Bauhaus Influence on Perfumery

February 6, 2019February 3, 2019 / katesplace356115470 / 30 Comments

Kate Apted

Hey there APJ good lookers!

Bauhaus celebrates its first centenary this year. Its influence is all around us in all aspects of life. Quality products with pleasing aesthetics for the everyday people. It is an ethos seemingly embraced by many of our most prominent industry leaders. Think of Ikea, the humble Nissan car, Apple’s take from Braun household item designs and the ubiquitous road sign typography. But what effect, if any, did the Gropius managed movement have on perfumery?

Bauhaus Influence on Perfumery

© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas

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Being John Biebel.

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 / katesplace356115470 / 25 Comments

Kate Apted

Years ago I saw a quirky film called ‘Being John Malkovich’. It involved a portal to enable people to enter the mind of John Malkovich, the esteemed actor. Not being in the least arty myself, I am intrigued at how artists think, and such a literal portal would allow me to enter an artist’s mind. Kind of creepy an idea, I know, but it would be the closest I could get to producing art and the thought processes that occur in its production.

Of all the perfumers whose work I admire, it comes as no surprise to me that many are multi media artists. Teone Reinthal paints and works with video production, Andy Tauer draws and is involved in his entire image, and John Biebel works in IT and paints in a variety of styles.

John is the visionary of a brand called January Scent Project. He has produced 5 eau de parfums and 2 oils to date.

You may know of John from his Fragrantica articles and editorial contributions. I think it was through Ida Meister’s 2016 Fragrantica interview of John I first learned of John’s perfumes (link here). Smitten with Ida’s operatic writing style, I promptly ordered a sample set of John’s first three scents.

Ida Meister and John Biebel. Photo credit: Fragrantica.

The names of these scents give away the style of perfumery John has employed. Eiderantker, Smolderose and Selperniku are not of French provenance, in name and smell. They are decidedly modern, almost avant garde and come from John’s soul. Only someone like John could imagine such blends of notes and make them work. John has pushed the limits of what contemporary perfumery is capable of and I look forward to every scent he creates.

Photo credit: Fragrantica

I must admit I felt incredibly challenged by both Eiderantler and Selperniku. I spent a good week with each of them and studied every nuance like I do any building by Tadao Ando. Complexity abounds in each sniff, though I am reaching for a unified, simplified understanding I can grasp in one smell. John’s scents are not like that. From afar, one can determine they are JSP scents, but up close, each one brings a near sensory overload. A most welcome feature indeed, for JSP scents are not mundane in any way.

I find Selperniku a textural and sensory delight. In fact, all John’s scents are, but Selperniku is more so. It contains seemingly competitive notes, such as salt, tangy apricot, creamy butter and a host of things that should bump against each other in ways to repel, but they do not. I seek out the taste of the salt, I want to feel the sun kissed fuzzy skin of the apricots and I think of that rich butter melting between my fingers. Together, Selperniku has me come back for more; wanting to discover what else lies beneath.

Then there is the decadent, sensual, smoky Smolderose. Funnily, I love the scent more after I have worn it to bed and it lingers on my pillow case in the morning. My skin must amplify the smoke and the rose to make an alluring scent that is intensely boudoir. Not a high top note in sight, yet its bassy heft is complete.

John’s more recent release, Vaporocindro, is a light hearted play on crisp green notes, waxy lilac that reads violet, and florals. It flits around in a non linear way and catches notes in the same way the sun is reflected off shiny surfaces on a warm summer morning. This an aspect of John that took me by surprise; especially as his next release was a quiet, masculine, reflective scent.

Mr Biebel has me intrigued as to what lies inside his mind. If these cacophonous, contemplative, Jackson Pollckesque scents came from within, what more exists in that magnificent mind of his? It has to suffice that the closest I will get to experiencing what it is to be John Biebel is to smother myself in one of his perfumes and allow my own mind to wander where it will. Maybe that is the point to JSP? To have me want to discover what lies within me and concern myself less with others?

Have you tried any of John’s January Scent Project perfumes? If so, what do you take from them? And what of the film, Being John Malkovich?

