Paul’s Home

So many many people around the world will have heard of the fashion designer Paul Smith, his international renown reputation stands as tall as anyone can get. Known for bringing style and colour to menswear alongside his immaculately cut suiting initially then moving into womenswear bought him immense praise. Known alongside the main ranges are accessories, homewares as well as his automatically recognisable Signature Stripe. If you have been lucky enough to go into his stores you know they have a sense of ‘home’ about them with wonderful and unique knickknacks and Object D’Art for sale alongside his clothing and accessories. But what does his home smell like? Find out more in Paul’s Home.

This autumn we get to welcome to our world the latest collection from the master Paul Smith, via his inaugural home fragrance collection. Think four scents each based on a series of Paul’s most evocative memories, giving us an almost personal insight into the designer’s life. Think colour, think humour and think British eccentricity and you will begin to paint a picture.

And as a man at the top of his world, he was only going to collaborate with the best of the best. Each scent has been crafted by two IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances) perfumers French, Céline Barel and Irish, Meabh McCurtin collaborated closely with Paul himself and were inspired by his openness, enthusiasm and sensibility. They both spoke of admiring his ability to share such personal stories that allowed them to export these words into fragrances.

The raw ingredients used to craft the products are the finest natural oils sourced from LMR Natural, one of the world’s most renowned purveyors of raw materials supplying the very best perfumers in the world hence why it was appropriate for Paul to work with them.

Paul says of this collection

“The journey I’ve been on to create the fragrances for my first ever candle and diffuser collection has been a fascinating one, guided by some incredible perfumiers. I have really enjoyed the process of working with Meabh and Céline and it gave me the chance to reflect on some of my favourite memories, moments, and places in a new way.”

The Four scents break down as:-

Botanist

Think of Paul’s clean-cut tailoring as shown initially at his first shop in his beloved Nottingham that was literally 3 x 3 meters in size. This fragrance is evocative of freshly-cut grass and greenery, with notes of delicious dry-grassy Haitian Vetiver, alongside a deep-green Moss facet with bright Lemon notes for a lift.

TOP Lemon, Black Pepper MIDDLE Vetiver, Cedarwood BASE Smoky Guaiac wood, Moss. Created by perfumer Meabh McCurtin

Meabh McCurtin says

“The heart of this fragrance is vetiver oil from Haiti which is one of my favourite ingredients. I love that it has several different facets – crisp, woody, citrus and with a nutty note. I think vetiver suits perfectly clean-cut tailoring as when I smell it, I imagine a crisp white shirt. As vetiver is a root it is also earthy and smells like being in the garden. I added lemon and black pepper to accentuate that fresh natural note of being in the garden and cutting plants, close to the earth.”

Bookworm.

If you ever read articles where Paul has been interviewed the images that sit with are usually shot in his office, you will see a concoction, a plethora of objects and a room stuffed full of books on art, fashion, design, and in fact, the whole creative world. A room that echoes the very creative whole of him, homely yet magical.

This scent is a reflection of the stacks of books and papers in Paul’s office evoking libraries and a warming amber mood. It is formulated with Jamaican Pimento Berry, Grapefruit and Cedarwood.

TOP Elemi oil, Grapefruit, MIDDLE Ciste Absolute, Amber, Pimento, Berry BASE Cedarwood, Vetiver oil, Moss. Created by perfumer Céline Barel

Early Bird

Think of a rainy London morning, walking around areas made up of reclaimed warehouses on cobbled streets with iron railings and you get close to the inspiration behind this scent. One of Paul’s London shops is designed to recreate the scent of rain falling on wet pavements on a cloudy morning. It is blended with notes of Indonesian Patchouli oil, Iris and Rain accord. There is actually a word for this, Petrichor, which is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry ground.

Lastly, a scent that feels so very personal as it’s based around cycling something very close to Pauls’s heart.

TOP Rain Accord, wet Rose, MIDDLE Jasmine, Iris, Labdanum BASE Moss, Suede Accord, Patchouli. Created by perfumer Céline Barel

Céline Barel says

“A tribute to the English rain, poetic and chic, definitely modern with the urban spiciness of the Turmeric leaf India LMR paired with a shiny new leather note. The heart of the fragrance smells like undergrowth and bushes in the square nearby Paul Smith’s office, with notes of Patchouli Indonesia LMR and a touch of Orris gives a fluffy and sophisticated effect.”

Daydreamer

Think of the sun golden in a bright blue sky, at holiday time cycling around twisted lanes of stone walls that give off the scent of locally grown herbs. This easy ride with a lingering forage of scent, evocative of greens with wildflowers. This scent is made with French Lavender oil, Clary Sage and verbena.

TOP Verbena oil, Rosemary, Thyme MIDDLE Lavandin, Lavender oil, Clary sage BASE Cedarwood, Hay Accord. Created by perfumer Meabh McCurtin

The scented candles and diffusers come, of course, encased beautifully as would be expected of such a visual man. Deeply rich jewel two-tone complimentary coloured glass, each vessel is purposely designed to be reused (as a vase in the case of the diffuser or a jar in the case of the candles) and comes with a lid that doubles as a coaster to protect surfaces from heat and spills.

The interaction between light and colour was key when designing the striking vessels which, when lit, will subtly recall Paul Smith’s Signature Stripe. Even the box, with its unique “zippered” design, has been carefully considered and is a humorous little wink to Paul’s tailoring expertise.

Again he says

“The creative process didn’t end with the fragrance, I was always very keen to place a lot of focus and time on the design of the vessels themselves. I really enjoy the combination of colour and light in the containers, and I hope that they will become keepsakes in their own right.”

The scents are delicious intriguing, and enlightening bringing a new set of facets in fragrance with them, anything but obvious the creative playing between craftspeople is enshrined within each item. Love, care, thought and deep understanding is what strings all these together.

Intimate storytelling, as if sitting around a warm summer on an autumnal evening sharing family tales is what bought these fragrances alive and magical. With a visual dimension that brings to mind the elegant, sharp, clean-cut lines of a Paul Smith suit.

The bringing together of visual with scent each one evoking a time, place and setting that is close to Paul’s heart. Buy online and in-store from September, but start to get excited now.

Each scent is available as either a single-wick 240g candle triple-wick 1kg candle or a 250ml reed diffuser www.paulsmith.com