Creative Shift

Where can I start?  Maybe I should start where I left off back in January wishing everyone a beautiful new year.  I hope that 2012 has been filled with greatness for everyone so far.  It’s practically October and by now, many people know that my little “baby new year” image in the last post was a bit of foreshadowing… as I have been away in my own world, away from much of the internet and this blog for months creating something (or someone) new.  Welcome, my dear dragon baby Xander.  He is a bright shining light in my world.

And he’s not the only creative shift that’s come this year.  I am just now getting back to my work, aromatically, visually and otherwise, it seems filled with new vision, new beginnings and a new way of looking at old things.  (We’re planning some re-vamps and other re-launches by the end of the year).

One very new thing that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time has been opening  a little etsy shop to showcase the jewelry art work that I have been creating since 2008 and showing at a Boulder gallery since 2009.  This week it has finally come into being.  It’s just a little something but I am so very excited about it.  Maybe it feels like a big thrill because it’s my first step out after the baby has come, who knows.  For now, I am just ecstatic to be showing my work to a wider audience.  And hey, if anybody wants to buy some, I won’t say no. 🙂  Click here to check it out.

So, I’m also hard at work at the studio preparing new works and launches for the later Fall and for the holidays.  I don’t know if everyone does, but I find this time of year very stimulating and I’m feeling good about creating new designs.  The very first of these is Indus, a petite homage to India and it’s blessed elixir: chai tea.  (I could have meant mango lassi, as blessed elixirs go, but that’s not terribly Autumnal).  I’m really feeling the spices right now, all that warmth is like an attracting glow for me and I think I need it.  Of course, this is just a start.  Other delicacies are on the horizon to be sure.  But that’s for another day and post.  Today, I just want to say that it’s great to be back.

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launch no.2, special project no.1: Lautrec

When it rains it pours, it seems. With my first perfume launch under my belt another design comes out on its heals: Lautrec.

It’s been very exciting being invited to work on numerous special projects this year and Lautrec is the first to be released. Some of these special projects are with blogs (how fun!) and some with museums (super fun! and of course, with more to come) but it does make me very happy indeed to have the first be a celebration of one of my favorite blogs: Ca Fleure Bon. If you are not familiar with this wonderful magazine / blog, you really need to check it out! And, if you click on this link you can be entered to win a limited edition bottle of Lautrec (until 3.25.11).

a page out of my working notebook: this is the Lautrec image

In January, when speaking to CFB’s E-I-C, Michelyn Camen about the upcoming anniversary of the magazine, I said that I would love to create a ‘holy grail’ perfume for her to commemorate the occasion. She knew that as an artist I take much of my inspiration from painters and visual artists and she knew the I design jewelry so through the conversation a concept was set in my mind: to create a perfume based on an image from one of her favorite artists, Toulouse-Lautrec in a hand embellished bottle with a hand-made necklace to speak to the inspiration and the love of ‘bling’ we know MC has. The Toulouse-Lautrec woman is a pure Parisian, chic and utterly urbane, with a feather boa and in a late 19th Century style. Then there’s the ring to inspire the gem piece: a gorgeous black opal an a setting of diamonds and sapphires. Both are beautiful and evocative; both very luxurious, Parisian, and fabulously vintage. I love all of these elements. It’s going to be good.

Lautrec limited edition bottle no.1

For the gem pieces it was easy to come up with a palette: black opals (I found some very unusual ones from Peru that act a bit like ‘aurora borealis – tigers eye’ and the more conventional from Australia with fiery sparkling flecks of colored light), swarovski crystal connectors that look like vintage diamond settings, rock crystals, moonstones, agates, jet, vermeil, and precious metals. Then the palette for the perfume had to be chosen: it had to be sweet and sensuous with luscious fruits in the topnote and a gloriously rich drydown. So here goes: passionfruit and mandarin paired with cognac and sweet absinthe (right out of the Moulin Rouge) to open, a thoroughly French heart bouquet of orange blossom, cassie flower, rose de mai, sambac jasmine, ylang ylang and orris, to rest on a bed of caramel, benzoin, sandalwood, patchouli, tolu balsam, oakmoss, labdanum, vanilla and animalic civet. All the while I was considering Lautrec a fruity-floral-chypre, so popular during the Belle Epoque and before, it turned out to have a real gourmand character. I suppose the use of the caramel and vanilla with benzoin should have been a sign. I know I love it and so does “dedicatee”, MC. And I suspect that Toulouse-Lautrec himself wouldn’t be disappointed to have it as his namesake either.

Lautrec necklace no.3

**AD: Lautrec will be available on my website this weekend in perfume-extrait form in 5 ml antique bottles as well as the 4 other embellished Limited Edition bottles and necklaces. You should email me at dsh@dshperfumes.com to see photos of the Limited Edition bottles and necklaces.

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