Sticky Leather Sky

Created as part of the Penning Perfumes project: a splendid idea pioneered by Odette Toilette and Claire Trévien to combine two art forms.  Poets are given perfumes from which to take inspiration and perfumers are given poems.

Unveiled in Birmingham on 6th February 2013, Sticky Leather Sky was created as a response to the poem Listening to Charles Ives by Claire Trévien, which in turn was written partly in response to a piece of music, making the fragrance a third generation artistic interpretation in a third medium.

Listening to Charles Ives

The street vainly imitates a theatre,
dropped pennies and reflectors footlight my walk
the rumble of a crowd gathers and storms.Beats rain down and hide in the gutter,
rivulets form around the clutter
of the pavement’s percussion orchestra.Hush.Sticky leather sky.

The air vibrates still
through drum-buildings.

I think of us listening to Charles Ives.
You heard cacophony, I heard the silence
after the tempest, when the bells

had ceased, but their ripples
reached to our seats like
the promise of a tomorrow.

Claire Trévien

The fragrance opens with light, bright, familiar notes of bergamot that shade into fresh clean air, heavy with damp. There is a slightly metallic edge and a light woody background representing the orchestra while jasmine and orris recall the opulence of the Paris Opera.

The strong leather accord comes into play quickly and lasts and lasts providing a dominant, persistent theme.

The top notes and the leather base are a little uncomfortable with each other, just like the couple at the concert, who are discovering how different they are.

Can they stay together?