How can a scent tell a story? Here to answer that question is artist and perfumer, Mr Johan Bergelin, the founder of fragrance brand 19-69, which lands at MR PORTER today. “For many years, I worked as a photographer and told a story with my camera by making pictures,” he tells us. “So, I guess it all just comes in different forms.” His most recent medium is a collection of olfactory tales inspired by specific times and places: Woodstock in 1969 (from which the brand takes its name), the Rainbow Bar on the Sunset Strip in the early 1980s and so on. “A good scent contains raw ingredients of the finest quality, depth, complexity, uniqueness, sillage and longevity,” Mr Bergelin explains of his approach to perfumery. To make a truly powerful fragrance, though, takes a little more. “Telling a story gives the scent a personal connection and adds another dimension.” To discover more, we asked him to paint a picture of five of the fragrances in the collection.

“Purple Haze embraces the hippie movement and counterculture, evoking John and Yoko’s Bed-Ins in Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969. The fragrance is about Keenak, [a man] I met in Bahama Village, Key West. Guitar on his back, snake skin boots, skinny jeans and long hair; a real sense of Woodstock. The scent is a tribute to creativity, freedom and indulgence.”

“Villa Nellcôte is a 16-room mansion of the belle époque, previously occupied and used as headquarters by the local Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of France. In the spring of 1971, new rebellious tenants and their colourful entourage hosted the property for six months: The Rolling Stones. The barefoot hippies, the beautiful settings and the dark past were a perfect match resulting in a rock album [Exile On Main St] that to this day inspires people across borders and nations. The resulting fragrance Villa Nellcôte is aromatic, floral and refreshing, and the embodiment of the magnificent garden and surroundings at the estate with the same name.”

”Rainbow Bar is a celebration of the 1980s when the rock scene ruled the strip in LA. Groupies, endless parties and indulgence. The notorious Rainbow Bar on Sunset Strip was founded when the word ’rainbow’ signified peace and freedom, but there are two sides to LA, and that is what we have tried to encapsulate in the fragrance: there are elements of sex, drugs and rock ́n ́roll. But there are also lighter dimensions like the sun, the blue skies and warm glow of the city.”

“I was in my teens when I first discovered Helmut Newton ́s picture that made Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking iconic. The androgyny really made a big impression on me. With stark monochrome simplicity, Newton created a piece of iconography I still find myself influenced by. In the making of L ́Air Barbès I was strongly influenced by that picture. The perfume is cold and fresh; a tribute to Paris. Evocative of Paris ́ different personas such as the concrete alleyways, le banlieue and the area Barbès – Rochechouart.”

“I have always been captivated by legendary, trendsetting films. Mr Jean-Luc Godard’s movie Le Mépris from 1963 featuring Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance is both iconic and stylish so it was only natural to draw inspiration from it. The fragrance Capri reflects the movie’s ambience. There are elements of wild citrus trees, orange blossoms, green olive groves, blue skies and the endless ocean that encircles the island. It’s edgy, but fresh; light, but comforting.”