About

Arina P. Franzén

Perfumer. Founder & CEO of several independent perfumery houses.

Gothic & Alternative
Dark Tales | Artisan Perfumery

Classical & Botanical
Arina Franzén | Botanical Perfumery

Refined & Vintage
Villaniflōr Parfumerie

Musical & Playful
Scent Rewind | Music Perfumery

Perfume is memory made invisible.

It can hold a place, a person, a century, a secret. It can return us to something we thought we had forgotten: the scent of old paper, candle smoke in a cold room, flowers after rain, the skin of someone we once loved, the atmosphere of a city we may never visit again.

My name is Arina P. Franzén, and I am the perfumer, founder, and creative director behind several independent perfume houses. Each of them has its own world, its own language, and its own way of approaching scent.

Before perfumery, there was storytelling.

My background is in history, psychology, and biographical writing. I was fascinated by people, by memory, by the emotional weight of objects and places, by the way the past never truly disappears. As a writer-biographer, I learned to preserve lives through words. But at some point, words were no longer enough.

Some things are too atmospheric to describe directly.
Some memories do not speak.
They smell.

I began creating perfumes in 2019, first as a self-taught perfumer, then through further study and certification at the Natural Perfume Academy. What started as an intimate creative practice gradually became a larger olfactory universe: a collection of perfume houses, each exploring a different side of scent, memory, craft, and imagination.

CHAPTER I: DARK TALES

Gothic. Alternative. Atmospheric.

Est. 2019

Dark Tales is where everything began. It is the heart of my creative world: a gothic and alternative perfume house inspired by dark history, old literature, forgotten rooms, legends, rituals, and the strange beauty of the past.

Dark Tales does not create perfumes that are simply “pleasant.” Each fragrance is built as an atmosphere. A place. A story. A scene you can enter.

If a perfume is called Old Library, it must smell like an old library: antique books, polished wood, paper, dust, silence, and the feeling of standing somewhere where time has slowed down. If a perfume is inspired by a medieval abbey, a forest, a theatrical ghost, a royal court, or a forgotten legend, it must carry that world honestly in scent.

The perfumes of Dark Tales are for those who seek character, depth, and imagination. They are not made to disappear quietly into the background. They are made to evoke, to transport, to disturb a little, to comfort strangely, to make the invisible feel almost tangible.

Every fragrance has its own name, image, mood, and story. The perfume, the label, the packaging, and the atmosphere around it are all part of the same world.

Dark Tales is artisan perfumery for those who want more than beauty.

It is for those who want a door.

CHAPTER II: ARINA FRANZÉN

Classical. Botanical. Natural.

Est. 2023

I launched Arina Franzén Botanical Perfumery as a parallel house dedicated to natural materials and traditional botanical perfume craft.

This brand is quieter than Dark Tales. More classical. More intimate. It focuses on the natural depth of flowers, resins, woods, roots, herbs, spices, balsams, and precious botanical extracts.

Natural perfumery has its own rhythm. It does not always shout. It often stays closer to the skin, unfolding slowly, revealing warmth, texture, and complexity over time. Botanical materials carry something living within them: the trace of soil, climate, harvest, season, and origin.

This house is built around that living quality.

The compositions are created with respect for old-school perfumery methods and the emotional depth of natural raw materials. They are refined, sensual, and grounded, with a focus on harmony rather than spectacle.

Where Dark Tales opens the door to a gothic world, Arina Franzén Botanical Perfumery returns to the essence of the material itself.

It is perfumery for those who appreciate nature not as something simple, but as something ancient, complex, and quietly luxurious.

CHAPTER III: VILLANIFLŌR

Refined. Vintage. Elegant.

Est. 2025

Villaniflōr was introduced as a more refined and vintage-inspired perfume house.

This brand is not built around storytelling in the same way as Dark Tales. Villaniflōr is about the perfume itself: the composition, the balance, the softness of the structure, the elegance of the final impression.

The olfactory style is graceful, polished, and timeless. It carries a subtle vintage spirit without feeling old-fashioned. The perfumes are gentle but present, sophisticated but not distant, memorable without being loud.

Villaniflōr is inspired by classical perfumery, feminine refinement, powdery textures, soft florals, smooth musks, delicate woods, and the feeling of a perfume that has been carefully dressed before leaving the room.

It is not theatrical.

It is poised.

Villaniflōr is for those who love perfumes that feel composed, elegant, and beautifully finished - fragrances with quiet confidence, emotional softness, and a sense of timeless charm.

CHAPTER IV: SCENT REWIND

Musical. Playful. Nostalgic.

Est. 2026

Scent Rewind is a music-inspired perfume house created as a playful journey through decades, genres, and cultural memory.

Music and scent have something in common: both can transport us instantly. A few notes of a song can return us to a room, a person, a summer, a mood, a version of ourselves we almost forgot. Perfume can do the same.

Scent Rewind works like a time machine through fragrance.

Each perfume is inspired by a musical era, genre, or atmosphere: smoky jazz clubs, rebellious decades, retro glamour, dance floors, subcultures, nostalgia, rhythm, and the emotional colour of sound.

The brand is playful, but not careless. Historical, but not heavy. Nostalgic, but created for the present.

It transforms music into scent, not by copying literal references, but by capturing the feeling of a decade: its textures, fashion, attitude, mood, and emotional temperature.

Scent Rewind is for those who experience perfume not only as something to wear, but as something to listen to with the skin.

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OUR STORY

What began as a home-based hobby in Moscow in July 2019 quickly grew into something far greater than I expected.

By October of the same year, I had opened my first Etsy shop. In 2020, Dark Tales was officially registered. Later, the studio moved to Uppsala, Sweden, where the brand continued to grow, develop, and find its voice.

In 2022, we expanded into a new studio. In the summer of 2024, we opened our first walk-in boutique at Kungsgatan 66CB in Uppsala. In 2025, we moved to a larger location at Kungsgatan 66DB, with more space for production, development, workshops, and a dedicated laboratory.

Today, our perfumes are created, developed, prepared, packed, and sent from Uppsala, Sweden.

Every bottle carries a piece of this journey: from a small personal experiment to a growing independent perfume world with several distinct artistic directions.

OUR TEAM

Behind the perfumes is a small and dedicated team.

Arina P. Franzén - the founder, perfumer, creative director, and the person behind the olfactory and visual identity of the brands.

Tim Franzén is co-founder and financial director, working with the structure, finances, and long-term development of the company.

Ana Elisa Lopes is our business manager, supporting daily operations, organization, and the practical rhythm of a growing perfume house.

Ludvig Widman works as laboratory technician and business partnerships contact, assisting with production, laboratory work, and professional collaborations.

Katarzyna Owczarewicz is our orders manager and customer support contact, making sure that orders are handled with care and that every customer receives attentive, personal service.

We are a close-knit team, and our work is hands-on. From formula development and laboratory production to packaging, customer care, and the final details of every order, we try to keep the process personal, careful, and sincere.


OUR PHILOSOPHY

Across all our brands, one belief remains the same:

Perfume should mean something.

It can be dark, elegant, botanical, nostalgic, playful, tender, strange, sensual, or quiet - but it should never feel empty.

A fragrance should have a reason to exist.
It should carry an atmosphere.
It should awaken something.

Whether you enter the gothic world of Dark Tales, the botanical intimacy of Arina Franzén, the vintage refinement of Villaniflōr, or the musical nostalgia of Scent Rewind, you are entering a part of the same larger universe.

A universe built from scent, memory, craft, and emotion.

Thank you for being here, for discovering our perfumes, and for allowing them to become part of your own invisible archive of memories.

Yours,
Arina P. Franzén