IROISE
In the world of perfume, it now all too easy to imagine that one has sampled all things, all tropes and permutations of materials, sighed when reading overwrought copy and the over-familiar claims of resurrected brands and re-imagined lineages.
However, occasionally scents manifest and brands appear that clear the jaded experiences and plethora of mixed experiences, reminding us that there is extraordinary beauty and rare talent to be discovered out in the perfumed ether. The relative infrequency of this makes such discoveries gilded with wonder. True auteurs are not taught, they create themselves, instinctively understanding the media they occupy, forming bodies of work that truly reflect a devotion to craft, emotion and impact.
Iroise is such a brand, founded by perfumer Julie Barretta, with three perfumes of such intrigue, tremulous beauty and spatial conception that it is almost impossible to shake off the ghosts of them.
The word Iroise has a subliminal mingle of iris and rose in its characters, anticipating/presaging that we will be required to experience Julie Barretta’s painterly cryptic work with discernment and senses cleansed of preconceptions.
There are currently a trio of elemental perfumes, imagined into the ephemeral now; Aigue Monème, Fauve Evertue and the otherworldly Notes From The Seed Vault. Each of these compositions has been composed with the merest suggestions of notes, translucent brushstrokes of mood that only serve to augment the tremulous intrigue.
They initially have the feel of nature poems, translations of sky, air, dew, running streams, jungle miasma, earth, undergrowth, foliage, clay and seed. In some ways they resemble the micro-cameras now ubiquitous in wildlife documentaries that roam and stalk tiny critters through towering garden grasses and damp riverbanks. Allowing us a unique viewpoint that might transform how we see things.
At Iroise, Julie has done something similar, taking us deeper and differently through her own personal aromatic landscapes. And the results are remarkable. You could argue that definition is elusive or more notes are needed to clarify what we are smelling, but this is simply not applicable at all. We shouldn’t expect artists to continually justify meaning and materials of work so why shouldn’t the same be applied to perfumers. Gut and instinctual reactions to Iroise are what matter, how they move us, lull and dazzle. The trio has more bravura spirit and emotion than the surfeit of scent we encounter on a regular basis.
Notes From The Seed Vault is perhaps the masterpiece/standout of the triptych but each scent has singular resonance and will find a skin and imagination to showcase Juliette’s considerable skills.
In an olfactory world of clamouring gloss and hype, false promises, repetitive sameness, flankers and a fear of failure, the sublimely contemplative and erudite scents from Iroise provide a much-needed harbour from the dissonance of now.