The Brand Carlotha Ray Launches Its First Line of Perfumes ~ New Fragrances

The brand of eco-responsible shoes Carlotha Ray is about to unveil its first signature line of perfumes after the summer of 2021, composed by perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez. Mandarine & Maté Vert, Poire & Santal Blanc, Rose Blanche & Gardénia are three fragrances designed for, respectively, the morning, the afternoon, and the evening, but can be layered as desired.  

Founded in 2019 by designer Mariela Schwarz Montiel, the Carlotha Ray brand offers shoes designed using ecological materials (latex, natural pigments for coloring, etc.). The brand name pays homage to the designer’s grandmother, an inspiring woman who worked hard to make education accessible for little girls in Paraguay and fought against deforestation.

The brand expresses the idea of a femininity that is as urban as it is bucolic, in tune with the times, optimistic and committed. Besides shoes, the designer decided to develop a range of perfumes that combines luxury, beauty, and ecology. She first approached the Hélius company, which orchestrates the production of perfumes for brands that want to venture into this world. Hélius introduced perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez to Mariela Schwarz Montiel to give life to her line of fragrances, which she again wanted to make from eco-responsible materials, both in terms of scent and packaging. The choice of a unique perfumer was essential to infuse a signature into the three fragrances.

Jean-Michel Duriez, therefore, went for an increased use of renewable and ecological ingredients in the formulas. To do this, he played with the ORPUR materials from Givaudan, a range of upcycled, low carbon, sustainable and renewable ingredients. The fragrances had to be vegan, that is to say, free from materials of animal origin. He chose to use a natural organic alcohol from sugar cane. These are not “100% natural” perfumes, synthetics are present, but all these parameters together make them 90% natural origin formulas.

Duriez developed a “flower-leather-base” as the common thread in the three fragrances, built around mate. This material with leathery and vegetal accents made sense, mate being the morning drink of the designer’s childhood and Carlotha Ray’s shoes being made from plant-based materials. In Duriez’s base, the mate rubs shoulders with osmanthus, a small flower with leathery notes, as well as oakmoss, suderal (a synthetic note with a suede effect), cade, and birch. The whole is aerated by hedione, the molecule that smells similar to jasmine. This signature accord can be found in the background of each fragrance.

Mariela Schwarz Montiel’s idea was to create one fragrance for the morning, one for the afternoon, and one for the evening. The first, Mandarine & Maté Vert, is a hymn to peaceful mornings where you enjoy a hot drink while feeling barefoot the sweet freshness of a garden still pearled with morning dew. An inspiration that Jean-Michel Duriez translated with the lively, elegant radiance of tangerine and the humid notes of oakmoss. He illustrated the morning dew using a tulip accord, very “florist’s shop” like, with watery floral notes, all resting on his leather-flower base. He aimed for a tenacious freshness, like the cool waters of the seventies in the vein of L’Eau de Rochas, where a lively and dazzling top meets a warm, ambery chypre background.

The second one, Poire & Santal Blanc, brings the padded, serene comfort of afternoons lulled by the soothing view of a garden. A contemplative fragrance, dedicated to moments of silence, to the desire for serenity. This tranquility Jean-Michel Duriez transcribed by playing with a note of juicy, crunchy pear, dressed in white floral nuances, on a bed of Indian sandalwood, soft and creamy. The flower-leather base is enveloped here in delicacy, and the sandalwood exudes opaline hues. A fragrance in which everything blends harmoniously, conceived as a velvet case.

The last one, Rose Blanche & Gardénia, plunges us into a late evening spent with friends. This more formal fragrance expresses the designer’s taste for the French art of living, luxury, and craftsmanship—a sensual, baroque atmosphere driven by the idea of a more assertive femininity. The perfumer built the composition around a white rose accord, as opposed to a gourmand rose, even though discreet candied, fruity tones, those of damascones, damascenone, and a subtle touch of ethyl-maltol, are present. The gardenia brings a carnal dimension, nuanced with that old-fashioned charm that befits the universe of Carlotha Ray, a delicate, refined sensuality that is expressed with restraint. The background is outlined around the leathery base, dressed in very present white musks, as if to evoke the idea of a starry, powdery sky.

As Mariela Schwarz Montiel wished, the three scents are designed to overlap in the spirit of the head-heart-base construction of a fragrance. Her line is packaged in eco-responsible, recyclable materials made from 40% recycled paper, hemp, and 40% recycled glass. The bottle has a cap made of beech wood from FSC-certified forests. The whole was designed to reduce the carbon footprint on the environment, with the idea of combining aesthetics with creativity. 
 

Available in 50 ml for 85 EUR after the 2021 summer break at Carlotha Ray‘s points of sale.