Happy Birthday, Hemingway!

-

Today marks the 115th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway's birth, the self styled 'Papa' of American letters. Hemingway's life and work saw him travel extensively around the globe, and through these travels he developed a striking affinity for certain corners of the world. Since the trailblazing author's sad and untimely death in 1961, people have been continually fascinated by Hemingway's legacy. To pay tribute, here's our collection of artisan makers who have tried to capture something of the magic of Hemingway's life, using it as a creative spur to their own imaginations.


Named after the author's house in his beloved Cuba, Finca Vigia from Jardins d'Ecrivains is a diffuser designed as an olfactory invocation of Hemingway's island paradise. With aromas of palo santo, white ginger lily and banana tree flower, the fragrance is exotic yet warm and comforting, the true spirit of home.

1899 by Histoires de Parfums is named for the year of the author's birth, and the fragrance attempts to bring together aromas from the parts of the world that Hemingway loved most, evoking a number of diverse olfactory sensations simultaneously. An oriental spicy fragrance with a mellow dry down, Histoires de Parfums have outdone themselves in their homage.

Bull's Blood from Imaginary Authors may not claim to be inspired by the writer himself, but any mention of bullfighting and literature is bound to invite the association! Based on a fictional book from a macho and turbulent Spanish author invented by house nose Josh Meyer, Bull's Blood is a scent that recalls the passion and danger depicted by Hemingway in his first novel, The Sun Also Rises.


Finally, the West Indian Grapefruit & Lime scent of our Mrs White's Aroomatics room spray took its inspiration for the packaging design from the Pilar, Hemingway's prized fishing boat from which he consistently won fishing competitions and broke world records. Not only that, during the Second World War, the intrepid author asked the Cuban government to allow him to patrol the waters around the island in the Pilar for signs of German U-Boats, armed with a sub-machine gun and a handful of grenades!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Holy Trinity: Perfumes Made by Monks

-
Image
The rarefied aura that surrounds fragrance dates back to the remotest times of antiquity, when incense and fragrant oils would be offered up to the gods and deities of the ancient world. The Arab world is credited with introducing modern perfumery to the West, having preserved the ancient arts of distillation, evaporation, and filtration that had been lost to Christian society, and in turn heralding great advancements not only in the field of fragrance but of chemistry and science too. In passing this tradition on, Christian monks began to adopt the practice of creating fragrances as an expression of faith, before eventually the art form became available to the wider public, for a price. Today, most perfume is manufactured on a grand commercial scale; a far cry from the artisanal monastic traditions that gave birth to modern fragrance! However, some perfume houses still survive from this bygone age and serve to remind us of our industry’s history while continui...
Read more

Bâtard Folding Picnic Knife by Lamson & Goodnow

-
Image
As author of The Best Bread Ever; Charles Van Over is expected to show everywhere up with an armful of bread. Whilst Charles enjoys breaking bread with friends; he does insist that the bread is properly sliced with a breadknife, not just ripped apart. The problem here is that bread knives are very long and with their serrated edges they are not the easiest of things to carry around. Charles wondered why a folding bread knife could not be produced and took his idea for a pocket bread knife to Lamson & Goodnow, American manufacturers of the LamsonSharp range. The Bâtard Folding Picnic knife is the result of this collaboration. At Roullier White we believe this may possibly be the best picnic knife ever made. The French word bâtard – and yes it does translate how you think it does – is a shorter and thicker type of baguette. The knife, of course, will cut everything including cheese, fruit, vegetables and as you cannot have a picnic without wine it also has an integral corkscrew. Rou...
Read more

L’Édition Française: French Style File

-
Image
ICON: Leslie Caron ICON: Catherine Deneuve ICON: Alain Delon The Middle Ages: Serge de Nîmes AKA Denim | 1926: Coco Chanel: LBD | 1930: Elsa Schiaparelli: The Wrap Dress | 1933: René Lacoste : The Polo Shirt | 1946: Louis Réard: The Bikini  | 1954: Roger Vivier: The Stiletto Heel | 1955: Christian Dior: The A Line | 1955: Coco Chanel: The Strapped Handbag | 1966: Yves Saint Laurent: Le Smoking |  Selvedge Jean A.P.C Paris Mr Porter Hawsorn Shoe Aigle, Paris Sweatshirt BWGH Paris Carven Paris Roullier White Work Jacket Le Laboureur Digoin The Shopkeeper Store Sweatershirt Maison Kitsuné Paris Hat Le Slip Francais x Jean Paul Gaultier Colette, Paris Vuarnet Meaux, Paris French Roast coffee is a dark roast where the beans are almost charred at a high temperature of 240 degrees. The beans crack twice, once as they release steam and then again as they release their oils. The resulting toasted, smokey ground...
Read more