Meleg Perfumes

An Entire World Locked in a Perfume Bottle. 

Meet Matthew Meleg, the face behind Meleg Perfumes, and one of perhaps three self-taught perfumers in Canada. In the process of working through mental illness, Matthew began selling his own customs scents, and has since gained notoriety amongst the most serious of perfume enthusiasts, while selling his wares worldwide. Matthew, owner of the Vancouver-based brand recently sat down with us to share the details of beginning his unique journey. 

Curious by nature, Matthew was always interested in pursuing a career in art. Upon attending the Emily Carr University of Art + Design for oil painting, it was then that Matthew’s ever present curiosity struck again. With his unrelenting ambition and passion to learn beyond his boundaries, Matthew picked up, and relocated his entire life to Japan, where he would live for the next decade. 

“[Japan] was vastly different [than Canada]. There was an air of perfectionism - cleanliness, safety and self control were valued. It was a military society, [which meant being] very hierarchical and well organized. Everyone works to do the very best job [they] possibly can, and [value] devotion to work and to one's art.”

Living in a completely new society, Matthew soon picked up an appreciation for artisanship, travel and the aspects of Japanese culture dedicated to detail and art. Though residing in Tokyo, his excitement was sparked with every visit to Kyoto.

“Each kimono was made by hand out of hand-sewn silk, and I really admired that intense perfectionism towards art.” 

The impacts of his time immersed in Japanese culture left a deep impression as Matthew returned to Canada ten years later. His hunger to learn had only peaked since leaving Japan’s artisan streets, and Matthew naturally took to YouTube for any documentary he could get his hands on. After dabbling in different topics, Matthew came across perfumery. The art of mixing perfumes immediately appealed to him -  the way that any given bottle of perfume, there was a multiplicity of scents and materials. It’s as if there was an entire world locked up in any single bottle of perfume.

“Perfumery is an art form that depends on memory. You have to memorize the scents of the materials to build perfumes, how long it lasts, and all the different nuances, like different kinds of citruses, types of roses, tarragons and basils. It’s like how a painter lays out their palettes and recognizes basic colours, but in order to draw out a palette in perfumery, you need to build the palette first by smelling things and making notes. By taking in an unknown subjective odor and putting language to that scent, you build up your repertoire.” 

Matthew began his process in sharpening his olfactory skills. Starting by ordering essential oils online, he began his analysis training, which involved writing down everything he smelt and the lifespan of each scent. It was in the research process that Matthew found his niche. The technical prowess of the input of analysis and output of mixing and creating appealed to him, with it’s tried and true process

“I wanted to be an oil painter, but didn’t find any structure - that process of creating felt very loose to me. My real appreciation was for artisans, renaissance painters and technical artists - I really wanted to learn how to do that.” 

Meleg Perfumes was a process that was five years in the making - four years learning from others and honing the craft of mixing scents, and one year officially selling his perfumes. Meleg admits he had no intention of selling his perfumes, until someone in an online perfumer forum criticized his talent and predicted he would never find success. He formalized the brand as a reminder that he had cultivated and mastered his perfuming talents with his own two hands.  The first bottle Meleg sold was to a famous YouTuber, in one of his original scents, Civet Cat Chypre. The animal inspired musk had a scent mixture of woods, flowers, mosses and the wild altogether. 

“It’s a melange of different smells, and as the perfume dries down over time, it changes. You can small orange and citrus in the beginning, and then scents of powdery jasmine, then to a warm vanilla. It takes over four to six hours to go through the whole process.”

Matthew’s passion to learn was driven by his own ingestion of the world, and his journey to understanding the world and how others digest it. After witnessing a tragic incident happen to his friend, Meleg developed PTSD at a very young age.

“I had very specific triggers, and from sixteen to twenty-seven, I barely left the house. I didn't have the language back then to put to my life experience. It was very difficult to make sense of my trauma, especially in such a small town.”

Meleg was able to be prescribed onto medication upon his return to Canada, where he could start making sense of his thought process, fears and anxieties. As he developed his interest in perfumery, he found his voice through language. Learning to describe something as subjective as scents gave Meleg the agency he needed to work through his past.  

”Japan showed me a different way of living: a world from the outside looking in, and the freedom to be different as a foreigner. It was anxiety-inducing, but also liberating. I was able to start thinking through my biases. When you develop a bias, even though that’s not always the reality of the world we live in, it can be hard to sit back and develop a sense of awareness for yourself.”

Matthew admitted that one of the greatest things he learned in Japan was being different. As a white male in Canada, Meleg could blend in to the majority, whereas in Japan, he looked like a complete outsider.

“I  had to learn a new language and perspective on life. I was forgetting my English, but my Japanese wasn’t that great either” 

Matthew aspires to continue making perfumes, but also open up the conversation of mental illness and PTSD, especially in males.

“Instead of being stubborn and machismo when it comes to mental health, let’s talk about being fearful, paranoid and having irrational fears.”

As a result, Meleg Perfumes offers free online lessons for people with mental illness, and encourages them to join their perfuming classes for free.

“Make sense of what you can and don't be ashamed or scared to open up to people. You need to experience the universe for yourself. It takes a bit of work, intelligence and integrity, but it’s possible to get beyond that.”

Keep up with Meleg Perfumes on Instagram and Facebook, or shop Meleg Perfumes on their Etsy shop, and website.