Who says the carnation has gone out of style? Today, this blushing, frill-frocked stem is one of the most commercially grown flowers in the world—a legacy carried for thousands of years by the reigning symbol of admiration, endurance, and revolution.

Traders from southern Arabia would conjure fantastic stories of the hardships endured to procure these precious spices, claiming that the pepper groves were guarded by poisonous serpents that had to be burned away in order to be harvested (a claim ‘substantiated’ by the peppercorns’ signature dark, shrivelled appearance).

The world of perfumery is inherently political;  customs from ancient times immortalized through modern wellness, sacred/cultural rites, and everyday practices of self-care, beauty, and pleasure. Working with natural essences binds us to their diverse histories and wholly implicates us in the welfare of the land and peoples who’ve historically developed the art of scent.