Enter the world of Ruta Degutyte, founder of ART de Parfum, a house that has, almost subversively, rewritten the codes of modern perfumery, means enter a world that has doing the unthinkable: resisting excess.
The fragrance industry is often under the lens for the overstatement, dense formulas, louder-than-life storytelling, and an obsession with projection. ART de Parfum feels like a deep exhale. It is perfumery stripped back to intention, where every note has a reason to exist, and every composition seems a study in minimalism.
Degutyte’s approach is absolutely about focus. Not minimalism for aesthetic’s sake but as a form of honesty. Her fragrances unfold without overwhelming; they accompany the client throughout their life.
At a time when visibility is currency and virality often dictates value, her philosophy opens up like a rebellion.
Below, she shares the thinking behind a house that is capable of whispering in the most heard way.
ART de Parfum was conceived as a response to excess in both composition and industry practices. How do you define modern luxury today, and what did you feel was missing from perfumery when you founded the house?
For me, modern luxury is not about having more. It is about having less, but knowing exactly why it exist and how it is made. When I started ART de Parfum, I felt there was too much excess in every sense. Formulas were overloaded, storytelling was often louder than the perfume itself, and there was very little honesty about ingredients or process.
I wanted to strip things back. To create perfumes that feel composed and calm, where each material has a purpose and space to breathe. I think what was missing was that sense of restraint, but also a sense of responsibility. Luxury should feel considered, not overwhelming.
Your fragrances are often described as “clean” yet emotionally layered, with a clear commitment to sustainability and transparency. How do you reconcile environmental responsibility with the desire to create sensorially rich, long-lasting compositions?
I have never seen sustainability and richness as opposites. If anything, working within those boundaries makes you more precise. You have to think carefully about every material, how it behaves, and how it evolves on skin.
Longevity does not need to come from weight or intensity. It can come from balance and structure. I am more interested in how a fragrance lives with you over time than how loudly it announces itself in the first few minutes or how long it stays. There is something very beautiful in a scent that stays close and reveals itself slowly. That kind of intimacy feels more meaningful to me.
Having worked closely with perfumers while maintaining a strong creative direction, how do you navigate authorship? Where does Ruta Degutyte end and the perfumer begin?
It is always a collaboration. I usually come with a feeling or an idea or a place or a memory, sometimes quite abstract, and then we work together to shape it into something real. I am quite involved in the process, especially in refining and editing, but I rely deeply on the perfumer’s craft. They bring their own sensitivity and technical understanding. It is not about drawing a clear line between us. It is more about finding a shared language. When it works, it feels seamless. The perfume becomes its own thing. It’s like Lennon and McCartney – a dual composition.
There is a strong confidence in ART de Parfum, reflected in a refusal of overstatement in both branding and scent structure. We live in a time where virality is seen as one of the most important things. Do you see discretion as a form of rebellion?
Yes, I do think discretion can feel like a form of rebellion today.
There is so much pressure to be visible, to be immediate, to constantly produce something new. But I think there is strength in not doing that and floating above. In allowing things to unfold slowly, and in not trying to capture everyone’s attention at once.
For me, quiet confidence has more longevity. It creates space for people to connect with something in their own way, rather than being told how to experience it.
Many of your creations evoke introspection rather than immediate seduction. Do you believe fragrance today is shifting from projection and performance toward something more personal, almost introspective?
I do feel a shift happening. People are becoming more interested in how a fragrance makes them feel, rather than how it performs for others.
There is a move away from projection and towards something more personal. Something that sits closer to the skin and becomes part of your daily life rather than a statement.
Scent is very powerful in that way. It can ground you, comfort you, bring you back to yourself. I think more people are beginning to look for that kind of connection.
Through ART de Parfum, Degutyte proposes a different kind of luxury rooted in intimacy, valuing process over performance and meaning over magnitude.
Modern society seems to equate presence with power, but her work suggests something different and offers a glimpse of the real future of fragrance. Not a louder or bigger one, but a one closer to the customers’ souls.
