NOSTOS, where Achilles is more beautiful than Ulysses.
Nostos in Greek means the return -- that which is eternally impossible, which speaks to the heart and to the imagination; the return within the confounded space and time where hope remains.
Nostos is the fundamental root of the poignant feeling called nostalgia, the pain of nostos.
Here, perfume is the vehicle of the return to which one aspires in vain. Like an intense and deep incense that would have burned for three thousand years, the perfume celebrates the Homeric epic of that most beautiful of heroes, whose anger and its unpredictable consequences made the Trojan War.
The totemic figure of the desired but unfulfilled nostos is Achilles. This is not the nostos of Ulysses and his Odyssey; here, it is Achilles, the emblem of the perfume, conceived by the gods, born of love, like the Trojan war.
Spear or shield, this perfume too has a double nature, where the Greek hero is adorned with the attractions of jasmine and sandalwood. Art of war or love, the perfume approaches perfection in order to attack time, fight against our limited destinies and finally triumph over the merciless Greek gods with amber, saffron and incense.
The scent of the most beautiful Greek hero, fragile and dangerous, forged by Hephaestus, the god of fire, to ensure victory
When Etienne de Swardt created his house of perfume in 2006, it was only right and natural for him to give it this name, to honor his birthplace and what it represents.
In South Africa, Etat Libre d’Orange, the Orange Free State, was an autonomous sovereign republic which declared independence from British rule in 1854. Etat Libre d’Orange is a declaration of this independence. Etienne formed his own house with the idea of starting a revolution. He wanted to create a challenging perfumery, to emancipate juices from traditional restrictions. He envisioned perfumes that were furiously liberated, dangerously endearing. Flamboyant, excessive, perfect. Sometimes scandalous, always delicious. Perfumes for life and love and making love.