Til next time, droogies,

Kate xx

NEW! NEW! NEW! Miller et Bertaux

May 1, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 48 Comments

Portia

Hi there Fragrance Family,

One of the houses that flies under everyones radar is Miller et Bertaux. I really love their lack of trend following and general wearable outrageousness. From people so obviously Arty they work really well to create unusual, challenging, mood altering scents that also can be worn as a daily go-to. My personal thought is that spritz volume makes the difference. When I’m home alone sometimes I do 15 chest spritzes so they fumes engulf me, it’s really trippy. In the world though my usual 5 or 6 spritzes is ample, for some the openings could still be formidable.

At Esxence in Milan this year as I was wandering through the overwhelming tunnel of scent I spied the miller et Beaux stand. Fortuitously the gent manning it was available and I wanted to tell him how much I loved their work. When I’m overwhelmed my social ability goes right out the window and so I walked up and blurted out with zero preamble how much I loved their brand and that I’d paid retail for three of their scents, and also had a backup of A Quiet Morning because something so exquisitely me could never last. So this handsome smiling man offers me the newest bottle in their range, that they’re launching. Embarrassed, I declined but when he offered a full set of the Miller et Bertaux range samples I jumped, knowing you guys would LOVE to try them too.

There is a part of me that associates this fragrance house with what niche could have been if greed, laziness and cynicism didn’t become the overriding factors.

Libertine has the range in Australia
Aedes has the range in the USA

Here’s a snapshot of the ones I’m giving away today. Many reviews to follow.

Miller et Bertaux

Fragrantica

New Study/Postcard 2017: Opening citrus is air mail adventure, the hearts warm fig is the arrival and dry down is a woodsy/sweet-fig-milk that could be the postcard on the fridge in the kitchen that gets looked at and brings a smile.

A Quiet Morning 2008: This saffron, turmeric, woods fragrance doesn’t seem so new nearly 10 years from its inception but though the imitators have tried they miss the sheer effortlessness and comfort of wearing A Quiet Morning.

Shanti Shanti 2008: Shanti (from Sanskrit शान्तिः śāntiḥ) means peace, rest. Rose, iris, spices and sandalwood, all backed by patchouli. It opens so cool and dewy before sizzling through the heart to a creamy, earthbound base.

For You/Parfum Trouvé EdP 1 2006: Sweet and spicy like Indian cooking, yet a dewy rose keeps the whole fragrance cool. Once the woods flow through they stay focused and linear till dry down. The perfumes idea is to be a base/dry down.

Spiritus/Land EdP 2 2006: Ahhhh, new incense sticks, soap and spices. Clean without the well worn connotations of marine and citrus. Like the ghosts of Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Spiritus/Land floats through and above the earth.

Green, Green, Green and Green EdP 3 2006: HA! Surprise, surprise this is a super green fragrance, yet through all the broken leaf and twig shines some soft focus florals and sweet herbs. A soaring green, like the birds smell at the top of trees.

Miller et Berceaux GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week there will be 1 winner who will receive:
1 x set of Carded Manufacturers Samples of the above
NB: The A Quiet Morning will be a decant from my bottle
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Please tell us in the comments which of the above Miller et Bertaux scents most interested you?

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Wednesday 3rd May 2017 10pm Australian EdsT and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Wednesday 10th May 2017 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit

Just Let Go: 5 Decor Worries to Abandon: Design Sponge

April 22, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Portia

Hey APJ,

Do you ever read something that may or may not be related to anything in your life particularly and suddenly you feel as if this writer has taken an iron to the wrinkly thinking in your head and smoothed it out in one fell swoop? So that happened for me this week. I have been following, and reading, Design Sponge for years. It’s a great drop in design blog that feels so unpretentious and sensible, while still bringing me mind blowing ideas in a short burst of inspiration.

Actually, I think these guys are the ones who took me out of trying to create Belle, Vogue Living and IKEA rooms. They helped me to understand that the things in my home have to work for my very specific mindset and life. Hardly an earth shattering epiphany, and ultimately a very first world problem, but it has made decorating my space infinitely easier.

You might notice below that Jin is sleeping in our bed. I had to sneak in and get this shot while he was snoring his heart out.

It has allowed me to really think about my eclectic mix of new, old, gifted, collected & hand me down and then how I can best fit it all into a home. Especially now that I’m sharing that home with an equal contender and pets.

