At Lore Perfumery, we just adore the Goldfield and Banks collection. We love this selection of 7 fragrances that take us on a unique and beautiful journey across Australia, using the best ingredients this country has to offer, whilst conjuring vivid imagery of our beautiful landscape.
The curated collection of fragrances include:
Goldfield and Banks scents are parfum extract so the sillage and longevity is very good – we get onwards of 12 hours.
- Desert Rosewood – We love how the soft, sweet resinous base of Desert Rosewood – the warmth on the skin which leaves an almost powdery softness.
- Pacific Rock Moss – We love Pacific Rock Moss – it is so crisp and refreshing, just like the salty, sweet sea air. We also love how light yet long wearing this beautiful fragrance is.
- Blue Cypress – We love how Blue Cypress from Goldfield and Banks makes us feel cooled and refreshed with its aromatic notes and Cypress, just like the shade in a beautiful green rain forest would.
- White Sandalwood – We love how powerful and creamy the White Sandalwood is in this scent from Goldfield and Banks. The gorgeous edition of Rose with a gentle hint of spice makes this perfume so beautiful.
- Wood Infusion – We love the warmth of Wood Infusion, this is such a sophisticated Oud based fragrance – softer and slightly sweet on the skin.
- Southern Bloom – We love the uniqueness of Southern Bloom – as the Boronia is only available in such limited quantities this is a very special perfume. We love the slightly powdery, heady quality of this floral fragrance.
- Velvet Splendour – We absolutely love that way that Velvet Splendour captures the clear, fresh country air with its beautiful blend of flowers, earthy tones and what we think is a soft powdery gentle tone. The floral notes come out but this is a great one to add to a powdery collection, with a very modern and rich tone to it.
The wonderful man behind the brand, Dimitri Weber holds a pretty special place in our hearts here at Lore. His passion, his knowledge and his savour faire bring us so much joy, so we just had to share our quick little QnA with you all. Enjoy!
L) How did you get into the wonderful world of fragrance?
D) I’ve been in the exclusive perfume industry for 25 years and I have been passionate about perfumes since the age of 6. I was lucky enough to start a career in fragrances in the golden years (the 90’s) at YSL when the designer was still alive and working on the fragrances. Feeling the love for extreme beauty and the creativity through his designs was very inspirational. He used to say that when you create you always have the reality of the profession and the dream. Today I love both sides of the industry. I have worked ever since with the most beautiful brands and have been able to travel all around the world and meet the most amazing people. Developing luxe scents today inspired by the beauty of this country and using all the native botanicals is a true challenge as I apply a French methodology and making the first Australian Luxury fragrance brand on the market. So the pressure is on as everybody is watching closely what I do because it hasn’t been done before.
L) What brought you to Australia? And more importantly, what was the impetus that made you stay here?
D) One of my clients was Cartier and they sent me to Australia for a launch of a new fragrance and during this trip I met my partner. I travelled back and forth for a year before deciding to leave everything behind, sell my property and my company and live in Australia. I have always travelled internationally for my work so I wasn’t afraid of going and living all the way down here. Today I feel home here.
L) You obviously love Australia and all that this beautiful country has to offer…what ingredient/s do you find yourself most drawn to using in your fragrances?
D) I am a fan of sandalwood because of its complexity…you can use it in so many different ways. Buddha wood is rich and opulent and is so oriental. Pepper from Tasmania is very aromatic and sexy. Vanilla from the tropics in North Queensland has a very sweet and almost caramel like flavour. Lemon myrtle is pretty unique…not many people overseas know this ingredient and is perfect once blend with other citrus notes. Boronia flower is spicy and exotic and so apart and abstract.
L) Speaking of ingredients, France is always associated with fragrance, what European ingredients do you absolutely love including in your range?
D) Iris! I feel that this precious flower and rhizome could as well be Australian, smells earthy, dry and powdery a bit like a like a sand storm in the desert.
L) Obviously the Brown Boronia used in Southern Bloom is very special, tell us a bit about how this came to be included in your collection?
