What is the Perfume Project?

This blog is a constantly evolving forum for thoughts on perfume, perfume-making, plants (especially orchids and flora of the Pacific Northwest) and life in general. It started out chronicling the adventures of Olympic Orchids Perfumes, established in July 2010, and has expanded in other directions. A big part of the blog is thinking about the ongoing process of learning and experimentation that leads to new perfumes, the exploration of perfumery materials, the theory and practice of perfume making, the challenges of marketing perfumes and other fragrance products, and random observations on philosophy and society. Spam comments will be marked as such and deleted; any comments that go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse will also be deleted. I am grateful to all of you, the readers, who contribute to the blog by commenting and making this a truly interactive perfume project.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

CATTLEYA ACLANDIAE


I bought as seedling of this cute little species about four years ago because I fell in love with a photo of it, and this week it’s blooming for the first time! It’s even more dramatic in person than it is in the photo, with its leopard-print petals and wide neon-fuschia lip. The big bonus is that it’s fragrant!

The fragrance gradually builds up over the first few days, and today it’s strongly citrusy with an undercurrent of indolic flowers, more like narcissus than jasmine, gardenia, or orange blossom. It also has a spicy edge that’s like ginger and some sort of pepper. I’m already thinking about how to translate this gorgeous flower into a perfume, but am curious to see how the fragrance develops over the life of the flowers.
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