Sorry for the light reflections.

TBH though Jin is happy as long as he has a huge TV with as many channel choices and extras as possible, a big comfortable couch with a table of some sort in front for food, a good mattress on the bed, functioning kitchen and a compact, easy clean bathroom. He has brought a few art pieces on our travels that adorn walls and has loads of kitchen gadgets but seriously, he would be happy in a bachelor flat with bed for couch.

Jin built me the coat rack and photo rail in our hallway. Our combined family, closest friends and a couple of superstar autographs welcome you to our home. I love it so much.

This is just some of the stuff we have hanging on the walls. They date from the 1960s and my parents choices to 21st century. It’s mainly Australian but there are a Liz Zorn, Dali and Greg Spalenka from overseas, among others.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is so you can go check this piece in Design Sponge. It will take you about 5 minutes to read and could well change the way you live. Or not……

You’re welcome,
Portia xx

Just Let Go: 5 Decor Worries to Abandon: Design Sponge

Just Let Go: 5 Decor Worries to Abandon

Dior Lady Art – Ian Davenport Interview

January 14, 2017 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Portia

Hi Fashion Fumies,

Here we find an interesting collaboration for the new DIOR handbags. Artist Ian Davenport.

Many of Davenport’s works are made by pouring paint onto a tilted surface and letting gravity spread the paint over the surface.[7] He has usually worked on medium density fibreboard rather than canvas, and most often employs household gloss paint, meaning the viewer can see their own reflection in the work. He has made a number of diptychs and triptychs as well as single works. Wikipedia

Ian Davenport

Below video Ian Davenport explains how he and DIOR created pieces that basically have me foaming at the mouth with desire. DIOR Lady is a handbag style, Lady Art are the ones done in collaboration with artists, very cool.

Check this out. AMAZING!
Portia xx

Nocturne. Ainslie Walker for Alexi Freeman

July 5, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hello my favourite fragrant folk!

Earlier this year I developed a fragrance to accompany the scenic launch of Australian fashion designer, Alexi Freeman’s latest collection. The scent was released ambiently during the catwalk showing of White Noise trans-seasonal 2016 on the clifftops at MONA Museum, Hobart – possibly the most southern and most scenic catwalk in fashion history!

“As daylight shifts to the still of night, silhouettes move upon a cliff face. Ultra violet light reflects from pale, voluminous and translucent threads. Nearby vineyard fruits sweeten the air. Vapor escapes from shimmering bitumen. White leather treads, pulsing the earths surface. Light amber woods waft upwards carrying the salted air if the river towards us. Soon darkness reigns, broken only by the glimmer of the star filled sky”

MONA is one of the worlds most iconic Art Museums. I am honored to have been the first ‘fragrance artist’ to scent the iconic outdoor space. Here’s hoping there will be more scent events at MONA in the future! Over a few glasses of the local Pinot Noir I talked to owner, art collector David Walsh, discussing ‘scent as art.’ David finds wearing perfume “misleading.” He likes to smell the “natural scent of a person,” deeming it sexy, rather than “a false mask that wears off and is no longer there in the morning.” We discussed basic instincts and attraction in humans and the potential to find a lover attractive due to their natural odor and how wearing fragrance can potentially mess with proceedings and attract the wrong person! (The concept of odiferous ‘beer goggles?!’)

The event was curated by Brian Ritchie, ex-bassist for The Violent Femmes. Each day as he passed by me he opened his collar for a few squirts of Nocturne and a giggle. He loved it and even read it’s description out for the whole crowd!! (My teenage-90s-grunge inner child SQUEALED all the while, believe me!)

Morag from Aussie Fragrance Network Facebook Group came along to the show with her daughter and here she describes the evening:

“We walked uphill from the bitumen car park past lawns and sculptures. Looking out over the river we watched the mix of fashionistas and conventionally styled audience members drift in. We took our seats on heated benches beneath the ** installation, to wait for the fashion show to begin.
**not-allowed-to-mention-the-artist’s-name-due-to-marketing-restrictions

We basked in the change from daylight to night, watching the silhouette of gum trees against a darkening sky. The sculpture’s coloured lights shifted through the rainbow, whilst seamlessly melding with the sky.

