Resurrected Corpse Flower

January 2025 – Brooklyn is in a fury at the rare blooming of a corpse flower at the Botanical Garden. I, part perfumer, part dreamer, needed a sniff at peak stink. When I saw it announced on the BBG socials that it was crowning, I dropped everything and made haste. I waited in line for 10 mins (1 hour later the line was 100+ people long).

As I entered the building where this savage beauty laid bare her treasure, I was assaulted by humid, rotten garbage. The closer I got, the more intense it became. I finally got my turn & stuck my schnoz into the bowels of this corpse flower.

TRIGGER WARNING: it smelled like a baby diaper pail in a rotten fish tank full of rubber lily bulbs & olives. Disgusting. But, in the moment you have to remain calm and search the nose-mind system for a beast so dank.

I left beaming with possibility. Soon the flowers emerged from the ground. Earth was reborn. I thought - What if all that rot in the corpse flower could be cleaned of its stink and made beautiful again: rubber lily bulbs flowering into soft white flowers, boggy wetlands supporting fresh cedar buds, green banana ripening, tuberose absolute (which smells one part flower/one part swamp) acting as a bridge between dark materials & those of radiant light. Contrasts like grapefruit – bitter, yet fresh. Olive – earthy, yet green. Dark papyrus. Light freesia.

The beautiful corpse flower resurrected from dank Earth.

Alcohol Denat., Fragrance (Parfum), Water (Aqua)