Founded in 2006, Byredo’s products and fragrances have always acted as bridges to the translation of memories and emotions, capturing an aromatic essence unlike anything else. Now, Founder and Creative Director Ben Gorham has unveiled the first of a multipart series centered around the celebration of one of the brand’s most beloved scents: Bal d’Afrique. 

This annual series will focus on collaborations with multi-disciplinary creatives, aiming to facilitate a renewed dialogue and perspective to the brand’s most iconic scents. The series invites creatives to tell their own memories of the fragrance and the meaning behind them, recontextualizing the emotional essence of the scents; beginning with photographer and filmmaker Gabriel Moses’s interpretation of Byredo’s Bal d’Afrique, a genderless scent with notes of African marigold, bergamot, violet and Moroccan cedarwood. 

Initially, Gorham’s creation of the scent was inspired by the diaries of his father and the time he spent across Africa, culminating in what would become the iconic scent. “Bal d’Afrique is one of my earliest fragrances. At the time of its formulation, I was obsessed with the translation of memories into scent. At the same time, I felt confident enough to include an imaginary component,” he shared. “My father lived and traveled in Africa for 15 years. I would read his diaries, the way he traveled; the different people that he met. For me, this was a way to connect to him and his diaries gave life to my imagination of the experience of arriving in Africa. Bal d’Afrique reflects that; it’s an imaginary journey as well as a complete celebration of how I see African culture and its influence.” 

The perfume is an olfactive manifestation – a tribute to an unmeasurably diverse continent in terms of people, creativity, culture, arts and practices. Moses proves to be the perfect creative to capture the scent’s essence, dedicated to the capturing of generations before him through the lens of current times.  His videos and photos pay homage to the then and now of African culture, capturing the music, the dance, the cinema and the beauty. The result is the revitalization of memories, celebrating the beautiful simplicity of everyday life. 

“Bal d’Afrique is a celebration. It’s an open invitation to explore and interpret what that celebration is,” shares Moses. “For me, it is to capture joy on seemingly ordinary days. Like the ancestral images I saw of my mother with her friends. It is the nostalgic moments of beauty, confidence and warmth that celebrate what it is to be African.”

Byredo’s identity in the past, present and future as not only a brand but a method for cultural understanding will continue to breathe new life and perspectives into familiar fragrances, aiming to continue their dedication to the translation of memories and emotions.