Silent Conversation

The moment two strangers stop needing to speak.

Afterwards it comes back as a single flash. A shared headspace, a singing hum coming off skin, the feverish crackle of electricity holding in the gap between. Then the instant, bang, when two people who only just met settle the rest of it, and neither has said a word about it.

Rose warms it through. Aldehydes hold everything a little above the skin, bright and weightless, while bergamot cuts a clean line down the centre. Pink pepper puts a spark on the edge. Thrumming, blissed-out, everything in harmony. Sandalwood stays golden.

NOISE builds fragrances the way a record gets built. Sound comes first and everything follows from it: the three tiers on every product page are treble, mid and bass, and a play button sits beside every bottle. Sound shapes the world before anyone is born, and the familiar mixed with the unexpected goes straight past the intellect and into the deepest corners of the mind. Sound, sight and memory are the three powers the work draws on.

The work is made in France and handed to a rotating cast of noses that has included Bertrand Duchaufour, Mark Buxton and David Chieze. The subjects are ordinary on purpose: a rusty garden gate, an elevator ride, the gap left after a song ends. Each one is designed to make its own mark and not to be forgotten.