Jorum Studio perfumer, Euan McCall, on Nectary.

We’re a very lucky bunch here at Hoohaa. We can ask perfumers about their inspirations and get answers like this:

“There was a particular tree in my grandparents' garden that we used to climb on as kids. In the summer, the tree had a magnetism, everyone who visited would find themselves hunkered under it. In the summer heat, which Scotland does get, the dull warmth from the neighbouring whitewashed wall used to radiate onto this tree and I was (and still am) convinced that there was magic at play here as this heat used to make the tree weep resin only on the wall-facing side and the resin was extremely aromatic - like oud chips covered in chalkdust, washed with frankincense tears.

We didn't plan on Nectary being a rose-oud style perfume. We wanted roses to play a crucial role in the perfume. My grandfather was a professional landscape gardener for his entire career and he used to grow many roses which we used to make 'rose petal perfume' in an attempt to 'bottle the smell of papa's garden'. Our goal was to make a garden for the skin as one may daydream whilst under a weeping tree. It just so happened that the combination registers as a riff on roses and oud, not the intention but a happy outcome all the same - we love roses and we love oud at Jorum!

Over the years we have worked on and still do work on many Eastern style perfumes at Jorum. The knowledge gained in doing so has seeped into a lot of Jorum Studio perfumes and in some way, Nectary displays this Eastern style of 'flowers and woods' harmony but perhaps the difference is that the garden we used as a real influence was not in a temperate climate, the garden used as our reference is seen as a snapshot of a very Scottish garden in the summer months, many miles and degrees fahrenheit away from some of our clients references in the Middle East." Euan McCall, Jorum Studio

Illustration by Adam Foy.