Yeah, I had a very different perception of Moscow and Russia before traveling here.
And I've been able to meet incredible people, people very warm and very excited and very
curious.
And I think it's a curiosity here that's kind of one of the few things I didn't expect.
You know, the thing is this, when you do extreme fragrances creatively, when you're
not trying to please everybody, you get people that love it and you get people that hate
it.
And it's kind of the way I've chosen to build a brand from a creative perspective.
So I'd say that the reviews were mixed, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how many people
have fallen in love with the fragrance.
I think Mink is our 12th launch and it's actually a collaborative effort with two friends based
in Paris.
He brought me an idea about the fragrance and a feeling more.
It's quite a creative idea, but it was, they basically brought me three objects, a block
of calligraphy, Japanese ink that you actually have to grind on a stone and add water that
has a very special smell.
But it also brought me image and illustration.
So we worked with both concrete and kind of abstract inspirations for this perfume.
But the idea was really to capture this feel of ink on screen.
I've heard a hundred different things about Mink, from wet cats to ink to blood, you know.
People have different relationships to it, but it's also an important part of kind of
a bioregional experience.
When I started, I had no experience in perfumes, it was quite hard.
And I had to find different tools in terms of communication, especially for the perfumer.
And fixtures and images became one part of it, poetry was another.
I used objects, objects that smelled, objects that didn't.
And as I've kind of worked on the project, I've learned more about raw materials and
more about kind of the art of perfumery and kind of been able to establish a better dialogue
with the perfumer.
So I started off with quite specific ideas, and I've moved into more complexity in terms
of emotions and ideas of abstract nature.
So even though I'm getting better, I'm trying to challenge myself.
And depending on memories and experiences, people have different relationships, the same
type of fragrances, and then you add the fact that fragrance works different on different
people's skins.
And it's really, people build very personal relationships and ideas around fragrance.
The inspiration comes from many different sources, and sometimes it's travel, and sometimes
it's people, and sometimes it's emotion, and it's very spontaneous, and we seldom sit
down and say, okay, let's be inspired, and it's trips like this to Moscow, you get culture,
you meet people, they think in a different way, they're brought up in a different way,
and these things influence me quite a bit.
So I think definitely places have been important, and I think it's because I appreciate culture.
Plans, I'm always, you know, I think I have a million ideas that I haven't created yet.
So it's, that's an ongoing process, hopefully the luxury of being an independent house is
I'm not tied to launching, spring and fall or Christmas, so I work on projects and when
they're finished, when I feel they're finished, we launch them.
