Press
These Perfumes Come With Notes of Blood, Latex and Floorboards - The New York Times
9 April 2024
The appeal of nontraditional scents isn’t simply their shock value; it’s also the nonconformist ideals they can signify. Channeling the D.I.Y. ethos of the punk musicians he idolizes, the self-taught, Seattle-based perfumer James Elliott, 49, strives to make fragrances that are disruptive, even political.
Indie Perfume Brand Spotlight : Filigree & Shadow • Basenotes
9 April 2024
“I would want a mash-up of Beatrice Arthur, Quentin Crisp, and Paul Lynde to play me in a film. Maybe separate the movie into three acts so each actor gets a chance to have fun with the role.”
Nocturnazine 03: Tribes
15 February 2024
Filigree & Shadow is one such fragrance house, whispering seductively to the sad bastard and romantic idealist in all of us. Perfumer and proprietor James Elliott was gracious enough to give us a glimpse into his tragically beautiful, fragrant world.
Purchase 03: Tribes on bandcamp
The Best (and Worst) Perfumes of 2023, Reviewed | HALOSCOPE
27 December 2023
Another allusive (and elusive) release, this time to a Stereolab French-language rarity. Sweet and tart in all the right places, Changer was designed to capture the swooning ephemerality of Lætitia Sadier’s voice.
Anxiety, credit cards and meth: when did fragrances get so abstract?
16 November 2023
Filigree & Shadow’s Sui Generis has notes of the drug methamphetamine. One wearer wrote that it “smells like the inside of a room that something terrible happened in… I was wearing this at a show that my friend met me at and when she gave me a hug she said, ‘Oh my god, did you pee yourself?’”
Editors Behind-the-Scenes: What I've Been Wearing This Autumn ~ Part 2
22 October 2023
While I was in Los Angeles earlier this year, I was fortunate to meet the perfumer from Filigree and Shadow, James Elliott. He has created a vast array of scents ranging from the aquatic and salty Notget to the lead crystal-like apple and pepper edge of I Made You a Mixtape. I was drawn deeply into the world of Gunet, which is, to me, a kind of swirling dark wind of ashes, sparks, orange rinds and melding states of anxiety and hopefulness.
How people are using perfumes to tap into their ‘shadow selves’
11 October 2023
As James Elliott, the nose behind innovative fragrance house Filigree & Shadow, explains: “Laurie Cabot of Salem, Massachusetts fame once wrote that wearing a pentacle around your neck was an added charm of protection because so many people fear what they don’t know. What is fragrance if not a charm?”
Filigree & Shadow: welcome, new WSB sponsor!
13 July 2023
Today we welcome West Seattle fragrance-maker Filigree & Shadow to the WSB sponsor team, joining other businesses advertising on WSB to let tens of thousands of neighbors know what they’re about.
Scent Fair LA, a Fragrant Festivity, to Waft This Weekend
5 May 2023
Travertine Atelier, Filigree & Shadow, and several other well-known purveyors of redolent, memory-summoning scents will be at the event, which is presented by The Institute of Art and Olfaction and Darin Klein & Friends.
EFFLUVIUM: EPISODE 22 - FILIGREE & SHADOW
14 February 2023
James Elliott, perfumer for Filigree & Shadow, is our special guest panelist this week
C86 Show | James Elliott - Filigree & Shadow
30 January 2023
James Elliott of Filigree & Shadow in conversation with David Eastaugh
Tajmeeli | For better moisturized skin, get these products
15 December 2021
The Filigree & Shadow - Sound & Fog body wash achieves a deep cleansing of the skin and removes all the various impurities and sediments, in addition to its effectiveness in moisturizing the skin in a way, increasing its elasticity and leaving it with an ultra-soft velvet touch. It derives this ability through a luxurious formula that combines several types of the best natural oils that support the skin and nourishing plant extracts.
