It has been a year where we have had mixed feelings about many things: the government, our neighbors, work and more. Tapping into these uncertainties with products is the cruelty of the marketing times we live in but as always some do it better and earnest than others. Ben Gorham with Byredo is one such brand. He called his latest fragrance aptly Mixed Emotions to sum up the past year. Here he answers our questions for his truly unparalleled scent debut.
Wie ein Kettenhemd, aber statt aus stählernen Kettengliedern gewebt aus Hunderten Flaschen gefüllt mit gemischten Emotionen – und das können in einer Zeit wie dieser endlos viele sein.
Wer gemischte Gefühle in Flakons abfüllt, muss damit rechnen, dass die Menschen sie auf ihrer Haut tragen wollen. Wir alle kennen sie.
Achtung: What is this sense and feeling of a whole generation that the fragrance tries to describe?
Ben Gorham: Mixed Emotions is my interpretation of a certain time or period and how I experienced it, the ups and downs of the last year. An olfactif sketch that says it is okay not to be okay.
A: Why the decision to create a scent that enraptures Mixed Emotions? It seems people rather look for comfort right now?
BG: Mixed Emotions comes from the juxtaposition of many things – work, family, planning for the future, spontaneity and chance. These are all life moments we have to juggle together at the same time. Sometimes they make us experience things outside of our normal day-to-day and comfort zones. The pandemic for me really heightened this awareness and the reaffirmation that being ok and not being ok is all perfectly natural and completely personal to each of us.
A: “It’s okay to not be okay—and that from unsettling experiences, a new reality might emerge”. Do you yourself believe in hope and chances sprouting out of the current emotional state of people?
BG: Absolutely, hope and opportunity are the philosophies I believe in personally and are also relevant to Byredo as a brand. Like many businesses we have had to adapt to the current climate, stores are still closed but we have tried to continue to bring the brand to the customer, as we always have done with new fragrances and experiences.
Last year when the pandemic hit we launched make up and it was so surprising to us how people reacted to it and made it their own. I think one of the things that made it work was that it was unexpected, it was fun and full of color, something people wanted to try at home and play with, to self-express their feelings and emotions. Often in times of difficulty and uncertainty comes surprise and opportunity.
Kommen Parfümwerbungen sonst perfekt inszeniert und makellos daher, liefert der zerbrochene Flakon, was der Inhalt verspricht: Verwirrung und Irritation – wie gemischte Gefühle.
A: Who created the art piece? What is it made of? What is the story behind it?
BG: The vest was created by Louis Gibson, a British artist and set designer to incorporate the fluidity of the liquid of the fragrance in some way. It’s very delicate as it is made of wire and tiny glass viles containing the fragrance.
A: The beautiful poem is by Kai-Isaiah Jamal, a trans activist. What role does gender play in the development of Mixed Emotions?
BG: When I started Byredo, I wanted to create products from a completely subjective place. It didn’t make sense to me to have male and female fragrances; it just didn’t seem relevant to me. Even the design of the packaging reflects this too; to have it monochrome and open to interpretation also reflected this idea of being universal and non-defining.
Spätestens seit dem Gedicht von Amanda Gorman zur Vereidigung von Joe Biden dürfte klar sein: Poesie hat Power. Kai-Isaiah Jamal liefert kraftvolle Zeilen zu einer anderen Art von Vereidigung: dem Release des neuen Byredo Dufts.
It Knows (Even When You Don’t) by Kai-Isaiah Jamal
If we know it boils
we also can hush
It still again.
If your heart
Has once been full
And boundless
It will always be free
And endless possibilities
Couldn’t possibly
Be reduced to
A handful of options.
Subconscious
Is your gut
And your gut well
That’s a synonym for
Guardian
Or of angel.
Or of both.
To be both.
I am but I also am not
And that is the shape of my silhouette.
That is the sound of my soul.
I’m trynna learn to ride for myself
Without conditions.
Unrehearsed. I’ve heard
Balance is key.
But unbalanced feels more like me
This body made from star crossed lovers
Desperately trying to live together
Even if dammed in destiny to die
Side by side.
Sometimes they make me split myself into sides
Always seem to be stuck within the inside of a binary
Forget I am spilling.
Always an overflow
A gush.
The single root that grows in the dark
In the unwatered soils
In the unwanted plains.
How long has hope lived inside lungs?
Long enough to think it is home?
Long enough to watch how light that exists.
As if darkness isn’t what allows light to exist.
Like illumination doesn’t rely on a black enough backdrop
A deep enough fall.
It won’t get easier with the lights on
But in the light there is liberation.
Patiently we listen for the
Bubbles to pop into a stillness.
Becomes more whole in the settle.
Victories and vices are closer than you think
Growth smells like sea salt
left on oven tops.
Where do you wander to be everything you haven’t yet?
I am stumbling into myself
Met more of me in the silence
Than I looked for in the noise.
