The olfactory is perhaps our most mystical sense. Everyone has been transported or transcended to a profound place or feeling by a nostalgic scent.
It’s so affecting because it is typically unannounced, always invisible and yet so psychologically tangible. Scents are also incredibly difficult to attach to other mediums, with scratch ‘n sniff still being the (admittedly astounding) benchmark for aroma-related art. Renowned Haitian artist Manuel Mathieu is looking to raise that benchmark and tether this mercurial sense to something you can hold and see.
Mathieu is primarily a visual artist. He is a painter of abstract works that suggest figurative forms within ambiguous spaces; drawing from Haitian culture and running it through Western traditions, such as expressionism and existentialism. His practice weaves together formal techniques, Haitian contemporary art movements to explore phenomenologies of human relations as they relate to power dynamics, loyalty, love, nature, subjective experience and historical writings. He was born to a psychologist mother and agronomist father and these foundations are apparent in his work. His pieces are both raw and cerebral and this latest project marks a profound evolution in the scope of his practice.
Each fragrance in the MMP line is a work of art unto itself; an immaterial sculpture that inhabits the air and then body, creating an emotional and personal landscape.
“I conceived Manuel Mathieu Parfums as a gateway to the invisible, capable of transforming a moment and weaving deep connections. Perfume is a language, a way to paint the intangible, to awaken the artist within each of us.”
Manuel Mathieu, FOUNDER, MMP
The trilogy begins with île noire, perhaps the most intimate of the three. This marine woody scent is rooted in the artist’s memories of Haiti; memories of jasmine drifting from his sister’s room, mingled with the salt-laced notes of the Caribbean sea. With ambergris, jasmine, and earthy base notes evocative of Haitian soil, île noire is a tribute to familial love, steeped in Haitian spirituality.
Next, ECCCO charts a journey of upheaval and renewal. Taking inspiration from a fictional volcanic eruption within Haiti’s landscape, it opens with vibrant black lemon and curry leaf, layered over a dense heart patchouli, sandalwood, and vetiver. Leather and vanilla in the base ground the composition with heat and resilience and, like molten rock reshaped by fire, ECCCO speaks to the inevitable beauty that arises from destruction.
Finally, Dsire is a sensory ode to seduction and feminine power. A heady bouquet of jasmine, frangipani, tuberose, and ylang-ylang melts into a lush base of vanilla and musk. It is a fragrance of flesh and emotion, desire and depth – capturing the primal language of sensuality.
The perfume bottles are crafted from clay sculptures hand-moulded by Mathieu. He experimented with many different shapes, letting the raw materials guide him as much as his own artistic instinct. Through his process, he searched for something that felt familiar while not necessarily subscribing to an established form – much like a memory evoked by scent. Haiti, Manuel Mathieu’s homeland, means “land of high mountains” in the indigenous Taíno language. The bottle pays homage to the violence of land formation, while drawing from the serenity of mountaintops.
Set for international release in Spring 2025, and with pre-orders opened in March via manuelmathieuparfums.com, the MMP line is a poetic testament to sensory storytelling. Crafted in Grasse, the historic heart of French perfumery, these fragrances are archives of emotion, vessels of history, and invitations to remember, feel, and dream.
