The act of preparing oneself to transition from the private to the exterior world has changed shape and significance through generations. Some of the first found artifacts indicating the societal importance of enhancing one’s outward appearance were ornamental boxes crafted to hold cosmetics, perfumes and oils — along with the tools to apply them — used by Ancient Egyptians. These boxes were portable but also intended for display, and embellishments such as hand engravings and paintings, ebony and ivory veneer and inlay, faience and silver mounting helped indicate the owner’s wealth and rank.

The influence of flowers pervades across cultures and throughout history. They have been used to enhance and enliven ceremonies and rites of passage, to soften the anguish of a loss of life and to commemorate in physical form the bliss of a birth or marriage. As long as flowers have been plucked from their natural environments by humans, they have also been used as adornments — Athenian vase paintings depict young women wearing garlands and wreaths, priests wearing floral crowns and athletes and soldiers decorated with blooms. Brides in medieval Europe wore crowns of flowers that symbolized the transition of marriage, and oval boutonnieres were worn by men on their coats during the reign of Louis XIV.

Call it slow, call it clean, responsible or green...  What we want from beauty stays the same, even though the hot buzz words change and the trend...

The traditional craft of perfumery was the result of centuries of accumulated knowledge.  We gathered especially fragrant varieties of flora and learned to extract the scent from the plant matter. When natural was the norm, before the commodification of fragrance and the expanding ubiquity of scent into greater categories of products, perfume was made by hand in small batches.