L’essence de Mastenbroek
This may very well be our vote for the fragrance in our collection with the most unusual story. It’s about history and economic change and conceptual art and mostly it’s about polders. Still with us?
Polders are low lying tracts of land, enclosed, and made usable, by embankments known as dikes. That last word may clue you in to where polders are most commonly found – the Netherlands, where polders have been a way of life for centuries. Polder Mastenbroek is a large scale, late-Medieval polder in the Netherlands where many cattle farmers make their homes, as their families have for generations. Currently the polder is under pressure by urban and industrial developments, prompting its inclusion as a project in the government’s national heritage program. The question they posed: how can cultural-historical values be protected in the new social and economic reality of the polder?
In a surprise twist they took this question to an artist. Birthe Leemeijer creates unconventional interactive pieces with a collaborative element. Leemeijer decided to create a fragrance that captured the essence of the polder. She invited residents of Mastenbroek to join the Essenceclub. Leemeijer brought pure fragrance samples, such as grass, hay, ditch and stable scents to meetings and the scents generated all kinds of conversational topics and discussions. 'We talked about the smell of fresh-cut grass in a silo, the role of smells in the four seasons, the smell of shearing cows in the autumn,' she says. 'The residents also took pictures of their own daily surroundings. I collected all this information in an archive.'
Leemeijer then worked with a perfumer to create compositions that reflected these discussions. Finally, the Essenceclub voted on the blend that most vividly evoked the land. A scent that would remind them of home wherever they were, as the new generation leaves the polder and farmers sell off their land. A distillation of the memory and emotion of a particular place with a long history.
A Luckyscent exclusive. Quanities are limited. |
