Elle & Tuileries

Trudon has long held a special place in the world of considered interiors and in the homes and studios of the creatives we admire most.

To celebrate this connection, we sat down with three of our favourite people in the industry—designers and makers whose taste we trust—to talk about the Trudon scents they return to, and the role fragrance plays in the spaces they create and inhabit.

Next in our series is Elle Föenander—gallerist, bass player, and the sharp eye behind Föenander Galleries, tucked into Parnell's Faraday Street in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau. Equal parts creative and curator, Elle has built a gallery known for its thoughtful programme and distinctive point of view. 

Elle's path to the art world traces back to a series of quietly pivotal moments: a drawing of her father's seen at age three, a set of watercolour paints at five, and a Yayoi Kusama installation at fifteen that, as she puts it, took decades to fully appreciate.

By thirty, she'd left a career in property to open the gallery she'd always been building towards. Since 2018, Föenander Galleries has become one of Auckland's most compelling destinations for contemporary art. A space where emerging voices sit alongside established names, and where every visit offers something genuinely new. Representing artists including Lottie Consalvo, Roger Mortimer, and Israel Tangaroa Birch, Elle has built a programme defined not by trend, but by conviction.

Her approach to collecting is refreshingly direct: buy what you connect with, even—especially—if you can't immediately explain why. It's a philosophy that runs through every corner of the gallery. To us, Elle embodies exactly the kind of considered living that Trudon was made for.

Below is a Q&A we did with Elle to further understand her relationship with scent, in particular Tuileries by Trudon. 

Is there a scent that reminds you of home?

The olfactory is perhaps the strongest of senses when it comes to memory and emotion... which for me, have played a fundamental role in defining home. I have relocated a few times and so 'home' is no one place. My mother's cooking is the smell of home, my husband's cologne, my sister's baking, the scent of my cat, a jasmine plant flowering in summer. I love the paradox of scent in how it captures life at its most visceral and most mythical.

Is there a particular moment or ritual in your day when scent plays a role?

Lighting the fire has become something of a daily ritual, the smell of burning timber transitions the day to night. It's a psychological cue to stop crolling through mental to-do list, and sometimes it even works!

What drew you to Tuileries?

The symbolism. The Jardin des Tuilleries is home to the museum l’Orangerie, where Monet's celebrated Water Lilies live. It is a place where history, architecture, horticulture, and art converge with impeccable style.