Back and forth across the sea
I have chased so many dreams
But I have never felt the grace
That I have felt in your embrace – Thompson Twins

A few weeks ago I met perfumer Spyros Drosopoulos from Baruti perfumes. We met at a perfume launch of his colleague Hiram Green at the Annindriya Perfume Lounge in the city of Amsterdam. It was Hiram who introduced us, and asked Spyros to show me the Baruti collection. I was happy to have been introduced to Spyros and his beautiful creations. After sampling the complete collection we talked about one fragrance in particular: Voyance. This was the only of his perfumes I had smelled prior to our meeting. It was suggested to me by scent expert Tanja Deurloo from Annindriya a while ago.

As a tuberose lover I was anxious to try it since it’s always interesting to see how this flower is used in a fragrance. I own a few perfumes that are built around the tuberose flower and that highlight one or more of its many facets, either a fresh green one, the seductive carnal part or in some cases a sweet sugary candy part. So about half a year ago I tried a sample of Voyance while I was at home , working at my desk. Upon first application I could smell the tuberose, or to be more precise the smell of the tuberose absolute : velvety , rich, dark and floral. I continued working that afternoon and after a few hours I thought: What is that warm creamy woody scent? Where does it come from? It was Voyance!

So when Spyros told me that to him Voyance wasn’t a dark perfume but a bright and clear one I found that really amazing. Spyros and I talked about this different perception of creations for a while and also how Voyance isn’t your ‘typical tuberose’ perfume- which it isn’t!

Q: Don’t you think it’s interesting how personal wearing a perfume is?  You create it with an idea, feeling and then the wearer takes it into his or her own experiences. Spyros : ‘I love hearing how things I create can be perceived by others. A blogger once told me that Indigo was her favorite perfume in winter, whereas to me it’s a summer perfume. So if for you Voyance is a dark floral perfume,  then that is good.’

Q: I told you  I’d love to make a drawing while wearing Voyance, I love using scent as a door into my drawings. In your packaging and presentation you use colors and patterns. Do you relate perfumes to colors and shapes? Spyros: ‘I come up with the colors and the mood for each fragrance but my graphic designer makes it into a design. I think with many art forms such as film , painting and music especially , you make your own connections, that’s the bonus when something truly touches you. That’s why it doesn’t matter to me if your interpretation is different than mine- I just think it is cool that there is a connection!

I conclude this article with one more question, but to myself. What is my connection in image, drawing and association to Voyance? I wore it again the day before yesterday when I made the drawing you can see in this article. I was triggered by the idea of two people having two different takes on the same perfume, Spyros describing it as clear and luminous and myself describing it as a warm , dark floral woody scent. Light versus darkness. I started drawing with that in mind while having applied Voyance on my wrists and on my neck.

In my drawing I let the shapes and colors come to me quite intuitively. I worked about 6 hours on my drawing and sometimes forgot to actively smell the perfume, but rather I let it accompany me during my journey on paper. I wanted to translate the feeling of a dark floral embrace, a suggestion of seductive protection. I love using forms inspired by plants and flowers combined with the figurative. Voyance  is an embrace , luminous and dark at the same time.

Smoke, Luminous and limpid, a mystifying paradox. Voyance notes: Tuberose, Vetiver,Musk,Sandalwood,Guiac wood. You can find more information on Voyance and Baruti Perfumes by clicking here.

Images and Photos provided by Baruti perfumes and Esperanza from Esperessence.  Luminously Dark / Embraces, gouache, ink and pencil on paper 30×30 cm, december 2017 Chester Gibs. All rights reserved.