BEHIND THE SCENES: THE MAKING OF A FRAGRANCE SERIES - CLEAR HEART v.1
In 2012 we became obsessed with perfume and we decided to create Map of the Heart, a brand that would draw on our passion and skills that we had used as filmmakers. We approached it very much as we would a film shoot: look for the best creative collaborators around the world to make something that was intensely personal, full of story and meaning. We wanted to connect what was in our hearts to yours. We launched in Italy in 2014.
In this series, each week we will voyage behind the scenes to explore the elements of story, (both of the brief to the perfumer and the film brief), scent and colour that makes up each fragrant Heart.
We hope you enjoy it.
Sarah Blair and Jeffrey Darling, Co-founders, Map of the Heart.
CLEAR HEART v.1 - THE HEART OF FREEDOM
THE STORY OF FREEDOM - CONTEXT
"Having being born on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, and Jeff and I having lived our adult lives by the ocean, Clear Heart v.1 is a homage to the freedom that the ocean offers: the sheer joy of swimming and surfing, running down sand hills, the smell of salt on the wind, sun, the endless horizon and big skies. We really wanted to create something that would evoke the feeling of freedom that we have everyday when we look out of our windows, feel the sand on our feet and swim in the ocean. It really lifts our spirits and when we are away and return, the smell of salt on the wind when we get out of the car just has a way of calming, caressing and putting a smile on our faces. When we wear Clear Heart v.1 it carries that feeling of freedom, of space, of possibility on our skin.”
- Sarah Blair and Jeffrey Darling, Co-founders - Map of the Heart
THE STORY OF FREEDOM - FILM BRIEF
"The Clear Heart v.1 film was briefed to capture youthful emotion. We engaged young, emerging filmmakers Cloudy Rhodes and Scout Jackson to bring their original youthful eyes and lose themselves in those timeless moments of youth where you feel almost God-like possessed of limitless power and endless emotion. It was photographed on the North Coast of New South Wales where for many of us in Australia was the place of youthful escape, young love and newly discovered emotions. With its ocean and bushlands you are enveloped in a natural world, feeling a discovery of your own being with the heat of summer and the taste of salt symbolising a new found freedom.”
- Jeffrey Darling, Director + Co-founder - Map of the Heart
BRIEF TO PERFUMER JACQUES HUCLIER
Young. Innocent. Barely there. A whisper between a heartbeat. Uncomplicated. Clean. Refreshing, light. A single note on the wind: sweet and short. The voice of a nightingale. Elysium days / daze. The muses, the nymphs. Chaste.
Water. This is the rain. This is purity
The story of the Clear Heart is unformed, invisible to all but the sun’s rays and heard only by the wind. it is a story of innocence, of youthfulness, of playfulness. The clear fresh water tumbles over the stones smoothing their sharpness. The nymphs play without a care in the world laughing delicately for tomorrow will never come and the moment of now, right here, is all that matters. We cannot see this story, only heart it's whispering between heartbeats. It is ethereal and fleeting, a child of the wind, the nightingale our muse.
THE SCENT OF FREEDOM
"Clear Heart v.1 was the first emotional link to introduce the brand and its territory, together with Black Heart v.2 and Red Heart v.3. Each “heart” adds a new and unique dimension to the journey navigating into your map of the heart. Because it’s your map, you can start the journey wherever the heart brings you. You customise your journey following your desire and fantasy.
Clear Heart v.1 was worked with one word in mind: FREEDOM. We wanted to create a fragrance, for the untamed hearts living an untamed land.
Sarah connected us to the overwhelming sensation you have when you are in front of the ocean.
With perfumer, Jacques Huclier, even if we were in Paris, we closed our eyes and we started smelling the salty air of a wild ocean. We wanted to create a juice easy to wear, uncomplicated but full of convictions, that is clean, but long lasting thanks to the woody-musk dry down, a transparent fragrance, unique in its signature for its floral touch. It is an intuitive smell that doesn’t need any explanation. You feel comfortable wearing this very intimate fragrance on your skin.
A hint for those who like to discover more: Clear Heart v.1 is the perfect base for layering, with Red Heart v.3 or Pink Heart v.6 just to give you some ideas I like. "
- Giovanna Aicardi, Fragrance Developer and Partner, Map of the Heart
THE COLOUR OF FREEDOM
Clear is the “colour" of infinite possibilities. It is undefined and its clarity offers a space to dream through and into. It is purity. It is rain. It is the colour of water.