thE BLOOD OF STONES

Purpose : Floral water creating process
Installation : Limestone fountain/shower
Perfume : PETRICHOR by Paul Guerlain
Year : 2024

« A drop, heavy and warm, bursts in the summer dust. Soon, a downpour strikes the arid ground, bringing it back to life. And you—when you emerge from the torpor of a heatwave and fill your lungs with the damp air—do you smell the scent released by the earth under the rain? » 

Alice Lebreton, directrice de recherche INRAE, Journal Le Monde, 2022

THE BLOOD OF STONES lies at the intersection of sculpture, functional design, and olfactory experience. This limestone composition takes the shape of a garden shower, a basin, and a carved stone bed—subtly outlining the contours of a fountain.

Deeply inspired by the mountains of Nice—with their rocky slopes where water springs forth and where everything begins anew—this piece, sculpted in Nice during the winter, is an allegory of breath and nature’s rebirth. In winter, the rocks absorb water, minerals, organic matter, and molecules, only to release them again in the spring.

Our creations live in a place and are steeped in a season, we collaborate with a perfumer to create a unique scent. Here, it all began with a word: petrichor—literally, “the blood of stones,” that unmistakable scent of earth after rain.

This is the story of a gardener and his imaginary, dreamed garden—sculpted from stone.

THE RITUAL OF ENDING A DAY IN THE GARDEN INTO A LARGE SCALE FRAGRANCE DIFFUSER

The gardener sets down his tools and sits on his stool, removes his gloves, and dips his hands in the water. The essential oils, the leaves, the earth, the sweat, the flowers... Everything blends and settles, turning this moment into fragrance.

To recreate this ritual and create an olfactory experience, we have designed effervescent stones made from stone dust, natural materials, and fragrance. As they dissolve, they transform the shower water into a true floral water. The activation of the piece is through the gesture, which becomes a sensory experience. The fragrance inhabits our pieces, almost secret, yet entirely fused.