Sarah Horowitz-Thran
Sarah began designing custom fragrances in the late 1980’s as a freshman at Emerson College. A theater major, she stumbled upon part-time work at an off-beat, apothecary- style perfumery called Essence on Boston’s famed Newbury Street, which specialized in creating custom fragrances for its clientele. Fueled by an intuitive knack for perfumery and the conviction that fragrance was a vehicle for self-expression, Sarah would work one-on-one with clients for hours at a time to design their perfect customized scent. She called this process The Fragrance Journey, which would become the heart and soul of her business – now commanding upwards of $1000 for a custom perfume. After nearly four years apprenticing at Essence, Sarah, with help from her family, purchased the store with fellow perfumer and friend, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz. Here she continued to fine-tune her craft and build a reputation as an accomplished and imaginative nose. In 1994, she sold her stake, packed up her perfume oils and moved to Los Angeles where she founded Creative Scentualization, which later gave birth to Sarah Horowitz Parfums.
Sarah spent the next several years toting her fragrance organ (a collection of more than 100 fragrance oils housed in a wooden case) around the beaches of Malibu and Los Angeles conducting Fragrance Journeys and designing custom fragrances for clients. Soon, she was attracting a slow-but-steady underground following of discerning women with varied professional backgrounds. Sarah’s intuitive, non-formulaic approach to fragrance development makes her sought after both by individuals as well as niche and emerging brands which hire Sarah Horowitz Parfums to create both statement-making perfumes and home fragrances that are truly one-of-a-kind.
Over the last 20 years, Sarah has been honored to sell her fragrances at high end department stores including Barney’s and Nordstrom, specialty apothecary boutiques like Scent Bar and Ron Robinson at Fred Segal, and the finest on-line partners such as Lucky Scent, B-Glowing and Beauty Habit. In 2015, she launched her first collection on QVC.
Sarah continues to experiment with and evolve her craft, growing her business by training apprentices in the fine art of perfume creation and teaching perfumery classes, all the while striking the delicate balance of entrepreneurship with her equally important role as wife and mother to her two daughters.
