My first initiation to the world of perfume was through incense - a path covered with dust of the ages and redolent of spice caravans, ancient ceremonies and great mystery. Incense is not just a form of scent-release, but an ancient practice of worship and affirmation, a daily connection to plants and the divine that blessed us with such a gift of knowledge and medicine. 

Incense is the most ancient form of perfume, a serpentine creature that has been covered by the dust of time like a well-worn traveller on the desert routes of spice and medicine. Yet, distilling the scent of incense is even harder than capturing the flutter of a butterfly's wings and the scent of a delicate flower.

I've been burning incense, more-or-less daily, for 21 odd years, and this practice, even without knowing anything about how to make it myself, is an anchor that connects me to my ancestors, an open invitation to gather around a communal, multi-generational fire that transcends time and space. 

Dance of Fire perfume is my effort to showcase the beauty and depth of ancient resins burning on a hot charcoal, allowing the scent of wafting, swirling smokes to caress one's skin. The inspiration for the name is a piece by Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, whose music resonates with these very same sentiments that arrive when burning incense - through the modern form of Mugham-Jazz it is simultaneously connecting us to time immemorial metaphysical and human emotions through the ancient makams (the scales that are the foundation of Azeri music), while also bringing it to the present and future with instruments. 

With its heart are frankincense, nagramotha, lovage and a prehistoric fossilized amber resin from Tibet, covering it with an almost realistic smoky veil, it is my hope that this perfume will make incense more accessible and embedded in your life, even if when don't have the physical fire to gather around.  

Dance of Fire perfume shall be released into the ether 22.02.2022, at 2:22am.