The Night Above the Desert

The story begins somewhere across the Sea of Japan (Японское море).

Why this title? What is it about?
That part remains a secret—for now.

I wanted to post this simply because it has been a while since I last worked on a fragrance entirely from scratch. This one began almost a decade ago, as many of my ideas do, with a name. I often find that a name comes first, carrying its own gravity, quietly insisting on taking form.

Once the name existed, I started searching for an image—something to move the idea forward. Not immediately, not deliberately. And then one day—perhaps a year or two later—I came across a striking photograph taken somewhere near Vladivostok. I had typed the name into a search box, looking for visual material, and there it was. The image lodged itself in my mind, as firmly as the name had. Neither let go.

Years passed.

By chance, I later found myself interviewing someone in Vladivostok for a post that never came to be. In that moment, the idea of turning that name into a fragrance suddenly felt real—possible, even inevitable. But this was 2019. Life intervened. Other projects took precedence. The pandemic arrived. And slowly, almost without noticing, the idea slipped into the background.

As these things often do.

Life, however, has a way of circling back. Through an unexpected coincidence, I recently reconnected with the very person I once believed would help shape the soul of this fragrance. Not long after, that person sent me two photographs—taken in a place far from Vladivostok, and far from where I now live.

It may have been random.
But it was convincing enough.

Enough to begin again.

Cheers.