Lyn Harris has been working in the fragrance industry for 14 years and founded Miller Harris in 2000. She spent 5 years training in France at one of the highly prestigious schools of the perfume elite in Paris and then Robertet in Grasse. It was while she was in Grasse that Lyn learned about the rare materials that form the souls of her scent portfolio today. Completing a very strict and detailed training has established Lyn Harris as one of the few classically trained noses in Britain. When Lyn talks about her fragrances and the rare ingredients she uses to create them, one realises the value of the years she spent being educated in this intriguing and rarefied field.
During Lyn's years in France she flung herself wholeheartedly into French perfumery, when she wasn't in the Robertet laboratories she was experimenting on her own, consuming herself in the rare raw materials available to her and constantly pushing the boundaries of her own creativity. It was during this important time that she defined her own style, which was to prove so important to her future career.
On returning to London Lyn set up a laboratory in her apartment. She was quickly recognised within the industry, being the only independent perfumer in the UK at the time led to commissions from leading fragrance houses and private clients, this was the beginning of her flourishing business.
When Lyn founded her own fragrance house 8 years later, she took her father's middle name, Miller, to create Miller Harris and her first shop in Needham Road was opened. It was here that Lyn launched the first four 'Classic' fragrances: 'Coeur de Fleur', 'Fleur Oriental', 'Citron Citron' and 'Terre de Bois'. With the laboratory in the basement of this charming shop, a classic Parisian style perfumery with black lacquered vintage cabinetry, the company grew swiftly and steadily.
Today it is a young family business with Lyn at the helm, blending fragrances both for the shop and private clients.
Julie Harris, Lyn's sister, and Christophe Michel, her partner, run the business which has grown from the early days of the bespoke line to the original shop in Needham Road, followed last year by a new store in Bruton Street and a global wholesale business in Europe, the States and Japan.
