The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Wednesday January 14th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Wednesday January 14th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Wednesday January 14th — —

Calming Park — Black Edition

We have been obsessed with the finer scented candles from all over the globe for some years now, with more and more traditional fragrance specialists entering into the growing field, creating more and more elegant options to choose from. Since our little trip to Copenhagen, just before Christmas, we can add another gem to our favorites: Calming Park’s Black Edition candles, which we found at the ever-inspirational Storm boutique. The capsule collection of three candles is a collaboration between the Grasse, Swiss-based perfume candle house which was founded by Olivier Rohrbach in 2007 and Danish creative studio Homework. It is no secret that we are still in our Black fase, although there is an obsession shift coming up very soon, nevertheless making the appeal of the elegantly designed collection very likely not coming as a surprise. The candles show a minimal elegant aesthetic, with the three fragrances of the collection given the three-letter names OUD, NOW and HYT. This beautiful collaboration between Homework and Calming Park is based on their shared passion for beautiful products and designs, which we in response can only applaud, hoping for more of these inspirational joint operations.

In a noisy world where a new awareness is arising, scented candles have become a companion in our most fulfilling and luxurious quest: stillness and calm.

The candle named OUD, our favorite, is one of the new scents within the Black Edition trilogy. It forms Calming Park’s ode to the traditional Middle Eastern instrument Oud, which elicits the deep and vibrant artisanal traditions of the region. The nargamota oils, the amber notes combined with the cosy accents of oud, cedar and santal woods make it a magnetic-chic elixir. One that a scent adventurist will love. The second candle: NOW, captures the warm notes of cinnamon, clove, vanilla and the woody accents of sandal and cedar woods with a zest of geranium. A warm, festive spicy-floral infusion to accompaign the long winter days. And finally; HYT explores the mysterious and mystic smoky notes of cashmeran, patchouli and encens with a spicy-rustic bouquet of sweet orange, neroli, black pepper and the delightful scent of lavender of Provence.

Calming Park was conceived in 2000 with the release of the homonymous compilation of music put together by Swiss music designer Olivier Rohrbach. In 2006, soon before the release of the fifth volume of the Calming Park mix, Olivier Rohrbach was dreaming of producing a scented candle that would bring to life the Nevada landscapes depicted on the album artwork. In those days he was under way in southern France for an article he was writing on the area, and while visiting Grasse he met Marie Duchêne, a parfumeur, whose expertise helped him make his dream come true. A year later the first candle, named ‘Cactus’ was released and became an instant success, soon to be followed up by ‘Fig-Bamboo’ which underlined that Calming Park was here to stay. At this point the incredible collection of scented candles are available in more than 30 selected points of sales worldwide, and next to the mentioned collaboration with Homework, candles were created with WoodWood, Bruno Pieters and Neil Barrett.

For more information see here.