Grenadille d'Africa edp

Grenadille d'Africa edp

Olfactory pyramid: bergamot, cistus labdanum, juniper, lavender, black woods, mate, vanilla, vetiver, violet

Grenadille d'Afrique edp - Aedes de Venustas

A tribute to the ancient African Blackwood and his majestic home.

From crackling sap to balsamic resin. From smoky wood to sun-scorched stone. From purple sunset to inky night. GRENADILLE D'AFRIQUE expresses not only its namesake tree, but also the primordial landscape in which it grows.

“It is a surprising and exciting perfume, without revealing,” explains perfumer Alberto Morillas. “The ingredients are simple, bare and unadorned. It is through this density and simplicity that the fragrance becomes art.”

It begins with the rare African Blackwood tree, a member of the rosewood family whose Latin name, Dalbergia melanoxylon, translates to “black wood.” The name is belied by the wood’s color range, from deep purple to brownish black, also known as grenadilla. The ancient Egyptians, who called it h’bny, carved the most precious furniture from the heart and solid wood. In Tanzania, the Makonde people, who know it as mpingo, use it to create spectacular and highly prized carvings of the Tree of Life.

Thus in 2016 Alberto Morillas transforms GRENADILLE D'AFRIQUE into an elegant and surprising olfactory sculpture. Entirely crossed from the roots to the twigs by an aromatic sap with a scent of juniper, the mythical African Blackwood tree is built around a “trunk” of Haitian vetiver. With its complex facets of wood, smoke, earth and flint, it is the vertical axis that leaves the vegetal, animal and mineral notes of the fragrance.

At first glance, it’s hard to tell whether the scent transports you to dusk or dawn. Sparkling bergamot catches the last rays of the sun, while a purple haze of lavender and violets pour their moonlit, dusty light over the savannah grasslands. Later, vanilla unfolds, transformed into combustible resin by a lash of amber cistus labdanum, and exudes a balsamic warmth. Bleached wood, skin-soft bark, and sun-warmed stone release the heat of day into the inky night, cooled by a breeze of moss.