Nordic Fatale: The Art of Malbrum

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

From The Tyger by William Blake

Malbrum Parfum’s debut collection of peculiarly frayed and sensual scents has urgency and mischief in its juices. They proved popular at Esxence in March this year as did Creative Director Kristian Hilberg himself with his striking Nordic good looks and intricate knowledge of both the natural and synthetic components of his chic new house. 

Creative Director Kristian Hilberg enjoying a quieter side of Cannes 2015 

(Malbrum Instagram)

Reading the notes for the extrait strength parfums on the website Kristian has chosen interestingly to list the traditional head, heart and base notes separately from the synthetics such as Exaltolide, Toscanol and Ambrofix.

Aspects of Structured Verdancy: ‘Panorama’ by Olfactive Studio

The glorious Sheats-Goldstein residence juts out of tropical LA fauna into the sun with unashamed glittering brilliance and angular arrogance. It is a modern cave, a spiky fuck-off-statement of exquisite harmony and brooding privacy. An alien abode containing no 90º angles or painted objects, it built from concrete, glass, stone and leather. I have loved it for decades and always wanted to visit it. Depending on how it is viewed, it seemed to hover and float next to the trees and flora, from other perspectives it seems to be reaching out like one of Ray Bradbury’s haunted Martian architectural maws into the glittering air.

It is photographer Miguel Sandinha’s emerald-suffused image of the Sheats-Goldstein residence that has inspired Panorama, the latest release from Céline Verleure’s artistic and über-chic niche house Olfactive Studio. I have only just treated myself to the solemn, shadowed stickiness of Ombre Indigo created by Mylène Arlan a young Roberet parfumeuse who studied under Jacques Flori and Michel Almairac. The image for Ombre Indigo by Gustavo Pellizzon is a haunting one, a shadow creature walking water or perhaps waiting at the edge for passage across a darkening lake.