Fragrance Friday: The Maker with Lev Glazman & Alina Roytberg
On this Fragrance Friday special of Skin Anarchy, host Dr. Ekta sits down with Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, the visionary founders of The Maker — a brand that beautifully merges hospitality, design, and perfumery into a seamless sensory experience. Known for their ability to transform everyday rituals into moments of storytelling, Lev and Alina have created a universe where fragrance doesn’t just scent the air — it shapes memories, fantasies, and emotions.
From Fresh to The Maker: A Journey of Visionaries
Before The Maker, Lev and Alina transformed the beauty industry with Fresh, a brand that pioneered sensorial skincare experiences. But as their creative vision grew, they began dreaming of something more expansive — a world where people could immerse themselves fully in their aesthetic, from the places they stay to the fragrances they wear.
That dream became The Maker Hotel in Hudson, New York. Designed as a living canvas of textures, stories, and experiences, each room is distinct, reflecting the idea that no two human experiences — or scents — are ever the same. Unlike standardized hotel chains, The Maker invites guests to step into an environment where every detail is intentional, and every corner offers discovery.
Lev’s Early Connection to Fragrance
Lev’s lifelong love affair with fragrance began in an unlikely place: Soviet Russia. With very limited access to perfumes, the only widely available scents were harsh, factory-made colognes. One transformative day, Lev’s mother acquired a smuggled French fragrance at a black market — paying the equivalent of an entire month’s salary for it.
“I watched her transform before my eyes. Her spirit lit up, and I realized fragrance could change not just how you smell, but how you feel.”
That moment ignited his belief in scent as a gateway to memory, fantasy, and human connection — a belief that underpins every creation at The Maker.
Fragrance as Storytelling
Unlike traditional perfumers who build fragrances through rigid note pyramids, Lev and Alina design fragrances around stories and emotions. Each bottle is a narrative, inviting wearers to step into a scene:
- Fire was inspired by the hotel’s lounge — two people sharing cocktails by a fireplace, Billie Holiday playing in the background, their connection deepened by warmth and smoke.
- Naked embodies intimacy at dawn, sheets infused with the mingled scents of two lovers, their pheromones creating a fragrance as personal as memory itself.
- Revel, the newest fragrance, celebrates joy and milestone moments. Inspired by weddings, anniversaries, and celebrations hosted at The Maker, it was also born from Lev’s experience crafting a bespoke scent for a bride who wanted her wedding day bottled forever.
For Lev and Alina, fragrance is never just about the notes — it’s about the story those notes tell.
Universal and Genderless Expression
The Maker fragrances are intentionally genderless and immersive. They are designed not to dictate identity, but to enhance it — inviting wearers to interpret them through their own memories and fantasies. This universality is part of what makes the collection so powerful: it resonates across audiences while still feeling deeply personal.
Alina explains that every fragrance begins with a place, a story, or a fantasy — real or imagined — and evolves into an olfactory experience that transcends gender, time, and even geography. This makes The Maker both approachable and transportive, bridging the gap between niche artistry and universal connection.
Beyond Scent: Building a World
The Maker is not simply a fragrance house or a boutique hotel — it is a sensory world. By pairing design, hospitality, and scent, Lev and Alina offer consumers a chance to slow down, savor, and reconnect with the beauty of experience. In a world where everything feels rushed and transactional, The Maker is an invitation to pause.
“Fragrance has the ability to create endorphins, to spark memories, to transport us. We wanted The Maker to be a place where that transformation happens every day.”
Why The Maker Matters
In today’s fast-paced fragrance landscape — often split between inaccessible luxury and oversaturated mass-market releases — The Maker offers something rare: scents that are both artistic and relatable. They are born from lived experience, crafted with intention, and designed to resonate universally.
With each bottle, Lev and Alina invite us into their world — a place where scent is memory, fantasy, and emotion, bottled for us to carry anywhere.
✨ Listen to the full episode of Skin Anarchy to hear Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg share the stories behind The Maker Hotel, the inspirations for their fragrance collection, and their philosophy of transforming scent into storytelling.