2016 Art and Olfaction Award Winning Creative Director Victor Wong of Zoologist Perfumes (Bat took the Golden Pear that year; a collaboration with perfumer Ellen Covey) soon to debut Elephant, has a very special back story. According to Victor, “One of the inspirations of Elephant came from watching a TED Talk given by professor Allan Savory, in which he mentions that when he was a young biologist he had made a wrong judgement call that, caused the extermination of 40,000 elephants in Africa. Later scientists realize that elephants play a very important part in the forest ecosystem despite their destructive nature. The opening of the Elephant is very airy and “leafy”, not like cut grass, but dark green foliage, and when wearing it I feel like I am witnessing elephants peeling away the bark from trees with their trunks. The other inspiration of Elephant is sandalwood. When I was young I had read children’s books that showed Indians riding elephants and using them to lug wood logs around, despite its cruelty nature, somehow I have always associated elephants with India and wood, and I had asked Chris Bartlett, the perfumer of Elephant, to make it a sandalwood fragrance, and I think he has created a marvelous scent for Zoologist.”-Victor Wong
Huge trees quake at their approach, vulnerable leaves shuddering as the ground rumbles under heavy footsteps. They come with appetites as massive as their lumbering bodies. Nothing is spared from their bottomless hunger – trees stripped bare, roots upturned, even the tiniest blooms cannot escape their grasp. When the behemoths move on, they leave behind a path of destruction. Yet what often looks like carnage is actually a renaissance. The elephants fulfill a vital role – purging the delicate ecosystem, allowing new life to flourish. From beneath a canopy of lush, damp foliage, the complex aromas of Zoologist Elephant emerge. Into a mixture of invigorating Darjeeling and incense, swirl hints of magnolia, coconut and cocoa. With the patience of a foraging herd stripping the bark from a thicket of trees, the fragrance dissipates gradually. What is revealed is the core of the perfume – a beautiful and satisfying blend of woody notes, which dry down to an elegant, natural sandalwood scent.
TOP NOTES:Tree Leaves, Darjeeling Tea, Magnolia; HEART NOTES: Cocoa, Coconut Milk, Incense, Jasmine, Woody Notes;BASE NOTES:Amber, Musks, Patchouli, Sandalwood
Coming this Fall 2017 at Zoologist Perfumes and Select Stockists
60 ml/$135 and 11ml Travel Sprays/$35
Note: Zoologist Elephant does not use animal products.
via Victor Wong of Zoologist Perfumes; all art provided by Zoologist Perfumes
–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief