Neela Vermeire of Neela Vermeire Creations
The Neela Vermeire / Bertrand Duchaufour artistic collaboration is alive, well and continues to flourish in their seventh oeuvre soon to be experienced at the upcoming Esxence Milano 2018:Neela Vermeire Creations Niral. It embodies the very soul of serenity while simultaneously extolling the achievements of British sericulture expert, author, printing-dyeing industrialist Sir Thomas Wardle (1831-1909) who promoted Indian raw (tussar) silk trade from Bengal and Kashmir to Europe.
Neela Vermeire and Bertrand Duchaufor
His finely-honed technique for obtaining a variegated natural jewel-hued spectrum enabled many in the blossoming Arts and Crafts Movement to further explore their fascination with Eastern textiles. Raw silk, with its alluring slubbed texture – lent itself amiably to brilliant coloration and fanciful embroidery. Niral (meaning calm, serene, unique) evokes East-Meets-West with its intricate fragrant filigree.
Marco Polo on the Silk Route
How does one achieve this from an olfactory perspective, you may well ask? Not without an appreciable amount of conjoint effort and inspiration…The Silk Route was the first information superhighway. Cross-cultural pollination grew by leaps and bounds from continent to continent accompanied by the revelations of math, science, medicine, new belief systems, all manner of art forms, and commodities encompassing everything imaginable – from salt to gold.
Old Indian Silk Road Route
The Silk Route in Sikkim (often called the South West Silk Route) originated from ancient Lhasa trade routes which traversed the Chumbi Valley and traveled through the Nathula Pass to present-day Tamluk in West Bengal. There are twelve individual Indian silk routes in all, spread across seven states: they are peppered with monumental ruins, many of which are tentatively listed by UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Niral sallies forth, following this ancient path as it conjures precious cargo we enjoy today so heedlessly, as if it were our due. We do well to remind ourselves that such forays were fraught with peril and their bounty only obtained by the courageous, resourceful and fortunate few who lived to tell the tale.
Tussar silk 1800s via flickr
This astounding parfum opens with a bittersweetly green, peppery earthy herbal note, angelica – one which grows happily in European gardens and shares family ties with other fragrant relatives such as cumin, coriander, fennel, anise, carrot and celery. You couldn’t have absinthe without it! Its complex palette includes distinctly woody/musky tones which are enchanting. They are a perfect complement to the dazzlingly dry fizzy champagne accord employed by M. Duchaufour which pops with gusto right out of the bottle. Graceful Himalayan Iris (yes, that’s its name) correlates to our own irises yet flourishes not far from Lhasa, along the Silk Road. Iris’ silvery rhizomal floralcy completes this trio of heraldic notes which festoon Neela Vermeire Creations Niral and its initial dynamism.
Afternoon tea, Bombay 1897.
Tea links East and West inextricably. Assam’s black tea is legendary – brisk, malty, and brightly-colored. Its delicately toasty aroma is tinged with a floral aspect which binds companionably to Niral’s rose and magnolia. These flowers are native inhabitants of India and Europe alike (although one is more likely to encounter magnolia’s first cousin champaca in India). They grace Niral with the expressive rondeur of mutual conviviality, that tenderly ardent sweetness which flowers in a lover’s breast. Burnished leather of rein and saddle coalesce with sacred woods: cedar and sandalwood etch the framework of the adventurer’s bedstead, only to be carried innumerable miles to its final destination.
Parul Shah©
Neela Vermeire Creations Niral is wearable wanderlust at large. Whether one may choose to venture as far afield as the explorers once did is for each to determine for himself. Notes: angelica, Champagne accord, iris, tea, rose, magnolia, cedar, sandalwood, leather
Sample graciously provided by Neela Vermeire, many thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor
~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
Thanks to the largesse of Neela Vermiere of Neela Vermeire Créations, we have three samples of Neela Vermeire Creations Niral (and 2016-17 NVC Rahele) for three registered readers anywhere in the world. Please be sure to register.
To be eligible, please tell us what appeals to you about Neela Vermeire Creations Niral based on Ida’s review, your favorite Neela Vermeire Créations fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes March 22, 2018
Please be advised that the notes we list are correct and there may be other iterations listed elsewhere, but the ingredients are per Neela Vermeire. Please follow us on Instagram @cafleurebon and @neelavermeirecreations
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