Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner Owners of Aedes de Venustas and Creative Directors of The Aedes de Venustas Fragrance Collection

It gives me great personal pleasure to review Palissandre d’Or, my second Aedes de Venustas parfum and their fifth after the dynamically odd and moreish Copal Azur in November last year, a collaboration with Bertrand Duchaufour I described as ..’a celebration of land and sea, of fire and blue shimmering depth, of smoke on water’.  Karl Brandt and Robert Gerstner, the Creative Directors of Aedes have re-defined the essence of scent boutique ownership in their series of stylish and critically acclaimed house masterpieces. I have the plush, lush, Garbo-esque Iris Nazerena in my collection, their collaboration with one of my favourite perfumers, Ralf Schweiger. I adore it and smother myself in it when I’m alone, feeling self-absorbed and blue.

@aedesdevenustas instgaram Palissandre D'Or

Now we have another master perfumer at work, this time, Alberto Morillas, seemingly at the height of his powers and like another mainstream master Olivier Cresp, revelling and excelling in the relatively unshackled world of niche perfumery, producing finely tuned, refined work. Palissandre d’Or is quite magnificent, described by Aedes as ‘olfactory marquetry’, ostensibly inspired by the glories of Indian rosewood and the olfactory redolence of intricate scented wooden carvings. The Aedes PR material draws a smoky thread of frankincense through their releases to date which I’m not entirely sure holds up to close scrutiny, however, the fragrances it is true do possess a certain sacred offered quality of fumy atmospherics amid the savage oeillet, iris, copal and saline spray. Palissandre d’Or is different however; it is a polished essay in the perfumed importance of sacred wood.

Nogoro-nuri lacquer tray by OHTA Shuji, Japan

Wearing Palissandre d’Or is a lesson in layered aesthetics and for me with a background in Asian Fine art I am put in mind of Nogoro-nuri, my favourite expression of Japanese lacquerware. It originated from the Nogoro-ji Temple Complex in Wakayama Prefecture and uses only the deepest black and bloodiest vermillion over the shitagi undercoats. Lacquer work demands virtuoso skills to produce surface effects but also to highlight the intrinsic form and beauty of the object enrobed in the precious (and poisonous) sap. With Nogoro lacquer ware, after the vital shitaji undercoats, multiple layers of black are applied and then masked with a layer of vermilion. Over time and with handling, the red colour starts to wear off in certain places, allowing the black to shadow through. This ‘beauty of usage’ lends the objects their power, value and allure.

 Nogoro-Nuri Temple objets TSF

I have always been obsessed with these rubbed and handled objets d’art, they are achingly beautiful. Their beauty and value is judged on the balance of black creeping through the fading red. Temple spoons, platters, penholders, bowls, tea utensils, censers and cups; all used, held, handled and respected. It is the rubbed subtlety of chromatic attrition that makes these objects so valuable and so it is with the aromatic layering and handling of woods, essence and associated materials in Palissandre d’Or. The effects have been carefully laid down over one another with precision and polished charm. The usual triangular structure seems to have been pared down into delicate strata of drifting facets; animalic ambrette unfolding over a sheer anisic pear eau-de-vie and milky nutmeg combination.  A second layer of sweet cinnamon, barky and smoked, smells a little like rolling tobacco in its moistness. Then the basso profundo woods, a lactonic sandalwood and the much vaunted triptych of cedars, Virginian, Chinese and Alaskan, each apparently bringing their own smoked, tea-stained and leathery nuances to the lacquered mix.

Nogoro Laquer -TSF

I cannot honestly tell you if this trio of woods has distinctly separate tonalities, but what I will say is that Alberto Morillas has created an aromatic layering of unusual profundity and contagious beauty. I find many contemporary wood scents trail off into hissy meh or leave a lingering sense of meagre shrug. Palissandre d’Or echoes Nogoro lacquer on skin, one can imagine the layers being handled and bruised to reveal texture, chromatic shift and shadow beneath the applications of colour. There is a cinnabar sweetness glowing in the loveliest of drydowns. It doesn’t have quite the lasting power I would have liked and I could have done with a little less Ambrox, distracting the glimmer, it feels like a knife scratching away at the lacquer. But these are small gripes for such an expansive and elegant essay in arboreal magnificence. Aedes De Venustas continue to maintain a beautifully high standard of perfumery with Palissandre d’Or, it is a work of honed, lacquered precision; a perfume to covet and glaze the skin with inclination and offering.

Editor’s Note:  Aedes de Venustas Copal d’Azur and Ouillet  Bengale (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) were both in our  top 25 fragrances of 2014

– The Silver Fox, Editor and Author of The Silver Fox

Disclosure – Samples kindly supplied by Beauty Entreprise & Aedes de Venustas

Photo: TSF

Thanks to Aedes de Venustas and Beauty Enterprises we have a 2 ml spray sample of Palissandre D’Or for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader in the EU, Canada or USA. To be eligible please leave a comment with why you would like to try Pallisandre D’Or, where you live and if you have a favourite  Aedes de Venustas fragrance. Draw closes May 13, 2015.

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