All the while, the air was filled with colour, Ainslie Walker’s Nocturne. Rich, luscious fruits and florals – deeply velvet. Byron Meyer produced accompanying soundscapes which in turn carried ethereal gowns, white on white, floating and gliding past us: Alexi Freeman’s White Noise collection. Shorts and tank tops, beautiful gauzy dresses over bodysuits threaded with silver and textural contrasts of leather and perspex glowed under UV, surrounded by the darkness of night.

A feast for all the senses. A subtle fusing and truly experiential. A sensory experience full of provocation.

Wearing Ainslie’s Nocturne, I am transported to that evening and beyond. Because what I smelt that night was just the beginning. On the skin, the scent is much much more. After the voluptuous ripeness dissipates, there is a calm quiet center of gentle leather and musk. The easing into the night after a spectacular sunset.”

Nocturne. Ainslie Walker for Alexi Freeman

APJ READERS OFFER: contact Ainslie Walker to order sampler in card, including postage for $20

Nocturne limited edition candle from Ainslie Walker or Alexi Freeman’s Studio in Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Limited edition Nocturne parfum via emailing ainslie@ainsliewalker.com

PS big thanks to Morag for her support and story xx

Please tell me about a scent installation you’ve attended?

Xx Ainslie

All Photos donated by Ainslie Walker

A mixed tape from Geza Schoen? Ephemera by Unsound

April 19, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 4 Comments

Post by Ainslie Walker

Hi Fumees! Hope you are well?

I am a big fan of nose, Geza Schoen’s work, which includes creation of the Eccentric Molecules collection, many Ormonde Jayne fragrances, Beautiful Mind Series, the naughty Kinski and plenty beyond.

Late last year I observed Geza was working on a project linking sound and scent, so I reached out and got in touch. A week later I received three fragrances with specific and intriguing instructions, printed on transparent paper, explaining the method behind creating the fragrances and allowing me to follow the same journey as the nose himself.

A mixed tape from Geza Schoen?

The project was called Ephemera, the initiative of Unsound – one of the worlds leading electronic and experimental music festivals.

The letter clearly indicated not to open the fragrances, instead diverting me to a link, suggesting I also pop on some headphones:

Clicking on the first video is a track by Steve Goodman (aka Kode9) which inspired Geza to create the fragrance ‘Bass” I open the fragrance whilst listening and watching the video by Marcel Weber. With bass sounds interspersed with crackling white noise, I inhale and smell earthy woods, dirty, smoky cigar, rum, lapsang souchong tea, mossy robust leather and castoreum seeping into my olfactory system. I see tan/reddish brown but I feel a dark green presence too…something slightly soapy. A woody, kind of dirty, aromatic.

Neutralizing my nose I pop on the second track called “Drone” by Tim Hecker, whilst smelling the accompanying fragrance and watching the video, which I feel is a perfect match. Otherworldly…out-of-spacey and surreal to begin with visually…I hear an ethereal airiness in the music. Aldehydes sparkle and an almost citrus sharpness mix in a more hyper-real way with juniper trees, cold, possibly covered in snow…and there’s some definitely ‘unnatural’ aspects. Earthy and in time, getting more oily and rounded. Notes of patchouli, ambergris and vetiver pass by leaving a kind of cannabis and papyrus scent, which is not unpleasant, but strange.

After a third break, Noise by Ben Frost begins dry, peppered and pencil case-like-cedarwood with a saffron sour tang. Birch tar smoulders, reminding me of the scent after an Aussie bushfire, very thick and ashy in its nature. (Seen before in Naomi Goodsir’s Bois d’Ascese, but still quite different) Continuing smelling the ash turns a little like welding, metallic. The notes make total sense when watching the film, which to me looks like X-rayed smoke!!

Wearability: I like Bass best, followed by Noise, then Drone (based on the drydown on my skin after an hour or so)

Interestingly the bottles are handmade in Krakow (see my article involving Polish glass and vodka tasting for APJ last year: Borscht, Vodka and Tears) I like them a lot, especially the design printed on the thick glass.

