Whilst sojourning with my brother in Windsor, England, we took a trip to a steam fair to while away a winterly day. It was situated on a family farm upon which a caravan of colourful gypsies had settled in for a short stay. The cold wet air and the odour of dank hay and smoke from the nearby village chimneys created a truly Dickensian scene. Wild-eyed, the gypsy children gleefully skipped amongst the throng with giant copper pennies clutched in their hands—these were the only coins that would operate the Victorian steam machines. An antique calliope wheezed and groaned as it played an old circus tune.

Clouds of pink candy floss and blood-red orbs of toffee apples bobbed past in the hands of the crowd, punctuating the grey day, and nuts crackled and popped as they were roasted over a brazier burning brightly. It was an experience I determined never to forget. And so, in time, I found myself working to distill the pleasures of that day into a fragrance. Thus was born Menagerie.

The title of the fragrance comes from the opening lines of Frank Wedekind's Erdgeist, the first of a two-part play later set to music in the controversial expressionist opera Lulu by Austrian composer Alban Berg.

“Welcome! Welcome to the menagerie!
With hot lust and cold horror
watch the soulless beast bound and made tame
by human genius.”—Frank Wedekind (Erdgeist, 1895)

—Jamie Frater, Perfumer & Creative Director

Production

Ref 210823 batch 2459546. Menagerie has been matured for four weeks and macerated for three months. All of our perfumes are aged in a naturally temperate environment and hand-turned daily to obtain smooth and refined fragrances of distinction.

Application

Menagerie comes in a natural spray for easy application. One spray each to the nape of the neck and wrists should be sufficient for all day wearing.

Ingredients

Alcohol, Parfum (Fragrance), Aqua (Water), Eugenol, Citral, Cinnamal, Coumarin, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Isoeugenol, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, BHT.

Ingredients may change from time to time. To ensure that this perfume is suitable for your use please read the outer packaging of your purchase.

Made in Wellington, New Zealand.