“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing happening to me,” Marcel Proust famously wrote in Remembrance of Things Past.
I was powerfully reminded of this passage — and the transportive nature of scent — when I visited Lancôme’s organic rose farm on the French Riviera this past May. The famous centifolia rose that will be used in Absolue Les Parfums, a new collection of rose-based perfumes the brand is launching this month, blooms for only three weeks each year. The scent is most intense in the early morning hours when the flower is in full bloom, which is precisely when I visited the farm. On my first day, as I crouched down to smell the organically grown centifolia, I felt my entire body relax as I took in the heady scent.
Domaine de la Rose employs many of the same eco-friendly, time-honored farming techniques used in Grasse in the 16th century when tanners first discovered they could camouflage the putrid smell of their leather with perfume. Countless species of birds help pollinate the flowers; goats keep invasive plants at bay. The sunbathed terraces of the Domaine are a temple of biodiversity. Visiting this pristine farm — and learning how they harvest and distill the centifolia rose without using any chemicals — gave me a newfound appreciation for the art of sustainable fragrance making and the importance of preserving the history and culture of the world’s perfume capital. Cultivating roses without chemicals is more costly and time-consuming, but it fundamentally changes the scent, yielding something far more powerful and true.
Slowing down and being intentional is something famed jewelry designer Silvia Furmanovich excels at. At a time when machines are rapidly replacing artisanal craftsmanship, the award-winning designer is known for creating one-of-a-kind pieces that support generations of local artisans worldwide. “How many carats, how many grams of gold — this is not so important for me,” she says. “For me, it’s all the process and the history.” The Loupe — the largest stockist in the Midwest — shares Furmonovich’s deep commitment to exquisite craftsmanship. “Each piece is a testament to Silvia’s artistic journey and her dedication to pushing the boundaries of jewelry design,” says owner Kiki McMillan. “In this way, the store acts a bit like a hybrid of a traditional gallery — a space at the convergence of design, art and fashion.”
Elsewhere in our autumn issue, exemplary design takes center stage at Atzaro, a glamorous new safari camp in Botswana. A collaboration between African Bush Camps Zimbabwean founder and CEO Beks Ndlovu (a former safari guide) and Philip Gonda, co-owner of the small, design-forward hospitality company Atzaro, based in Ibiza, this gorgeous camp offers cheetah and baby lion cub viewings alongside a stylish mashup of vintage midcentury furniture and African antiques. “We didn’t want that cliched, old-fashioned colonial look,” says Ndlovu. “Here, we are celebrating Africa.”
Enjoy the issue!
Amy Synnott, Editor-in-Chief
@amysynnott