Naomi Goodsir, Andrea Maack, Byredo, By Kilian, Nasomatto and Comme de Garcons fans, these will most certainly be up your street

Which of the three fragrances do you want to try the most and why? What scents do you have at home that you would match to the videos/music?

Dark by Julien Rasquinet for Andrea Maack 2011

February 6, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

Post by Portia

Hiya Frag Heads!

I am surprised constantly that there isn’t more noise online about Andrea Maack and her fragrances. Early on there was some chatter about them being derivative but I’m yet to discover a scent that smells markedly like an Andrea Maack. Of course there are notes that correspond, even accords, but the whole fragrances I find distinctive enough to set them well apart even from their most obvious comparisons. Maacks are sometimes challenging and yet ever so wearable. comfortably weird. Yes, I know I’m in the minority here.

Dark by Andrea Maack 2011

Dark by Julien Rasquinet

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Petitgrain, mandarin orange, pink pepper, lemon tree, aldehydes, rose, metallic notes, Granny Smith apple, amber, African orange flower, Virginia cedar

This is a sample that I’ve had for a while and keep getting out, spritzing and putting away.

Dark. Sparkling sweet citrus and cold water in opening. Reminding me of a zinging, sharp, dew spotted early morning at sunrise in very early spring. There is a feeling of briskness and action which quickly morphs into fruity (apple and melon?) rose and a cold metal spoon in your mouth. Or the first sip from an icy cold can of fizzy drink. The fruits become more prominent towards the heart, they are just out of the fridge, and the rose becomes air conditioned. This is a modern metallic radiant rose. The most close resemblance from my memory (not perfect) is modern Eternity Woman by Calvin Klein, yet nothing like it.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

After some time Dark gets a Pez/sherbet feeling that makes me smile, especially floating over the metal rose from Mars.Cruising into dry down the rose becomes colder like it’s frozen solid but curiously warmth surrounds it, the amber brings in a hint of warm resins that take us to the end.

I can see how anyone who wants their fragrant ride to be smooth and cohesive with the department store finish would find Dark disjointed and surreal but that’s one of the things that I really enjoy. If wearing fragrance for my own pleasure then Dark is an excellent choice and it’s not so powerful that people around you will be questioning or freaked out, though longevity is nuclear.

Quietly and subversively weird, perfect.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Bonkers About Perfume
LuckyScent has $135/50ml + Samples
Libertine has $185/50ml

Do you have a favourite under rated house? Which one and why?
Portia xx

Guerlain x JonOne – The Dark and Wild Becoming: Video

January 14, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Portia

Hi there Guerlainophiles,

You’ve probably seen the newest way to wear your bee bottle. Custom painted by artist JonOne. They are priced far out of reach of the normal mortals pocket but they are beautiful and utterly desirable. I find myself torn. Should I eat this year and keep my lovely home, or should I buy a JonOne Bee Bottle?

Guerlain

It’s a trifle at €9000 and this startling orange one is filed chock full of Rose Barbare, there is blue for Shalimar and pink for La Petite Robe Noire.

Maybe not, for me. Still the video is sensational. So full of existential artist angst.
Enjoy.
Portia xx

Guerlain x JonOne – The Dark and Wild Becoming

Tommi Sooni: R.I.P.

December 3, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 20 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey APJ Crew,

Recently I grabbed out my bottle of Eau de Tommi Sooni I and was happily spritzing when I thought it was time to revisit the house for the blog. They’re an Aussie crew making lovely vintage inspired fragrances for the modern perfumista and I had been a bit quiet about them, so I went looking and they seem to have disappeared. Gone!

Tommi Sooni: R.I.P.

The only person I ever had contact with from Tommi Sooni was Steven Broadhurst, he was a very pleasant man in my few dealings with him and I really got the feeling that he was 100% devoted to creating a polished, modern, high end independent Australian niche perfumery. The best way I could think of to remember them and their beautiful fragrances was to get all the Tommi Sooni artworks that I could find together and make a post about them, in their own ways as interesting and glorious as the frags.

FragranceX still has Eau de Tommi Sooni I and Jinx for sale AUD$248/100ml

R.I.P. Tommi Sooni, you were too lovely for this world and the air will be a little less fabulously fragrant without you to augment its beauty.
Portia xx