Simon and Mark Constantine are the Gorilla Perfumers and are father and son. Inspired by the work they do for LUSH i, but wanting to push themselves to the bounds of their creativity in perfumery, they founded Gorilla Perfume as the artistic expression of a perfumer father and his perfumer son using scent as a tool to interpret the world around them. Gorilla work in collaboration with a ragtag menagerie of rebels and mavericks. Plastic Crimewave, the psychedelic guru of Chicago underground rock and roll, designed all the voodoo inspired packaging for Volume 2 and has illustrated the new ‘On the Trail of Sandalwood Smugglers’ graphic novel This new collection was inspired by emotional events in the lives of Mark and Simon, including death and the steps to renewal.

Mark and Simon Constantine

The  13 scents in Volume 3:

Death and Decay – Mark challenged himself to create a perfume that would be “surprisingly pleasant when you’re expecting something awful”. The message is one of meditation, acceptance and optimism. Don’t be put off by the name – its gentle floral fragrance has a soft lily heart and is accompanied by indoles, which adds a pungent, narcotic headiness. The pure floral scent of the lily, and the over-ripe tones of the indole embody just how thin the line is between the fullness of beauty and its inevitable decay £30 /for 30ml

Princess Cottongrass – From a fairy tale where a princess with a heart of gold begged an elk to  help her escape her castle so she could live in the real world, but during their journey her golden heart fell into the ocean and she could not be saved. Based on this diminutive little cottongrass flower Simon rediscovered during a time of sorrow.Simon took some solace in the formulation and perfection of this perfume that captures a sweet scent as soft and fluffy as the cotton grass bloom itself. £16 /for 10ml, £32 /for 30ml

 

The President’s Hat –  The President’s Hat is named after a book written by French author Antoine Laurain. It is a charmed hat that bestows confidence in the wearers when they need it the most fragrance to help restore faith in yourself after a tough time, pick you up, dust you off and set you on a fresh path to new challenges and adventures. £13 /for 10ml £39 for 50ml

Stayin’ Alive is a powerful, sensual fragrance resounding with a booming frankincense base note and a rich caramel sweetness. A fragrant invitation to grasp life by the disco balls and dance away your worries and woes. The rich frankincense note comes from a sustainable source in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. It is the only certified organic frankincense in the world. £25 /for 10ml £75 /for 50m

Mycellum – An undeniably mushroomy fragrance. It captures an early morning walk through the forest gathering mushrooms, treading over moss and wet undergrowth – the air filled with the scent of a new dawn. Mycelium is named after the organic web of fibrous tissue from which mushrooms and fungi spring. After learning about Mycelium through the work of Paul Stamets – a famous fungi guru, Simon became fascinated.the fragrance represents the ever-churning earth – the preparation of fallow ground for further growth and the billion twinkling points of life that spring up in wake of death and decay.

All Good Things- Inspired by the bittersweet ending of a relationship, All Good Things is a sweet, boozy stumble down a basement staircase in a cloud of candyfloss, and black pepper and represents the cyclical cycle of nature. £20 /for 10ml £40 /for 30ml

 Cyanide – A scent memory in a bottle, it captures the mouthwatering smell of marzipan cakes and the first delicious whiff of a newly opened jar of maraschino cherries. This darker element is reflected in its name. Cyanide is a deadly poison, lethal even in small quantities but its toxicity is belied by the sweet almond scent that will draw you to your doom

The Smuggler’s Soul is deep, dangerous and intoxicating, join us on our journey to the roots of sandalwood and let it enrapture your heart. Back in 2004, Simon and Agnes his colleague made the discovery that the sandalwood oil they had been buying may have been adulterated and mixed with synthetic fragrance. Not only that, on further inspection it turned out that the oil they were receiving might also have been illegal to buy in the first place. This fragrance is their journey to discovery of illegal poaching and meeting a famoussmuggler named Veerappan. £9 /solid perfume 12g  £18 /for 10ml £54 /for 50ml  £20 /body spray 

Dead Meadow – Although described by Simon as a “simple hay perfume” it is like a great prog track, different melodies and riffs fade in and out, leaving you standing in the centre of a freshly created crop circle, open to whatever possibilities may be out there in the galaxies above…As part of the Death, Decay and Renewal cycle, it reflects the point at which a structure collapses in on itself, and becomes self-referential, illusory and often deceitful.

Kerbside Violet- Cycling home, Mark often spots violets growing through cracks in pavements and kerbs, and jumps off his bike for a quick smell. The scent of a violet however is transitory – like a puff of sweet perfume you lean in for another whiff, and it’s gone, leaving you wondering if you ever smelled it at all. In the past the Gorilla perfumers have had a hard time creating a violet perfume with the effect they desired, but with a new cycle of fragrance on the horizon, they decided to give it another try. Kerbside Violet is as a reminder to look out for the tiny revolution growing through the cracks of a concrete jungle near you. £18/for 10ml £36 /for 30ml

Dad’s Garden (Chamomile and Honeysuckle) – Simon had accompanied his dad to meet his newly discovered grandfather. Although he didn’t attend the funeral, he had watched Mark racing straight into the lab the day after he arrived home, clutching leaves he’d taken from the South African garden to begin creating his perfume tribute. A fragrant stroll in his father’s garden, Simon created a fragrance as sweet and sentimental as the inspiration behind it

Dad’s Garden (Lemon Tree)- On meeting his dad for the first time, Mark presented him with a bottle of Dear John. He loved it. They had three days together talking and getting to know each other. “I did come and say goodbye to you, you know”. His father said. “I kissed you goodnight and goodbye before I left”. Both men agreed that seeing each other again was a highlight of their lives.They made plans to meet again but sadly just six weeks after the reunion Mark’s father, dear John, passed away. On the bittersweet return to sunny South Africa to say a final goodbye, Mark wandered through his dad’s garden. He stopped to linger by a lemon tree and a nearby patch of lemon verbena. As the sun beat down, the air was thick with fragrance, and the bright sunshine illuminated the vibrant blooms and blossoms all around. The fragrance that Mark made on his return to Poole captures that moment. The joy at finding a loved one and a contemplative, stirring moment in the sun remembering the wonderful, but brief, time-shared together. Dad’s Garden (Lemon Tree) pays homage to the man Mark finally got the chance to know. £18 /body spray

 

Dear John – Growing up, Mark never got to know his father, who left the family home when he was little. Years later, he developed the perfume Dear John to create a scent that would emulate burying his face in his absent father’s jacket. It was the first fragrance that Simon and Mark worked on together, and Mark’s youngest son Jack designed the label artworkis an exquisite perfume with a comforting, fatherly fragrance, born from conflicting feelings of love and abandonment, for all the men we’ve ever adored. . £7 /solid perfume 12g £14 /for 10ml £42 /for 50ml £17 /body spray

Somehow reading the press release, which is condensed here, I am reminded of the book On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in liquid form.

via press release

The Death, Decay, and Renewal collection is curently available in the UK. an American release date is not yet known.

-Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief