Intelligence and Fantasy EDT (first in the series)
The launch of The Beautiful Mind fragrance series this January 2010 marks an unprecedented collaboration between a well-known nose, a renowned graphic design company – and an intellectual prodigy.
They are, respectively, Berlin-based Geza Schoen, MeCompany in London and Christiane Stenger who, at the age of 12, became a Grandmaster of Memory and the Junior World Memory Champion.
Schoen, well-known for the cult sensation Escentric Molecules and Stenger, now a political science student in Munich spent the month of July 2007 working together on what would eventually become The Beautiful Mind.
“It was so exciting to get an insight into something which is so hidden,” Stenger recalls. “Geza has so much to tell – about fragrance, about the sense of smell – and I learned so much. It was all over much too soon.” It was a learning curve for Schoen too. “Memory is infinite,” he says. “Nothing touches it like the sense of smell. So it was amazing to watch Christiane use her special memory skills while we were working with the raw materials.” It was this “gift of nature” as he calls it that Schoen set out to match with a fragrant co-relative.
The goal was a scent that would appeal to head and heart, by connecting the mobility of the mind with the depth of memory. “An ode to summer and its memories,” is Schoen’s description. “A refreshing sparkle followed by tropic flowers, luscious woods and musk.”
Topnotes include magnolia bud, bergamot, mandarine, schinus molle and freesia.
The heart is composed of osmanthus, rose oil, hedione and, most critically, notes of tiare absolute, extracted from a rare and expensive Tahitian flower. These floral absolutes give the scent a wonderful richness.
The base of the fragrance is cedar, musk, sandalwood and cashmeran.
Think of the way your mind edits the past into a series of vivid sense impressions.
MeCompany’s packaging is equally evocative. Instead a transparent red box, the bottle is wrapped in a lenticular foil which depicts Stenger’s face morphing into abstraction. It’s a complex, mesmerising effect which compels consideration of the concept behind the fragrance. “The red reflects our life force, blood,” explains Schoen, “and the movement of the foil is intended to evoke the flow of axons in our brain while we’re thinking.”
“It’s spectacular,” Stenger adds. “It reflects exactly what we wanted to express with the fragrance. The best thing is when you can see the eyes just for a moment. It’s a reminder that we all should keep our brains moving.”
A fragrance that celebrates the life of the mind with a lush appeal to the senses may seem a little paradoxical on the surface, but that in itself is perfectly in keeping with Geza Schoen’s ethos. Besides, he declares, “The Beautiful Mind is meant to remind us that a smart woman is a sexy woman.”
Pre-order now for complimentary Ground Shipping mid January 2010. No code needed.
A rather large 3.5 oz bottle of Eau de Toilette retails for $215. Visit Aedes de Venustas for more information.
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