Ashley Eden Kessler
# Ashley Eden Kessler: Art, Architecture, and Scent
## From Film Sets to Fragrance
Ashley Eden Kessler is an American perfumer based in Los Angeles, whose path to fragrance creation wound through architecture, sculpture, and film. After studying architecture and sculpture at Sarah Lawrence College and working in film art departments, an unexpected injury redirected her life toward her senses — and ultimately toward scent.
The spark was lit on her sixteenth birthday, when she received a custom fragrance from perfumer Sarah Horowitz. That gift led her back to Horowitz's studio, first as an apprentice, then as a junior perfumer. She went on to study at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery in France in 2010, where she received an award for her graduation brief. Stints as a perfumer's assistant at Drom Fragrances International and Mane et Fils in New York followed, before she returned to Los Angeles to found Studio Sentir, her private label fragrance laboratory, in 2015.
Kessler is also deeply connected to the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles, where she serves as Director of Education and instructor. Her teaching has made her a central figure in the American indie perfumery community, and she regularly serves as a juror for the Art and Olfaction Awards.
## A Sensory-Empirical Approach
Kessler's creative process is distinctly physical and immersive. For [Riders](/perfume/sarah-baker-riders), her equestrian-inspired composition for Sarah Baker Perfumes, she spent time on the Empire Polo Fields, directly smelling horses, [leather](/note/leather) saddles, and tack to capture the authentic essence of the riding world. A chance encounter during the development process — an embrace with a friend wearing lily of the valley perfume — inspired her to weave that delicate floral note into the composition's heart.
Her philosophy centres on perfume as "dynamic art and reflective practice," where failure and unexpected discoveries are integral to the creative process. She brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her work, drawing on her background in architecture and sculpture to think about fragrance in spatial and structural terms.
## Collaborations
Kessler's long-standing creative partnership with Sarah Baker Perfumes has produced several notable fragrances, including Leopard, Greek Keys, and [Riders](/perfume/sarah-baker-riders) — the latter an animalic composition blending [leather](/note/leather), hay, [peach](/note/peach), and [lily of the valley](/note/lily-of-the-valley) that captures the elegance and earthiness of the equestrian world. Through Studio Sentir, she also creates private label fragrances for a range of clients, bringing her distinctive sensibility to each collaboration.