178. JAKE LEVY & MATT BELANGER ~ How did Stéle Become a Household Name?
Perfume Room
Emma Vernon
4.9 • 618 Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A lot can happen in a year. Since opening its Williamsburg doors last summer, Stéle has added a second location, dropped 100(!) fragrances in a single day, and moonlights as Nolita's hottest millennial nightclub (stay tuned for pt. 2: the Pacha-to-Stéle Fri night pipeline).
Despite the (well-deserved) buzz, founders Jake Levy and Matt Belanger remain steadfast in their commitment to artisanal, small-batch, offbeat scents.
So how did they do it? What makes a Stéle scent? What were the roses and thorns on the way to the top? And most importantly, what's next? All ahead in this week's ep!
PLUS: A CAN’T-MISS, JUICY ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HAS BEEN A REALLY HARD SECRET TO KEEP!!! (more details coming later this week!!!)
FOLLOW: stelenewyork
SHOP: stele.shop
FULL VIDEO EPISODE: live on Substack this Friday
SMELL CLUB TIX: aromaticherbssmellclub.eventbrite.com
FRAGS MENTIONED:
Atelier Materi Cedre Figalia*, Carl Kling Fig Nuit, Naomi Goodsir Iris Cendre, Clue Perfumery Dandelion Butter, January Scent Project, Clue Perfumery, Oddity, Perfumer H Dandelion, Maison d'Etto, Raconteur, Ormaie, Stora Skuggan, Le PERE par Blaise Mautin, Le Labo Santal 33, Britney Spears, The Raconteur: No Tell Motel, Daintree Rain Tea, Cloud 9 Juice, Killr Vanillr; Arquiste Grove by the Sea, Circle of Lim Lost Generation, Toskovat Inexcusable Evil, Sylhouette Molotov Cocktail, Arquiste Tropical, Tada Paradiso, Pigmentarium: Murmur, Erotikon, Paradiso; Wolf Brothers Wolf, Andrea Maack Muse, Clue Perfumery Dandelion Butter
* = gifted in PR
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the perfume room. I have three different scents on my skin. All of them have a fig-like aspect, different in all three. And these are all distinct senseents from one another. However, it was kind of |
| 0:21.0 | like a domino effect. Like I put the first one on and I was like, hmm, I need to smell the second one right |
| 0:24.6 | now. And then I put the second one on and I was like, ooh, I need to smell this third one. So the three cents that I'm currently wearing in the order that I put them on are first, Sedrophagalia from atelier materie, then I put on Fignui from Carl Kling, and then I put on the newest |
| 0:39.7 | Clue perfumery |
| 0:40.6 | launch, Dandelion Butter. So the first one, as I mentioned, was Sartes-Figalia. And I have been wearing |
| 0:46.1 | this a lot the summer. And this is kind of nostalgic for me because this was a fragrance that I |
| 0:50.3 | actually discovered in Stelle Williamsburg around a year ago. And I realized in recording this episode, spoiler alert, the guests are the Stell co-founders, |
| 0:58.6 | more on that in a minute. |
| 1:00.0 | But I haven't been to the Williamsburg location in so many months. |
| 1:04.0 | And I feel nostalgic for like my early perfume discoveries in that store. |
| 1:10.2 | Anyway, I had loved that scent when I smelled it, |
| 1:13.0 | never stopped thinking about it. You know fig is a hard note for me. And this was a fig that just |
| 1:17.5 | immediately passed all of my fig tests. I love it. And then Atelier Matt Terry generously reached out |
| 1:22.9 | and gifted me a bottle of it. And this has been such a go-to in these sort of like hot, humid summer days. |
| 1:31.0 | And I just want to add some context, some color, okay? |
| 1:33.3 | While I have such appreciation for scents like Dipique Philosikos or Diazendurgo de Bacer, |
| 1:39.3 | I don't personally wear either of them. |
| 1:41.2 | It's just not how I like my fig. |
| 1:44.0 | Even though those are wonderful, |
| 1:45.6 | lactonic green figs, there's something in them in both of those that feels like cloying for me |
| 1:51.6 | to just like smell in the air or to wear on my skin. And Cedrigalia is verdant enough and it's |
| 1:56.7 | vegetal enough that it doesn't do that. It really feels like it leans into that sort of like fig |
... |
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