New Fragrant Desires

 Immersed as I've been in one capacity or another (student, teacher) in the academic division of the year, putting September 1st as the signpost of an annual rebirth, and rebaptizing myself into the holy waters of knowledge, so to speak, autumn is my favorite time of the year. Not only is the feeling of organizing new schedules, new modes of the everyday, new stimuli to engage my mental capabilities, but it's also the perfect backdrop for fragrance testing and wearing. After the torpor of the heatwave in the city, the long swims of vacation when fragrance is not really necessary, and the languor of serene and lazy-smelling fragrances of holidays, this period is rejuvenating olfactorily. I therefore set out with a renewed interest in the afición! 

Fragrances old and new which caught my eye lately

Korres Vetiver Root

Recently I retried this on my skin and on the sleeves of my light windbreaker. Two days later I was still smelling it going strong, in that nevertheless mannered way of solid persistence that never overextends its welcome. Impressive. Previously circulating as Vetiver root, Green tea, Cedarwood -don't you just love it when they put the notes on the bottle- it combines the lavender/amber chord we so associate with good ol' masculine cleanliness and grooming. A combination I find irresistible myself. And one which I also want to borrow. A bottle of this vetiver fragrance is going on my To Buy list. 

Dana Tabu

No treatise or fragrance review is necessary for this bold vintage Tabu by Dana scent. The patchouli-carnation chord is reverberating in my mind. Its warmth and come hither is calling me for winter ahead. I had this and I want it back again. I definitely want to find the older version in the violin bottle, however, preferably a smaller size in order to savor. 

Milano Fragranze Basilica

For a genre so populated with specimens of varying intensity and adherence to try frankincense oil, which is very different from the impression of incense as a general notion, Basilica is a fragrance that manages to mingle the essence of the oil with the ambience of the liturgical place where said oil is meant to be used. In short, the temple congregation, a human made atmosphere, which however seems to transport you above. The note of snuffed out candles is lovely. The inspiration behind the fragrance is the Basilica di Sant' Ambrogio in Milan, a roman architecture marvel.  

Shanghai Tang Golden Lily

I've got this on my list for some years now and it's never crossed my path since its first sampling. I wonder why I haven't searched for it more energetically as I truly appreciate its floral spicy message so well. Brand scarcity and its retro ambience make it a rarity in fragrance communities, which narrows down its swapping and reselling potential, I guess. It's a clarity and balance feat, a beauty. We need these in late autumn, don't we. 

pic borrowed from fashion for lunch

Win an Exclusive Invitation to "The Garden of Wonders, a Journey Through Scents"

It is my great honor to be able to invite you in the latest project I have been involved in and which has occupied a lot of my time this past winter, as evidenced by the irregular posting on this blog.
The Garden of Wonders, a Journey Through Scents is a project by the Be Open Foundation a creative think tank organized in the historical Orto Botanico di Brera in Milan, within Energy for Creativity, this spring at the context of Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. The announcement is posted on this link.

The exhibition set up is designed by famous Italian architect Ferrucio Laviani who has created a "diffused museum" where all parts will communicate with each other and with the Garden area.
The set up includes 3 major installations: The Houses of Wonders, resurrecting 8 historical perfume houses with an emphasis on the design & context of their course presented through the sensitivity of 8 art directors; A Journey Through Scents, an interactive promenade along the historical milestones of perfumery with olfactory fountains that pour replications of these "wonders" and of the main olfactory "styles", as well as a concise map of the provenance of raw materials and evolution of extraction techniques ; and A Vision in a Box which focuses on the design & packaging elements in perfumery and the various twists it can communicate in the contemporary art world.

To give you an idea:

"Piero Lissoni's idea is developed around the title Lundborg and the laboratory of a “nose”: the centre of the set up is a perfume lab sculpture made of stills, ampoules, vases with black orchids and hanging plants, chemical glasses in huge proportions so to evoke the story of the brand and the working place where  John Marlie Lundborg created his famous Violette Flor in 1860. The room is then covered with two big and light bookshelves with backlight panels to enhance the shapes of the bottles.
Lissoni explains: “The room is filled with  700 bottles in 4 different vesrions; these have all been made specifically for the exhibition taking the inspiration from the brands's most famous ones and produced just like in the old days”.
The two installations above mentioned, together with the ones by Fernando and Humberto Campana, Dimore Studio, Front, Jaime Hayon, Jean-Marie Massaud and Nendo  will be within a diffused museum created by Ferruccio Laviani.
The Garden of Wonders is inspired by the history of perfume and the history of raw materials from all over the world; each perfume represented a real and imaginary journey of goods and cultures making it an ante litteram global product. In more recent years the relationship between fragrances and the look of the packages has become more and more intense, to such an extent that it has created well-defined brand identities, some of which are still used today."

The Garden of Wonders, a Journey Through Scents
13-19 April 2015 h.10-23 (special preview during Milan Design Week)
20 April-24 May 2015 h.10-22

The contributors of The Garden of Wonders, A Journey of Scents are:
Tord Boontje, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Dimorestudio, Front, Jaime Hayon, Lissoni Associati, Jean Marie Massaud, Nendo, Gerald Ghislain, Elena Vosnaki, Werner Aisslinger, Analogia Project, Philippe Bestenheider, GamFratesi, Lucidi Pevere, Karim Mekhtigian, Mist-o, Ludovica + Roberto palomba, Victor Vasilev, and Thukral & Tagra.

Follow Be Open Foundation on Facebook. Watch the news on the news page of Be Open.

I have 10 exclusive invitations to be distributed to 10 lucky winners who will post a comment below for a draw. Winners announced tomorrow evening. 

Although I will be traveling by the end of the week on perfumed routes, there will also be another draw for a special Easter prize for 5 lucky readers shortly, so stay tuned on Perfume Shrine.