Perfumer. Founder of Damascent. London, United Kingdom. Established 2014.
For Wasim, scent has always been part of life. Growing up in Damascus meant being surrounded by the smell of bakeries, spice markets, and jasmine. The city itself became his first memory of perfume. When he moved to London, he carried that world with him and began searching for a way to express it through fragrance.
Damascent started in 2014 as a personal project. Wasim spent years experimenting with blends before deciding to study perfumery formally under John Stephen, the owner of Cotswold Perfumery. His mentorship gave Wasim the technical foundation he needed to translate memory into composition. After six years of work, his first perfume, Barada, was finished.
Barada was inspired by two places he calls home, Damascus and London. It combines the freshness of orange and peppermint with basil, patchouli, and jasmine from Damascus, before settling into warm wood and soft musk. The name comes from the Barada River that flows through Damascus, a symbol of continuity and connection.
Wasim approaches perfumery as storytelling. Each fragrance represents a chapter from his life or a collective emotion that connects people across cultures. He works carefully, focusing on how scent can evoke memory and feeling. His method is both intuitive and deliberate, combining emotion with structure.
Damascent was created to build bridges between cultures through scent. It reflects Wasim’s belief that perfume can be a universal language, one that speaks through emotion rather than words. Every creation is meant to take the wearer on a journey through places, memories, and shared human experiences.
“Each perfume I craft represents a chapter that captures a distinct time, place, or emotion.”
