Exploring Nature’s Abundance Through Botanical Storytelling

Delve into the world of fragrance with Nancy Meiland, a British Perfumer whose craft is intricately woven with nature's tapestry. Based in Brighton, Nancy's unique approach to perfume creation stems from her profound connection to landscapes and the sensory wonders they unveil.

With a meticulous blend of artistry and sustainability, each of her creations mirrors her deep-rooted dedication to evoking profound emotional experiences through fragrance. Join us as we unravel the essence of Nancy's latest fragrance collections, exploring the global botanicals that inspire her, her collaborative endeavours with Robertet UK, and the harmonious fusion of artistry and nature's abundance that defines her perfumery!

As a perfumer, how do you approach the selection of ingredients and raw materials when crafting fragrances?

I really enjoy being in a landscape and gathering impressions from it, whether it’s a slanting light, a dewdrop about to leave a leaf or a crashing river. I tend to see scents and aromas in different colours so I connect the impressions to naturals that share the same tone or vibrational quality.
I enjoy ‘sensing through scent’ intuitively allowing my other senses to quiet.

Balancing, creating scented accords, layering in a structure to the perfume from naturals and playing with different accents or maverick notes.
When I’m creating a perfume from naturals I’m attracted to statement, emblematic, flowers that have a soulful magic to them and herbaceous notes that bring a sense of the wild- crafted and freeform.

With Nancy Meiland Perfumes crafting both attars and Eau de parfums, how do your creative and sourcing processes differ between the two fragrance-making experiences?

Creating my perfume attars is a solo, personal journey that takes time to take root.

I like to connect deeply to the energies that I want to shine through the perfume.
It’s as much about intention as a concept – the direction is very much from ‘above to below’ in terms of inspiration.

I always have the image of a gilded bowl and waiting to see what drops in. Sourcing botanicals for the attars I seek them out myself, researching the provenance and being assured that they are vegan and cruelty free as with all my perfumes. My intention with the Awaken collection of perfume attars is that they are sustainable, refillable and are, in their essence, perfumes with purpose.

I love that the process of working with Robertet team on the Eau de parfum collection is different – a collaboration of creative noses. I get to work with a wide range of very talented perfumers with access to a global library of raw materials and new, more sustainable innovations that bring the best of science and nature to the fore. Both journeys to creating a perfume are thrilling and surprising.

Fragrance Genealogy is a rich, fascinating area of fragrance education. As a British Perfumer, what are some raw materials/ingredients tied to British perfumery heritage that inspire you?

There are a whole host of English botanicals that are tied to the fragrance industry, but my favourites are Geranium, Lavender, Rose and herbaceous notes such as Mint and Artemisia and Tomato Leaf.

Your perfumery style is characterized by evocative, emotional fragrances that aim to capture or evoke scentscapes around the world. In the case of your Japanese-inspired Onatah collection, a botanically-charged perfume line reconnecting perfumery to nature's wild landscapes, which role did ingredients play in the making of the collection?

The Onatah collection means ‘Sisters of the Earth’ – the collection travels further afield to Japan, Scandinavia and France while returning to an English meadow with Lupin Meadow eau de parfum. Kabosu, Eau de parfum is a citrus cologne that depicts the Japanese tree of the same name. My friend Coco lives in Japan and she told me about the Kabosu tree - the fruit is similar to Yuzu fruit, it sites between a lemon and a mandarin with a grapefruit sparkle - the blossom is creamy, with a touch of plum and a suede-like character. I worked with Robertet UK to weave these impressions together to make a lasting, warm, juicy, tea-like cologne with a complex florality.

With Lupin Meadow, your latest launch, your creative journey returns to Britain and English scent memories and scentscapes, renewing your creative and sourcing partnership Which ingredients within their portfolio have captured your interest and what can we expect in Lupin Meadow?

Lupin Meadow is my latest launch, a herbal bouquet that is a portal to endless summer days lying in sunlit grasslands on a bed of wildflowers.

I wanted to debut a new perfume note, Elemador – a by-product from the distillation of orange blossom.
Nostalgic and freeing, the fragrance opens with incandescent mandarin, bergamot, black pepper, lavender, rosemary and eucalyptus with a lupine floral accord, fresh yet dry, grassy and camphor-like. Moss and papyrus emerge gradually, expanding on the skin with carrot-oil, patchouli and soft, resinous woods. Lupin Meadow depicts meadows green, hushed yet bursting with life.

As with all my fragrances, I designed Lupid Meadow to sing out with soulful natural botanicals oils and essences – reflecting a scene from the natural world. Working together with a creative team of perfumers at Robertet UK, we wanted to highlight the English summer at the same time as the perfume having a unique, almost insatiable quality – searing into the new as an original composition while leaning into a comforting sense of the eternal.

How do fragrance enthusiasts and consumers learn more about fragrance ingredients?

To begin to explore perfume naturals within perfumes Fragrantica is a great resource and I think that travelling to the sources of raw materials and learning how they are grown, harvested and distilled is a beautiful way to discover more about the cultural legacies of the notes we use in perfume.