House of Matriarch is pleased to announce what Perfumer Christi Meshell is calling one of the "most exciting projects" she has ever released.
SEATTLE, WA: 25 years have passed since Laura Palmer, the troubled coquette who worked at the perfume counter of Horne's Department Store in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, made her impression on the minds and hearts of an entire generation. Since, the resounding echoes and haunting chords of the soundtrack have kept her memory and the mysteries surrounding her death brewing in the collective consciousness. They also ignited the creative inspiration for a collection of perfumes both "wonderful and strange".
Residing near the Snoqualmie Forest where the series was filmed, our Perfumer has a deep knowing of how the dark woods depicted in the series would smell. In a video of Angelo Badalamenti, the composer of the famous soundtrack, he recounts the story of how he and David Lynch sat together at his piano to co-compose the soundtrack. As she followed along, Christi began to imagine the aromas which seemed to accompany the famous question still being asked: "Who killed Laura Palmer?"
LIMITED EDITION - VINTAGE 2017
ALLOCATION:
13% of the proceeds from the sale of the Wonderful & Strange Liquid Music Collection of Twin Peaks perfume will be donated to The David Lynch Foundation for consciousness-based education and world peace.
The creation of HIGH PERFUMERY is not achievable without copper.
House of Matriarch has incorporated copper into our branding, packaging and presentation as a constant reminder of the Venusian and alchemical foundations of perfume making. We are always receiving compliments on our packaging, and since people are usually not accustomed to seeing copper in a brand's aesthetic, they often refer to our color palette as "blue and gold". This makes us very happy and we take the opportunity whenever this occurs to educate and draw attention to the alchemy that has taken place within the "misunderstood" observation. {Fun fact: The world is changing our copper into gold - and that is the very foundation of alchemy itself!}
Copper was the first metal used by humans - known by the ancients and modern day alchemists as the "metal of Venus" - perhaps due to it's malleability - perhaps for it's beauty - or maybe because of it's high thermal and electrical conductivity. Perfumery itself has connection with Venus as the Goddess of Love and Beauty. How interesting that copper is the "Metal of Venus" and is absolutely essential to perfume making!
Shown here is the copper still at Glass Distillery in Seattle where the spirits used for House of Matriarch perfumes originate. While most perfuming alcohol is produced in stainless steel industrial grade factory-like distilleries, this small batch copper still causes reactions that remove undesirable notes/flavors in the distillate and make it 'smoother'. Without copper, the distillate would smell sharp and unpleasant, overpowering the delicate top notes of our natural perfumes.
The color of copper is difficult to describe - and to replicate. The shade is an enigmatic, rainbow effect of reds, golds and beige under magnification. Ephemeral, it is always changing. Oxidization adds shades of turquoise and green - known as verdigris. Is it a coincidence that one of the largest statues in the world depicting a woman is made of verdigris copper? Nope. The Statue of Liberty was modeled after the goddess Ceres who has had strong connotations to both Nature and Venus throughout mythology.
It has been challenging in a world of "will that be silver or gold?" to find the components needed to complete our packaging - everything copper has to be custom made and even then it is very difficult to achieving a "match" with copper. Even the Pantone shade is not really copper. House of Matriarch feels it is worth the extra effort -both from an alchemical sense and an aesthetic one and tells of the level of effort and care we take in creating and presenting our fragrant creations to the world.
Have you ever noticed how there are some perfumes and colognes you really enjoy smelling but you wouldn't want to necessarily wear them? You enjoy their aroma, but you may not want to smell like all of them or carry their odor throughout an entire day.
Have you every enjoyed a flight of wine? The sensations and juxtapositions of different flavors opening onto your palate in such a non-committal way can be a wonderful voyage - sometimes you discover a new favorite that you would have never thought to order.
For fragrance connoisseurs, perfume discovery becomes a "rabbit hole" sort of passion when the breadth and detail of the art begins to be revealed through copious sampling. By releasing the pressure of a fragrance needing to be "full bottle worthy" or a "proper toiletry" to be relevant, fragrance enthusiasts can appreciate a fragrance for the journey it provides as they enjoy the fragrance in a detached manner.
Many fragrance collectors don't even perfume themselves on a daily basis - but they may sniff ten or more perfumes in a day to fuel their passion for fragrance. Many professional perfumers admit to almost never wearing perfumes themselves. Their work provides enough olfactory stimulation and satiates the need for scent.
And then there are those who say "fragrance saved my life". One popular fragrance reviewer attests that his perfume sampling and reviewing gave him such an intense sensory satisfaction that it assisted in helping him kick an addiction to heroin. He's been a fragrance journalist for going on twenty years now - and he's still clean.
Like with any experience from music to dining - ordering a sample of a fragrance that challenges you (rather than being pleasing to the nose; but otherwise uninteresting) can be a very rewarding experience - you might learn something about yourself in the process of the dry down. The way we react to a scent can be a wonderful tool for self discovery and even healing.
House of Matriarch reveals the costs associated with their HIGH PERFUMERY creations explaining why their fragrances for both men and women are more costly than designer scents.
1) QUALITY & COMPLEXITY OF BLENDS House of Matriarch perfumes are between 95 and 100 percent natural. Blends are very complex with between 100 and 300 individual notes. Many of the raw materials are scarce and highly valued - in the world of perfumery they are known as "noble materials". In comparing the market price on the commonly used essences of natural jasmine, rose and sandalwood against their synthetic replacements you will notice that those natural raw materials are on average 100x more expensive. Natural fixatives of ambergris, hyraceum and ambrette add an additional layer of luxury (and their associated cost) to the formula.
2) SUPERIOR DISTILLATE The ethanol used to create House of Matriarch perfumes is distilled from Washington grown, organic grapes in the copper still pictured below - it happens right here in Seattle at the famous Glass Distillery. Mass market perfumes are blended with industrially distilled corn alcohol with de-naturants added. (The real culprit behind most "perfume allergies") The distillate used to create our perfumes is 10x more expensive than regular "perfumers alcohol - it is pure enough for creating medicinal tinctures and for pharmaceutical compounding - it also considered Halal. Ethanol comprises up to 70% of the fragrance and is the secret for creating a perfume that improves with time, instead of degrading after a few years like mass produced fragrances. House of Matriarch perfumes are the only brand marked with the vintage year - because this kind of ethanol allows the perfume to improve with each passing year like a fine wine.
3) HANDMADE Matriarch perfumes are produced by hand in small batches and filled by our Pefumer by hand in Seattle, WA. Designer fragrances are made by machine; mostly in overseas factories with no personal touch. House of Matriarch offers a direct connection to the Perfumer - there are no other fragrance house involved - this is rare and special.
4) RELEVANCE EQUALS VALUE House of Matriarch perfumes do not smell like anything else on the market. There are no short-cuts or less expensive ways of achieving this level of relevance and distinctiveness without the materials and methods that we use to make our perfumes. Mark-up is slim compared to the designer brands who add thousands of percentage points to the actual cost of production to cover the costs of issuing countless free samples and to compensate expensive spokes models. This makes House of Matriarch perfumes a better VALUE than other perfumes.
5) WORTH THE PRICE Artisan perfumes are not for everyone - they are not simple toiletries - they are aimed at the connoisseur who is looking for an elevated fragrance experience and who expects to pay more for the qualities our perfumes embody. Many people who cannot wear conventional fragrances due to allergies find House of Matriarch perfumes delightful. In this case, the price informs the customer of the quality they can expect when they experience our fragrances.
As always, let your nose decide!
