Fragrance is the witness to my life.
Harvey
Ad Maiora Natus Sum.
Live stream consultant & content creator · Jakarta
He trained to take photographs and ended up keeping a different kind of record. Issue thirty-eight is about a lost wooden spoon, a vial handed over by way of apology, and a shelf that turned out to be an album.
He studied journalism in order to become a photographer. He is still documenting. The archive just moved to a shelf, and none of it was planned.
Harvey Darian · Jakarta · 2026
Harvey Darian trained as a journalist and interned at CNN Online as a photojournalist, which sounds like the opening of one story and turned out to be the opening of a different one. The camera did not take. Somewhere in the middle of working that out, he lost a colleague’s wooden spoon.
What happened next is most of this issue, so it will keep. What matters here is the shape of it: an accident, an apology, and a small vial handed over by someone who felt bad about the fuss. He has been documenting ever since, only not with a camera, and the shelf itself did not really begin until two years later, when the job went. He will tell you his collection is an album, that every bottle is a version of himself he can still smell, and that none of it was the plan. He is right on all three counts.
The file
The soundtrack · city pop
No single song defines him, he says, but there is one playlist he can always come back to. Nostalgic, warm, effortlessly timeless, which is also a fair description of what he has ended up wearing.
A wooden spoon, and everything after it
I studied journalism with the dream of becoming a photographer. I even had the opportunity to intern at CNN Online as a photojournalist. But the deeper I went into that path, the more I realised it wasn’t my calling.
My journey into fragrance happened completely by accident. One day, I accidentally lost a colleague’s wooden spoon. Wanting to take responsibility, I offered to replace the entire wooden utensil set. Feeling bad that I had to go through the trouble, my colleague gave me a vial of a local Indonesian fragrance that was quite popular in late 2020.
That tiny vial changed everything. Until then, I had always thought perfume was something nice to have, but never something worth exploring. From that moment on, I fell in love with fragrance, especially Indonesia’s local perfume scene.
Today, I work as a live stream supervisor and consultant while creating fragrance content. Looking back, it’s funny how something as ordinary as a missing wooden spoon ended up changing the direction of my life.
The wooden spoon
Five links, none of them significant on their own. Remove any one of them and see what is left of the present. This is the only interactive in the archive designed to be broken.
A wooden spoon goes missing
It belonged to a colleague. It was not expensive, and it was not, by any measure, important.
He replaces the whole set
Not the spoon. The set. This is the detail that tells you most of what you need to know about him.
The colleague feels bad about the fuss
Which is the mechanism by which most kindness in the world actually travels: as an apology for someone else’s apology.
A vial changes hands
A local Indonesian fragrance, quite popular in late 2020. Handed over without ceremony by somebody who simply wanted the matter settled.
Everything after this
The collection. The content. The career. The fact that you are reading this page at all.
Chain integrity
The witness
Fragrance is the witness to my life. It has never been just something I wear. It has grown with me through every chapter. It was there when no one knew who I was. It was there when I got my first job, and it stayed with me when I was laid off.
Today it continues to be part of my journey as a fragrance content creator. When I look at my collection, I don’t just see bottles, I see memories. Every fragrance reminds me of a different version of myself, and together they’ve quietly documented the person I’ve become.
Every fragrance reminds me of a different version of myself.Harvey Darian · on opening the cupboard
Develop the print
A print has exactly one correct time in the developer. Too little and the picture never arrives. Too much and it closes to black. Drag the timer and find his rain.
Blank paper. The rain is already in there, it simply has not been asked for.
This is the one he keepsRain on warm pavement
The smell of rain on warm pavement always takes me back to my childhood in Bogor. Growing up there, rainy afternoons were almost a routine.
Even today, certain earthy, patchouli, aromatic fougère fragrances instantly bring back that feeling of slowing down, staying inside, and watching the rain through the window.
The album, in order
He sent three pictures and named them himself. Read left to right, they are the whole arc of a taste maturing, which is the thing he says good taste actually is.
Gourmand. Sweet, obvious, and entirely correct for who he was five years ago. He offers no apology for it and none is required.
Rain. Bogor, a window, an afternoon with nothing required of it. Earthy, patchouli, aromatic fougère.
Barbershop. Clippers, comb, the smell of a chair you sit in every few weeks. Refined, understated, and in no hurry.
Classic barbershop fougères
Lately I’ve been wearing classic barbershop fougères: Dior Eau Sauvage, Roja Danger, Carolina Herrera for Men EDT, Drakkar Noir, and Victorinox Swiss Army Classic.
I think my taste has matured along with me. Five years ago I was drawn to sweet, gourmand fragrances. Today I naturally gravitate toward compositions that feel more refined, understated, and timeless.
As I mentioned earlier, fragrance grows with me. Looking back at what I wore in different stages of my life is almost like looking through an old photo album. My collection reflects not only how my taste has changed, but also how I’ve changed as a person.
Right now, Chypre Oppenheimer from HoM Haute is at the top of my wishlist.
Under the safelight
A darkroom works under a red lamp, because red light will not expose the paper. You can see, but you cannot see truly. Here are three chapters of his life, first as he lived them, then with the lights on.
The internship
The wooden spoon
The lay-off
Said out loud, every time
Every morning begins with a simple ritual. I see my partner before work. We live just a few steps away from each other, and before we go our separate ways we always say, “I love you.” It’s a small moment, but it reminds me that no matter how busy life gets, love deserves to be expressed every day.
Then I get ready for work and choose a fragrance that matches both my mood and the occasion. In a way, those two rituals, sharing a few words of love and choosing a scent, are how I begin every new day.
Not a price. A rate of change.
To me, good taste isn’t about price or popularity, it’s about growth. I believe taste is deeply personal and constantly evolving. The fragrances I loved five years ago are very different from the ones I wear today, not because my old preferences were wrong, but because I’ve grown. Just like people, our taste matures through experience.
That’s why I don’t think good taste can be measured by price tags, trends, or exclusivity. It’s measured by how honestly your choices reflect who you are.
Ad Maiora Natus Sum
We are born for greater things. I don’t see it as a belief about fame or success or being better than anyone else. To me it’s a reminder that we’re never meant to stop growing.
Every chapter of my life has shaped me into someone different. From a journalism student, to discovering fragrance by accident, to becoming a fragrance content creator. None of it was planned, yet each step brought me closer to the person I’m becoming. I believe we’re all born with the potential for greater things, not because they’re guaranteed, but because we’re willing to keep evolving.
Ad Maiora Natus Sum
We are born for greater things.
Harvey Darian · Jakarta · Issue Thirty-Eight
Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat. May we all have the courage to follow our curiosity, because sometimes the smallest accidents lead us to the greatest discoveries.
Interview by HoM Haute · Photographs by Harvey Darian · Jakarta, 2026
Harum Oleh Memori
HoM Haute · Interviews · No. 38