Fragrance house

Kismet Olfactive

Kismet Olfactive is an independent fragrance studio born in New York City and founded by perfumer Shabnam Tavakol. The idea began as a concept during a father-daughter road trip across Iran in 2015, then developed into a full brand after friends and peers wanted to smell Tavakol’s work. Its name comes from the Persian word qismat, meaning fate or what is meant to be, and its fragrances translate serendipitous moments into wearable scents. The brand’s creative language connects Tavakol’s Persian heritage and Western upbringing with poetry, nostalgia, Eastern scent practices, classic French perfumery, and contemporary trends. Tavakol trained at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery and worked with large fragrance houses and master perfumers in Paris and New York before founding the studio; the earliest editions date to 2018. Creative director Melia Tandiono developed Kismet’s brand identity, art direction, packaging, and digital executions. Nostalgia (A Sonnet for Grasse), Tavakol’s first Kismet fragrance and the breakthrough scent that got customers talking, is built as a sonnet of 14 raw materials and reflects Grasse’s shift from leather tanning to flower cultivation. The six-fragrance Common Ground Collection draws on shared urban spaces across cities including San Francisco, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, and New York.