Map Of The Heart

Sarah Blair and Jeffrey Darling came to perfumery from the worlds of design and film. Working with image, sound, and text prompted them to explore scent as another means of storytelling. In the initial concept, the heart was not a romantic sign but a symbol of human connection and a complex range of experiences. This gave rise to the name Map Of The Heart and the principle of giving each release its own emotional world.

The visual concept began with an old laboratory bottle found by Blair. The founders approached Pierre Dinand to develop a form of their own. He transformed the anatomical heart into an asymmetrical, stylized object: the bottle lies down and must be picked up, while its red cap maintains the motif of a bloodline. Dinand also helped connect the small Australian team with French manufacturers of glass and components.

Map Of The Heart was founded in 2015 and describes its origins as “born in Australia, made in France.” The Australian side develops the initial stories and visual imagery, while fragrance development and manufacturing take place in France. Givaudan, fragrance developer Giovanna Aicardi, and perfumer Jacques Huclier participated in the project. Sarah Blair calls Australian sandalwood a recurring thread through the collection.

The series is organized by numbers, colours, and states. Jacques Huclier's V.1 Freedom conveys freedom through citrus, green leaves, and blackcurrant. Watery notes, Tunisian neroli, orris, and peony form a transparent heart; white cedarwood, Australian sandalwood, incense, and musks hold the woody-musky base.

V.2 Darkness by the same perfumer is built on a collision of freshness and smoke. Bergamot, Brazilian orange, and eucalyptus lead into cardamom, black pepper, and cinnamon, followed by smoky wood accords and Australian sandalwood. V.3 Passion intensifies the fruity-spicy direction: red apple and pink pepper meet feijoa, tuberose, incense, and cinnamon; sandalwood, Madagascan vanilla, patchouli, and musks remain in the base.

V.7 Love was created by Jacques Huclier with Nisrine Bouazzaoui Grillié. Lavender, aldehydes, and cardamom open the composition; umeboshi, Somali frankincense, Spanish cistus, and gardenia form the heart; natural oud, cypriol, Haitian vetiver, copaiba balsam, and Australian sandalwood build a dark woody base. The tension between the bright opening and dense base reflects the theme of love's contradictions.

For V.8 Abundance, Huclier was joined by Amélie Jacquin. Bitter orange, pink pepper, and Somali incense lead into Australian fire tree, then Santalum album and Santalum spicatum, Akigalawood, and Laotian benzoin. Across these five compositions, the shared method is more apparent than a shared smell: story determines direction, colour, and form, while the perfumers translate an emotional plot into distinct citrus, smoky, fruity, floral, and mineral-woody structures.