A drop on a petal: when Alberto Morillas revisits a classic Issey Miyake scent.

..If you were to reinterpret Eau d’Issey today, what would you do? That’s what Issey Miyake asked Alberto Morillas, the fragrance designer behind many successful scents, like Flower by Kenzo, ck one, Givenchy’s Pi and Mugler’s Cologne. Creative carte blanche for a limited-edition fragrance christened ‘Une goutte sur un petale’ (“A drop on a petal”). The perfumer admitted having tremendous admiration for Eau d’Issey. “While I accepted the challenge (…), it was with the utmost respect for the values it has stood for since its creation. The paradox of an aquatic floral, conceived as an ‘anti-perfume’ (…) a cross between the abstract and the figurative…”.


     

 


Bottle "une goutte sur un pétale"

 
 

...For an olfactory reinterpretation of the idea of water and flower, Alberto Morillas started from a single image, the vision of ‘a garden in the morning, with a drop on a flower petal.’ I did keep the main theme of roses and water, but I shifted the original liquid-aquatic register towards an evocation of something more like mist or dew .” So the babbling brook evoked in the original has been re-transcribed into what the designer describes as ‘a damp, green impression (…) exalting freshness and the most abstract facets of the floral notes’.
Without wishing to reveal all of his secrets, the fragrance designer sketches an olfactory profile of his new creation:
“It opens with an unusual plant accord (and) a zest of mandarin orange to make the floral-aquatic theme sparkle and melt gently into the pastel-wood trail.”
“To garb the rose heart in a vaporous and glistening gown, I worked around mimosa (…) which brings a tender and sun-drenched sensuality and which goes as well with the rose as with the woodsy trail or the opening plant accord.”
At the close, Alberto Morillas worked with musks, amber and pale woods with a sweet and captivating ingredient that evokes the smell of skin: Ambrox. “As sweet as vanilla, rich in plant and wood facets (…) Ambrox grants an impalpable density to the trail, which blossoms gradually on the skin… “To garb the fragrance, the glass of the bottle is clad in a light, misty cloud and a soft, satiny steel cap. The package innovates with a white box that has been perforated to look pixellized, affording a glimpse of the bottle.

 
 

 



Package "une goutte sur un pétale"
Photo of a petal "une goutte sur un pétale"