Solo

One plant, alone in a steep valley.

The Shennong Ben Cao Jing records an ancient botanical, and legend has it that Shennong, tasting the myriad herbs, found this one growing entirely on its own in perilous, steep valleys, with verdant leaves and a smell nothing else had. Shennong named it Duhuo, for the resilience to endure alone in the harshest places.

Levisticum is the whole argument, green and bitter and faintly salted. Red seaweed pulls it toward cold water and wet mineral. Bay leaf and violet leaf sharpen the edges, pink pepper stops it going soft, and vetiver dries it out with patchouli darkening underneath.

Nook Hill is a Shanghai house, founded through the shared perspectives of photography, art history and design. An art laboratory of olfactory, landscape and emotion, taking untamed nature apart with a rational, methodical mindset and breaking away from traditional fragrance structures. For materials it works with century-old names including Robertet and Mane. The name points at hidden hills, and the work goes after the private emotional folds of modern life.

The 10mL arrives as an object as much as a liquid. A small stone opened up and worn on the body, its core magnetic and replaceable. The room diffusers borrow the weight and raw honesty of Brutalist architecture, a curved metal holder and sculptural silver wings. The work is made for anyone who wants the wilderness inside the steel forest of the city, and it treats fragrance, image, text and action as parts of one experiment.