexity, and differences of origin, assembling them with a Berlin-like linearity. From AER, begun by two people, to today’s Raer centered on Ted, it has continued engaging with ingredients, manufacture, and packaging, and putting into words even the aspects not yet matching its ideals. For this brand, trying a discovery set to see where the body responds among earth, smoke, flowers, resins, and green leaves seems more fitting than deciding on a preferred scent family from the start.

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