I've loved orchids since I was a kid.

We had a small patio at the back of our house covered in a grapevine, which in the Spring would be completely covered in light green leaves that filtered the light and created a greenhouse effect. My Mom occasionally got orchids from Dad, and once, he brought home a variety called Dendrobium nobile. 

Mom tied it to one of the grapevine trunks, as you do in the tropics, and the orchid lived there for a few years, growing to display bunches of fragrant flowers throughout the Spring and Summer seasons.

This dendrobium variety has one of the most exquisite perfumes in the kingdom of flowers. It is sweet like jasmine but much more ethereal and dewy. Despite being a light fragrance, it is very diffusive. 

Over the years, and as I traveled, I would always detect its perfume, whether in the wild, people's gardens, conservatories, orchid shows, or botanical gardens. Such is the power of scent when associated with memory. 

I learned to create orchid accords in perfumery. There are many variations, and because orchid accords are considered fantasy accords, the fragrance cannot be extracted by any method; in fact, the only orchid we can extract from is vanilla. But there are many headspace analyses that perfumers use to get inspired. The most famous compendium by Roman Kaiser, Scent Of The Vanishing Flora, is an excellent tool for studying the many volatile molecules in the perfume of orchids.

This is Element Orchid Light. It is as ethereal, dewy, and diffusive as live dendrobiums. If you get to experience it, you will instantly associate it with the fragrance of the live flowers, if you ever had the chance to smell them on a Summer evening.