THE PERFUME SHED
Out of a shed in his Cardiff back garden, perfumer Tim Tyson Short composes personalised scents. Each is unique to the client and uses only natural and essential oils, which smell different on everyone, in the place of chemicals. It’s the distillation of a lifelong passion that began in childhood, when he carried incense around as a boat boy in church.
While travelling, Tim would always pick up essential oils and perfume blends from the countries he visited, before they started to pile up at home. He started to become interested in the esoteric art of perfumery, acquiring books and completing courses. Now, he offers consultations where people come to his home and test out different scents, before taking home their own perfume. “It becomes almost like a therapy session!” he says. “Smells are such a big part of our primal brains; they evoke memories.”
Initially, I’m a little sceptical and confess my lack of curiosity in odours and aromas and the like. Too many of those department store fragrances are far too sweet for me. Quietly, he dabs some of his own ‘Sweet Frankie’ perfume (laced with frankincense) on a little strip for me to try. Immediately, I’m transported back to memories of Christmas concerts in school at the local church, overcome with a feeling of childlike happiness. “We call that one Churchy,” he says.
Tim, as you can probably guess, smells very good himself, often wearing his own specially crafted cologne. He frequently gets people coming up to him on the street, eager to discern his scent. “I had a homeless man come up to me and asked, ‘Ooh, that’s a nice perfume – what have you got?’ I told him it was one I’d made myself, and he was like, ‘That’s lovely, man.’ I said, ‘That’s great that you asked.’ And then he told me, ‘People think that we smell, but we sit and smell the whole world go by. Some people smell horrible, but you smell really nice.’ Of course, I had to give him the perfume then.”
Once you catch a heady whiff of one of his aromatic creations, chosen especially for you, it becomes the thing you never knew you wanted.
Info: 07957 305957 / www.theperfumeshed.co.uk
