For decades, fragrance has been sold through celebrity faces, glossy campaigns and beautiful bottles. But increasingly, the industry is beginning to recognize something deeper: scent isn’t just beauty. It’s memory. It’s emotion. It’s art.
That realization came to life at this year’s Fragrance Foundation Awards, where artist and illustrator Melissa Koby transformed one of fragrance’s biggest nights through her signature world of lush landscapes, soft femininity and emotional storytelling.
For Linda G. Levy, President of The Fragrance Foundation, the collaboration almost felt destined.
“Every year after the Fragrance Foundation Awards, I take time to completely withdraw from the world,” Levy tells EBONY. Returning from vacation last summer, she found herself unexpectedly drawn to another cultural institution.
“I kept feeling this whole thing about the U.S. Open. I was in a perfumer’s office and there was the U.S. Open booklet with Melissa Koby’s artwork on the cover. I fell in love with it.”
Rather than admire the work from afar, Levy reached out directly.
“The best thing about life is I just wrote to her in an email and said, ‘Could I Zoom with you?’” she recalls. “Within one short meeting, we knew we had to do it together. I don’t believe in fate or anything predetermined, but when you connect with a person on a spiritual and emotional level, it was meant to be.”
That connection ultimately helped shape the visual identity of the 2026 Fragrance Foundation Awards, furthering the organization’s mission of positioning fragrance as a cultural art form rather than simply a beauty category.
The feeling was mutual.
Already making history as the first Black artist commissioned to create the 2025 U.S. Open theme artwork, Koby understands the significance of entering spaces that have not traditionally centered Black artists.
“I feel honored and am so grateful for the opportunity,” she says. “I also feel a certain responsibility to create work that is interesting enough to not only spark conversation about the ‘why’ but also pieces that allow women to feel seen.”
Her work has become recognizable for celebrating Black women through softness rather than struggle, choosing tenderness as a form of power.
“I intentionally create pieces that celebrate and center women because as I grow older I’m learning that resting in femininity, ease and tenderness does carry power,” Koby explains. “I didn’t always believe these things had a place in the narrative around being Black. Now I’m intentionally creating work that highlights softness as joy and resistance.”
That philosophy naturally translated into the artwork she created for The Fragrance Foundation, an organization working to elevate fragrance alongside fashion, music and visual art.
When asked how she interprets scent through illustration, Koby doesn’t begin with perfume notes. She starts with memory.
“I love creating work filled with rolling hills, greenery, water and florals because my time spent in Jamaica as a kid are some of my first core memories,” she says. “These are the moments that bring me peace and I try to incorporate these moments into my work as much as possible.”
Although her artwork isn’t intended to literally depict the Caribbean, she says her Jamaican upbringing quietly shapes everything she creates.
“I think the Caribbean experience is rooted in resilience, cultural richness, community and an ability to find joy even amid adversity. The same can be said for the Black experience in America.”
That connection between memory and scent extends beyond landscapes.
“I’m drawn to coconut and vanilla,” Koby shares. “They remind me of my childhood and are my comfort notes.”
Another favorite is jasmine, tied to one of the most meaningful moments in her life.
“When I first met my husband, he introduced me to night blooming jasmine while we were on an evening walk. We were young and excited at the possibility of getting to know each other. Now I love jasmine in all varieties.”
As beauty brands increasingly collaborate with artists instead of simply using artwork to support product campaigns, Koby believes creative voices can fundamentally reshape how consumers experience a brand.
“When art leads the conversation, the product becomes more relatable and more human,” she says. “Emotion is inserted into the mix when the viewer gets to experience the perspective of the artist. Ultimately, the product, accompanied by the art, can become an experience and a point of connection.”
It’s the same evolution Levy saw when she first discovered Koby’s work.
“She’s a fabulous person,” Levy says.
For Koby, the partnership also represented a larger cultural shift. Historically, fragrance has often been viewed as an accessory to beauty, rather than an artistic medium in its own right.
“Both fragrance and art are built around storytelling and emotion and they both have the ability to transport people and create an experience,” she says. “I’m so happy I was able to be the connecting piece for this year’s award ceremony.”
In bringing Melissa Koby’s vision to one of the fragrance industry’s most prestigious events, The Fragrance Foundation did more than commission artwork. It helped reinforce the idea that scent, like painting, fashion and music, is another canvas for storytelling. And with a Black woman helping shape that narrative, the industry’s biggest night became just a little more colorful, more personal and more representative of the creative voices pushing it forward.