Giti Datt
Anthropologist| Perfumer | Founder
Interviewer: Courtney Boag
Cinematography: Stéphanie Austruy
Photos: Provided by Giti Datt
4 October, 2024
“To me, the notion of decolonising perfume is about reclaiming or rediscovering different approaches to crafting a scent...It’s around how we understand scents and what they do for us. If you look at old Indian references, they don’t often talk about scents in terms of the memory they evolve - that association between memory and scent is actually quite culturally specific, but rather they write about scent as being transformational - it has the power to change your mood”
Giti Datt
Giti Datt is a PhD candidate at the School of Culture, History & Language in the College of Asia and the Pacific, where she explores the Indian attar (perfume oil) industry through an in-depth ethnographic lens. Her research examines attars not just as commodities but as cultural artifacts that hold deep significance for the artisans, traders, and consumers who sustain this centuries-old craft.
With nearly a decade of experience as a perfumer and founder of Guna working with attars and natural aromatics, Giti brings a rare combination of technical expertise and anthropological curiosity to her research. Her firsthand knowledge of the raw materials, traditional techniques, and sensory landscapes of perfumery allows her to engage deeply with the people behind the industry, offering an insider’s perspective on a world often overlooked in mainstream discussions about fragrance and material culture.
Beyond perfumery, Giti has spent much of her career in the not-for-profit sector, focusing on grassroots community initiatives. This background informs her research approach, emphasising the voices of those who are often excluded from global narratives about craftsmanship and trade. She is particularly interested in how traditional perfume-making practices persist and evolve amidst modernisation, globalisation, and shifting consumer trends.
Her work sits at the intersection of anthropology, sensory studies, and economic ethnography, offering fresh insights into how materials like attar shape identity, memory, and belonging. Through her research, Giti hopes to foster a greater appreciation for the attar industry—not only as a site of historical and cultural significance but also as a dynamic ecosystem of human creativity, labor, and skill.
Interested to learn more about Giti’s research? Follow her work here.
Support Giti’s work by checking out her beautiful perfumes and products at Guna Natural. Be sure to watch out for any of Giti’s future events, where you will be taken on a sensory experience to remember.
Follow Giti on socials via @gitidatt
Support Giti’s work by checking out her beautiful perfumes and products at Guna Natural. Be sure to watch out for any of Giti’s future events, where you will be taken on a sensory experience to remember.
Follow Giti on socials via @gitidatt