D) Brown Boronia is the star amongst the ingredients. The absolute is worth today 10K a kilo. The distillation process which takes 2 weeks only is extremely expensive and the only place where this takes place is in Tasmania in October. The flower blooms in September during our Australian Spring only for a few weeks. The farmers are rare and passionate about their art! The soil and the 0 level of pollution make this shrub a unique specie rich in flavours and oils. Usually used in the candy industry we use the absolute essential oil of the brown Boronia in our fragrance. It was used in the 60’s in a Dior fragrance but when they started to commercialise their fragrances in high volumes they need to find a substitute. I am lucky being a small brand we can work with only the best oils!
L) I’m sure you have a connection to each and every fragrance that you create, however is there one that has an extra special connection for you?
D) Desert Rosewood! It features the native buddha wood oil (or desert rosewood oil) which has never been used before in a perfume. It’s smoky, rich, earthy and smells luxurious. I have blended it with vanilla from the Comoros islands, amber, patchouli from Indonesia and cardamom and it smells so sexy and sweet.
Pacific Rock Moss is another one I love, it reflects the smell of the South Coast on a hot summer day! It’s our best seller worldwide. Everybody wants a piece of the Australian beaches.
L) Every fragrance in the collection is based on an Australian location, do you spend a lot of time travelling around Australia to really get a feel for every location that you bring to life with your scents? And if so, where is your favourite place you’ve visited in Australia so far?
D) It’s part of the journey! I am incapable of imagining a fragrance without having experienced the place and its plants. I always get inspired by my travels in this country. I recently went to the tropics in North Queensland where I spent a weekend on an agarwood farm in the middle of the rainforest in a beautiful house on a hill surrounded by nothing but pure and innocent beauty! It was pure bliss! Australia is going to export very soon Agarwood which is a first in our industry!
I live in Vaucluse NSW and the beauty that surrounds this area is absolutely spectacular and makes my mind spin all the time with some fresh new ideas and dreams!
L) What is the next place that you are excited to recreate in a fragrance?
D) Byron Bay! Stay tuned for some new olfactory experiences!
L) Your passion and enthusiasm for fragrance is contagious, what is it about fragrance that brings you the most joy?
D) I love going on the field, meet the farmers and talk to the people that harvest and distil the plants. It’s my favourite time unfortunately I don’t have much time to go out there but I do as I want to make sure we keep spreading the word and educate people in different sciences. Going to the farmers of vanilla in Queensland or visiting the Sandalwood farmers in Western Australia is a big adventure. Pure bushland, rugged and vast. The government is very much involved in the production and plantations of the species and so we feel quite save that all of it is very sustainable and this is what I love sharing with my audience and what keeps me going! I am so passionate! Seeing my customers and retailers with smiling faces and making them happy is my goal everyday!
L) If you could go back and change one thing about the Goldfield and Banks journey, what would it be? Or would there even be anything?
D) I would never start this journey on my own again. It’s hard and lonely but you get to learn and be across every single aspect of the business. So this is an advantage but now it’s time to expand and have some fun!
L) In your opinion, what does it take to make a great perfumer?
D) Curiosity and thinking out of the box! Today the industry is inundated with thousands of fragrances and my story and my fragrances are genuine and they tell an interesting and true tale about nature and the earth. Very Australian but with an “Eco-Luxury” feel to it! I call it country luxe! I am happy not to live in Europe anymore so I don’t get distracted and I focus on what is essential in my job, creating perfumes, Australian perfumes. I can say that I have contributed to the sudden appreciation of Australian botanicals in our perfume industry hence the success. I offer something new to our customers and even locally people are very supportive and start buying our Australian luxury perfumes because they are more suited for this environment and climate thus more wearable then some heady French perfumes.
L) What is your personal favourite fragrance in the collection to wear and why?
D) I love them all! Because each of them brings me to a particular place and time in my life and those feelings and memories will remain forever in my heart.
