Perfumer. Founder of Sylhouette. Art and Olfaction Winner 2024.
Sy Truong did not grow up surrounded by perfume. Raised in Vietnam in a middle-class family, scent was not part of daily life. That changed when his father gave him a bottle of Alien by Thierry Mugler at fifteen.
Years later, he discovered Diary of a Nose in a secondhand bookstore. It opened a door. He left fashion behind and followed the path into perfumery—without teachers, without shortcuts, and without turning back.
There were no perfumery schools in Vietnam. No access to raw materials beyond basic essential oils. Sy taught himself everything—from books, late-night forums, and years of practice. He imported ingredients from France and the United States to understand how materials behave. He learned slowly, by hand. The way he still prefers to work.
His debut fragrance, Molotov Cocktail, was not created to smell beautiful.
It was a protest. Inspired by the war in Ukraine and the death of a close friend, it captured the scent of conflict—blood, metal, and burnt rubber.
Sy describes it as a message in a bottle. Not wearable. Not polite. Just necessary.
It became the first Vietnamese fragrance to win the Art and Olfaction Award.
Sy is not interested in perfumes that feel safe. He works with tension, contrast, and bold synthetics.
Molecules like IsoButyl Quinoline are part of his signature—so much so that he has one tattooed on his arm.
He builds from emotion first, then edits with structure. His compositions rarely follow rules. But they always follow feeling. first place.
Sylhouette is Sy’s personal world in perfume. It is built from drama, poetry, and memory.
He draws from literature, music, and decay.
The next collection, Le Vanité, explores time, death, and beauty without permanence. To Sy, perfume is not commercial. It is personal. Each bottle holds something unfinished.
“I want my perfumes to make people think. Even if they never wear them.”
