REVIEW
La Voie Parfumée in the Newspaper L’Yonne Républicaine
Article | About the new perfume “Eau de Vézelay” | Jan. 10th 2023
BIOGRAPHY
Claude Matoux
Perfumer and founder of the brand “La Voie Parfumée”
Belgian and originally a literature teacher, I was interested since my youth in different cultures and religions, in those things that question the Human Being on his values and sense of existence.
After multiple trainings on the nature around us and the human nature, on well-being, on the Essence and the essences, I followed a course in perfumery with Nicolas de Barry, Master perfumer, in the charming village of Candes-Saint-Martin. He unveiled my talent and encouraged me to accomplish my dream to open a perfumery.
Having fallen in love with the village of Vézelay, whose famous basilica, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is dedicated to Mary Magdalen, the patroness of perfumers, Isettled in this hotspot, nicknamed the Eternal hill, and I created a collection of biblical perfumes.
Following my inspiration, I put together 5 perfumes from those named in the Bible as well as an Eau d’Ange that is impregnated with benzoin, as mentioned in the antique recipes.
Welcome to discover these different resins allied to flowers or citrus fruits and to be taken on a journey!
Claude, Vézelay’s Perfumer
THE SHOP IN VEZELAY
Our perfumery on screen
OUR INSPIRATION
A journey into divine nectar
La Voie Parfumée invites to take you into a movement of scents, of aromatic notes and harmonious circumvolutions of the Earth towards the sky.
Perfume – from its etymology “through the fumes”, derived from the French word “parfum” – is an alliance to one’s subtle personality, and to that which it imparts. The small addition, the secret, the hidden asset that reveals the undefinable…
We wear with pleasure a perfume in which we feel good and by extension, a perfume which sublimes a part of ourselves. A perfume’s alchemy with our skin is essential, at first the perfume is an encounter, then a marriage and finally… a signature, a beautiful token of our presence, even when it may be a memory already.
La Voie Parfumée offers a collection of biblical perfumes, created from the perfumes named in the Holy Book, where they are so often referred to. Perfumes, previously reserved for deities and for liturgy, have kept a part of wonder and mystery, thanks to their precious element. Nature’s resin rubbers surrounding the Mediterranean Basin give to women and men of all nations a feeling of Eternity.
OUR MISSION
To lead you into immersion
To offer you this odoriferous journey, our approach puts forward an itinerary in several stages, with the objectives to:
– Make you familiar with the effluviums evoked in the Bible: balm, cinnamon, incense, galbanum, henna, labdanum, myrrh, nard, aromatic reed, saffron and storax… These scents are mainly found in the Hebraic Bible but some in the New Testament as well!
– Introduce you to the history of perfumes and their manufacturing process.
– Make you « smell » the Divine Presence: we know it, smell awakens memories, sometimes very distant ones. Scents open the doors to a finer comprehension of the Writings and of the timeless truths.
– Initiate you to the fabrication of perfume: by creating yourself your eau detoilette or perfume, for instance as part of our olfactory workshops. You will be able to express by means of olfaction your rainbow of moods and emotions.
We will be happy to share this immersion with you!
HISTORY & PERFUMES
Vézelay, or the imprint of Saint Mary Magdalen
A RETURN TO THE BEGINING OF TIMES
The Holy Scriptures exhale delicious fragrances
The Bible is the « book of books ».
The most read, the most translated, the most commented… and yet still unknownin some aspects.
This Book which we can relentlessly refer to is interpreted in different levels of reading. In this way, biblical stories are dotted with intense evocations of perfumes. Seemingly trivial, these indications of leaves, resins, barks and other trees have multiple functions, all important and rich in meaning.
The founding texts of occidental societies, these antique parchments are the breeding grounds of our origins, of our history and of our leading values, always brought to adapt like water adapts to all that it meets whilst still remaining itself. To ignore it would be forgetting the Source.
In any case, it all starts with the Genesis and the garden of Eden. And what a garden it must have been…! A garden of colours.
A deliciously warm and refreshing garden, a garden of soft whispering and, obviously, a garden of scents. The earthly paradise must have been exhaling pleasant perfumes.
In all the traditions of the world, perfume has been associated with God or gods.The incenses rise from the Earth towards the Sky, and « through the smoke », rejoice the human and divine hearts. The sense of smell awakens memories, sometimes very distant. Scents open the doors to a finer comprehension of the Scriptures and of the timeless truths.
Therefore, the choice of perfume is of the highest importance. About that, one perfume, or several of them? The choice is yours!
Let us never forget that anointing is bringing Light. When many start to operate in full consciousness and to look for transcendence, biblical perfumes can participate as precious presents.