House of Matriarch: natural niche perfume inspired by the sacred world
House of Matriarch High Perfumery is a pioneering American niche perfume destination for lovers of incredible fragrances crafted from natural essences. Here, high perfumery is rooted in the rich history of magic and alchemy. They are mysterious, powerfully rendered and recall the alluring craft of the apothecary. House of Matriarch ‘creatrix’ and nose Christi Meshell blends each fragrance to the highest standards of beauty and naturalness from the largest fragrance organ in the western world. Rare and even sacred, Christi allows her magical fragrances to speak to the past while also carrying us into the future – to the pinnacle of the highest art of perfume-making.
Beauty can change the world
A central philosophy at House of Matriarch is the idea that beauty can save the world. This approach to lifestyle is borrowed from the Native American concept of walking the beauty path, or the ‘Hozro’. Just as the Navajo believe that following the Hozro leads to a harmonious world, House Of Matriarch’s aesthetic and olfactory decisions are made with the sole purpose of furthering the ideals of a true indie fragrance house.
House of Matriarch: a US based artisan fragrance maker like no other
Linking the futurist art of high perfumery to ancient practices, hand crafted luxury and the mysteries of the occult, House of Matriarch is a magic communion in perfumery between the human and the spiritual world.
House of Matriarch pursues an original, entirely in-house approach to the olfactive arts, offering a distinctive, authentic luxury not yet seen. The ethos informing the aromatic creations has elevated the art of natural perfumery to luxurious new heights. House of Matriarch perfumes are unisex, natural, organic when available, made in the USA, and are also compliant with halal beauty standards. Every fragrance is based in organic grape ethanol and free of SD40 – a chief distinction from mass produced perfumes.
Christi’s versatility as both creative director and fragrance composer allow her to single-handedly develop a concept from initial inspiration to rare ingredient gathering and onwards to final display, cellaring and legacy cataloguing.
Even after a decade of top luxury positioning, a host of fans and clients, not to mention a win at the prestigious Art & Olfaction award in Los Angeles in the artisan category, House of Matriarch fragrances are still composed from “scratch” and each vintage blended by hand in Christi’s Seattle studio.
House of Matriarch believes in magic
Perfume is magic at House of Matriarch. Christi Meshell believes in the transcendent power of fragrance to connect us to the past, captivate our being to excite the present moment and help us to write the future. Christi is more than mere brand owner – she is a scent strategist and perfume mage that takes us to the very meaning at the heart of scent.
Niche perfume born through smoke
House of Matriarch deeply connects with the very origins of perfume itself. “Perfume” literally means “to thoroughly smoke” or “through smoke”. Smoke informs the language of House of Matriarch in terms of the voice, design, and brand philosophy. Smoke is elegant, it dances, like fragrances on the palette, it is ephemeral. Beauteous in its fleeting form, it is captivating. Similarly, fragrance is a passing experience, drawing us into a world of memory and emotion if only for a certain time. It is layered in its nature, folding on itself and changing with time.
In ancient times, perfuming would come as a result of sitting close to the fire, the smoke bestowing its fragrance to those standing in close proximity. During ceremonies of high importance, precious materials were offered for burning. Today, we adorn ourselves with perfumes for such events, yet sadly most modern perfumery has been reduced to an attempt at replicating nature. For House of Matriarch, the creation of high perfumery means going right to the source – no substitution can be accepted.
M iconography for good energy flow
M is the alphabetic vessel that symbolizes 13, (1+3 = 4) the four points of balance and holism, the halfway balance point of the 26 letters of the alphabet, the Matriarch, Making, Mater and Matter. M is a mystical letter, a number of power unto itself; and in its drawing, there is a character of flow, of fountains, of outreach and embracement.
Metatron: lending perfect form to perfumery
The design system at House of Matriarch utilizes a mystical, elemental interpretation of cosmical meditation and geometry – the metatron. Derived from the ancient structure of the Flower of Life, this sacred geometry informed Plato’s theories of form and space. The metatron contains various platonic solids such as: the four sided ‘tetrahedron’ (found twice) – the fire element; the cube (also twice expressed) – the earth element; the eight sided ‘octohedron’ – the eight strokes of air; the twenty-sided ‘icosahedron’ – the water element; and finally, the ‘dodecahedron’ of twelve sides – the cosmos. This cosmography is founded on Plato’s Timeaus dialogue, documented in roughly 360BC, in which he describes the universe as a “state,” fashioned and formed from the ideal template of a divine craftsman.
House of Matriarch: multilayered niche perfume with texture
We generally sense texture as touch, but House of Matriarch takes a holistic approach to the concept: for the eyes, the glinting of modelled light on a surface; for the ears, hearing the rasp of a fingered glance; the taste of a tongue on texture; and scent as it unfurls from a modelled plane.
Texture is what is found in the surface patterning of a bottle, box, scarf, merchandising stand, a business card or an embossed seal. When it comes to brand holism, House of Matriarch envisions a layering of touches and visualized patterning treatments that have symbolic alignment with the spirit of the brand. A tangible reflection of the dense and rich layering of House of Matriarch haute parfumerie.
Meaningful fragrances in symbolic bottle design
A tear catcher, also called a tear bottle or ‘lacrimosa’, is typically an ornamental vase piece, made from blown glass and dyed appropriately to the creator’s taste. Tear catchers were commonly used during Ancient Roman times, with mourners filling glass bottles with their tears, often placing them in tombs as a symbol of their respect for the deceased. It was also used to show remorse, guilt, love and grief. The women cried during the procession and the more tears collected in their tear bottles, the more important the deceased was considered. Tear bottles were designed with special seals, which allowed the tears to evaporate. By the time that the tears were reduced to salt, the mourning period was considered over.
Copper, a symbol of beauty and perfection in niche perfume
The creation of high perfumery is not achievable without copper. There is a good reason to use copper for distilling: copper catalyzes certain reactions that remove undesirable notes/flavours in the distillate and make it ‘smoother’. Without copper, the distillate will smell sharp and unpleasant. Copper beautifies the juice. Copper is present throughout House of Matriarch products to honour the essential role copper plays in perfume making.