Stephan Matthews | AURELIA by Filigree & Shadow
7 October 2020
We’re all guilty of judging a book by its cover, a restaurant by its reviews, or even a fragrance by its name. We form preconceived ideas based on the information that we’re given and, more often than not, find ourselves disagreeing with our first impression. This becomes doubly hard when you’re trying to pick a fragrance from a choice of thirty-three, but that’s exactly what I had to do with Seattle based perfume house Filigree & Shadow. Unknown to me the founder also included a Lucky Strike extra with my final choice and, powerless to resist, I’ve actually fallen under the spell of the musically inspired Aurelia.
Fragrantica | What Are Fragrantica Editors Wearing This Summer (2020)
25 July 2020
I MADE YOU A MIXTAPE was the cause of the first real smile after my dad’s untimely death. It made me, and continuously makes me, feel again a little bit like the normal me in a time when nothing is normal. The opening is a friendly slap to your face by a very tart and crisp apple, followed by a peppery, bittersweet herbal green — the most uplifting and energizing thing since the invention of coffee, basically. The drydown is an almost ridiculously good musky-ambery skin scent with a touch of leather and crisp air.
Fragrantica | What Fragrantica Writers Wore This Summer (2019)
31 August 2019
What sparked a lot of joy for me during this otherwise dreaded season, was the discovery of the little Seattle brand Filigree & Shadow. A while back I stumbled over the tweet “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,” showing a guy in a Grumpy Bear costume. The sight made me laugh on a bleak day, so I checked out the account, surprise, surprise, it was Filigree & Shadow’s twitter handle, an independent artisan label located in Seattle.
Seattle Bride | Pack It Up: Ten Honeymoon Essentials for Seattle Brides
25 January 2019
Etheriel huile de parfum, blended by James Elliott of Filigree & Shadow in South Seattle, is certified vegan and features a heady blend of tuberose, olive, jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood. Perfect for tossing into your carry-on, it comes in a TSA-friendly 15-milliliter glass vial.
Seattle Met | Seattle’s Indie Scent Makers Bottle Music and History, Sweet and Strange
19 December 2017
Natural fragrances, often heavy on the lavender and patchouli, bear a pretty folksy reputation. But for James Elliott of Filigree it’s less folk and more alternative rock and dream pop of the ’80s and ’90s. The local fragrance craftsman possesses a neurological condition known as synesthesia, allowing him to render music into aroma and vice versa.
The Fragrant Wanderer | Filigree Perfumes: Unequal EdP
23 October 2017
When I first heard and wrote about Filigree Perfumes on a visit to Seattle Niche Perfume and Beauty Boutique House Of Vartan in January of this year, I knew I was discovering a first-class natural perfumer in Seattle hometown-boy James Elliott and his thrilling creations. Unequal is an over-the-top white floral and is proof positive that small Indie natural perfumers can more than hold their own when running with the big dogs. Although here in the Northern Hemisphere the days are drawing in and winter is right around the corner, Unequal is a joyous hymn to the glories of Spring, specifically Jonquils, Lilac, and Lilies.
City Arts | Whiff of Inspiration
17 September 2017
Local perfumer James Elliott is the Jean-Baptiste Grenouille of Seattle. Or pretty damn close. (Sans the occasional murder, of course.) Elliott is possessed of a remarkable nose with powers unknown to most mortals. His nose has the almost preternatural skill to understand and express memories, emotions and places through the fragrances he formulates—scents like Sound & Fog, described as “the scented memories of coffee, tobacco, birch, licorice and sea salt,” and Lakmé, meant to invoke ballets and operas with notes of pink peppercorn and vegetal musk.
ÇaFleureBon | ÇaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery: James Elliott of Filigree Parfums + Smelling Music Synesthesia
4 December 2016
At my core I’m a misfit that believes the mind has every potential, therefore I’m willing to try almost anything once. And so five years ago I decided to make my own signature fragrance. My logic: How hard can it be to create a perfume? Five years later I had my answer: it’s difficult. Fun! But difficult.
