Ashley Eden Kessler is a Los Angeles-based perfumer whose creative path led from architecture, sculpture, and film into the world of fragrance. After studying at Sarah Lawrence College and working in film production, an unexpected injury shifted her focus toward sensory perception—ultimately guiding her to perfumery.
Her first inspiration came at the age of 16, when she received a custom perfume from perfumer Sarah Horowitz. This experience brought her into Horowitz’s studio, where she began as an intern and later became a junior perfumer. In 2010, she expanded her knowledge at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery in France, where her final project received an award. She later gained experience at Drom Fragrances and Mane in New York before founding her own studio, Studio Sentir, in Los Angeles in 2015.
Kessler is closely connected to the Institute for Art and Olfaction, where she serves as Director of Education and teaches. Through her educational work and her role as a juror for the Art and Olfaction Awards, she has become an influential figure in the American indie perfume scene.
Her creative process is deeply experiential and sensory-driven. For the fragrance Riders, she immersed herself in the environment of the Empire Polo Field, capturing the authentic scents of horses, leather, and riding equipment. A chance encounter during development—an embrace with someone wearing lily of the valley—introduced a delicate floral nuance to the composition.
For Kessler, perfumery is both a dynamic art form and a reflective process, where accidents and imperfections play an essential role. Her background in architecture and sculpture informs her approach, as she constructs fragrances with a strong sense of space and structure.
