Berlin

Making scents: Harry Lehmann's old-style perfumery

Fabulously old-fashioned parfumier Harry Lehmann is one of those venerable Berlin stores that simply does what it's always done: in this case, creating fine scents which it sells by weight.

Bring your own bottle, or purchase one at the counter; they're adorned with wonderfully retro labels that probably haven't changed much since the firm was founded in 1926.

Marlene Dietrich was reputedly a fan of Harry's lavender fragrance, but if you're unable to find a scent you like among the fifty or so staples, they'll concoct one for you.

Check out, too, another of the store's specialities: extraordinarily detailed artificial silk flowers which, again, the company has created for almost a century.

Far less well known than the range of perfumes, but there's something oddly fitting about the fact that these scentless blooms are displayed alongside flasks and flacons of heady floral essence.

See also:
Kantstrasse's top oriental eateries
Kantstrasse's neglected Bauhaus classic
Rogacki restaurant and delicatessen

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