Flora Danica is a brand new Danish fragrance home rooted within the pure world and the Nordic philosophy of hygge. Crafted in Denmark and produced in France, the model has taken the experience of three of Europe’s premier noses – Olivier Cresp, Nathalie Lorson and Ilias Ermenidis – to supply a considerate debut assortment of 4 scents celebrating a oneness between humanity and nature.
‘In Denmark, we get pleasure from our nature in its uncooked and untamed type,’ Michael Shin, Flora Danica’s model director tells Wallpaper*. ‘The model’s imaginative and prescient of nature is much less romantic, extra graphic.’
Flora Danica is a brand new Danish fragrance home rooted within the philosophy of hygge
Flora Danica’s ‘1761’ fragrance
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Flora Danica)
This outlook is probably finest exemplified by the scent ‘1761’. Like consuming a pastry on a wild stroll in a moody, mulchy forest, high notes of citrus and cardamom give approach to one thing a lot deeper, darker and woodier.
‘Flower Muse’ blends jasmine tea, white poppy, candy pea and iris, whereas ‘Amber Echo’ brings collectively ginger, carrot seeds, angelica and frankincense. Lastly, ‘Soul Backyard’ is an enveloping mixture of verbena, honey elderflower and vetiver counterbalanced with an amber gourmand accent.
Flora Danica’s ‘Flower Muse’ fragrance
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Flora Danica)
The home takes its identify from an vital relic from Denmark’s historical past, the Flora Danica. This atlas of botany, written between 1761 to 1883, catalogues the varied flora of the Danish kingdom throughout 54 illustrated volumes. Actually, this marriage of historical past and up to date Nordic values is a beguiling start line from which to construct a perfume home.
‘Danish design is concerning the mixture of elevated aesthetics, minimalism and performance,’ says Shin. ‘We have now tried to include this imaginative and prescient, while additionally creating a recent identification to a chunk of Danish nationwide heritage. It’s a couple of juxtaposition of modernity with a sure depth and confidence, with out being “excessive” or dusty.’
Flora Danica’s ‘Amber Echo’ fragrance
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Flora Danica)
As important to the Nordic lifestyle then as it’s now, a closeness to nature is on the very coronary heart of the model, extending from manufacturing to branding and past. Combining elegant pistachio inexperienced as its signature color with daring sans serif typography – and utilizing natural supplies corresponding to paper and wooden in its packaging – the home has the traits of the inviting but elevated pragmatism that makes the Scandinavian type so beloved.
‘The selection of 4 fragrances, similar to the 4 seasons, was acutely aware,’ Shin notes. ‘We want to construct the model steadily and had we launched with extra creations from the beginning, it will have meant producing extra and utilizing extra assets, which we didn’t wish to do.’ Flora Danica perfumes have a excessive share [up to 92%] of substances sourced from pure origins. The bottles are refillable and use FSC-sourced paper as a secondary packaging materials. ‘We, as Danes, attempt to make accountable decisions once we eat,’ Shin notes.
Flora Danica’s ‘Soul Backyard’ fragrance
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of Flora Danica)
The method of launching the model was a journey of discovery, not least for perfumers Crisp, Lorson and Ermenidis, who every introduced a singular set of experience to the model while additionally taking the chance to be taught extra about Danish cultural identification. But in addition for Shin, with the Flora Danica encyclopaedia a continuing touchpoint all through. ‘We learnt that the story of Flora Danica is one in every of generosity, endurance, artistry and braveness,’ he says.
‘When King Frederik V commissioned it, he did so to teach his folks. It was financed by his private, not public, finances,’ Shin continues. ‘On the time, the dominion was a lot greater, so researchers needed to journey far, typically dealing with risks, to find new species. If you have a look at its illustrations, they depict the flora in its entirety from root to high, not simply displaying the attractive components. To have them printed in color, not solely in black and white, was a exceptional feat of artistry on the time.’
For a tiny nation with a inhabitants of not fairly six million, it’s secure to say that Denmark’s influence on international tradition is nearly disproportionately immense: we wish to gown just like the Danes, eat just like the Danes and stay just like the Danes. Copenhagen now rivals Paris or London concerning the town’s aesthetic affect, and in addition maybe for its considerate way of life; a way of life that Flora Danica has now bottled in its fragrances.
floradanica.com
Supply: Wallpaper
