Ceativity thrives in the desert landscape (hello, Burning Man). For Ben Gorham, founder of Byredo, the arid climes proved particularly inspirational for his latest fragrance, Mojave Ghost. Named after the dusty, cactus-strewn region that stretches across California and parts of the Western U.S., the scent (with visuals created by Craig McDean) also pays homage to a strangely beautiful flower-the Mohavea confertiflora, or ghost flower-which manages to bloom, against all odds, in this rain-deprived, blazingly hot environment.
“The flower’s almost humanlike behavior fascinated me the most,” says Gorham, who remembers first visiting the Mojave on a cross-country trip with his grandfather as a child. But translating this magical and hauntingly unique setting into a fragrance wasn’t simple. “It’s always difficult when you try to capture aspects and smells of a specific place, because there are often many layers,” he explains. To achieve an ethereal yet grounded effect, Gorham worked with perfumer Jérôme Epinette on the composition that balances soft violet, fresh magnolia, and crisp amber with musky ambrette and a specific form of sandalwood that lingers on the skin (and hasn’t appeared in any Byredo scents until now). While Gorham is not one to regularly trek through the desert in his free time, he’s keen to admit to the transformative power of this fragrance, noting that “I’m very much about nature right now.”
Mojave Ghost by Byredo is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women and men. This is a new fragrance. Mojave Ghost is launched in Sep 2014. Top notes are ambrette (musk mallow) and sapodilla; middle notes are violet, sandalwood and magnolia; base notes are ambergris and cedar.