In The Saddle

A warm breeze off the lavender field.

From horseback, hay bales sit out in the sun across the landscape, and a steady hand guides a trusty steed. Lanolin soap wafts up from the worn leather.

Escapist advertising promises far-flung places, and Domestica has no argument with the fun of that. In lieu of it, this house treats a bottle as a vessel for taking the domestic world along, and builds its fragrances out of ordinary rooms and back gardens. The artist and writer Jenny Odell suggests escaping laterally, towards each other, and that is the escape on offer here.

Marty Schissler and Alvaro Lozano co-founded the project, which is formulated, designed and packaged in Chicago. Schissler is self-taught and makes the fragrances; Lozano is a visual artist and shapes the material world of Domestica. The name was Björk's working title for Vespertine, and the debut collection is named for confabulation, the memory error in which a brain honestly fills its own blanks. Honest lying, and the trio explores letting smell do it.