L'Officiel Nose: Dimitri Weber of Goldfield & Banks

Dimitri Weber’s roots lie in Europe, but Australia has become his stage for inspiration and entrepreneurship. After spending 25 years working in France’s fragrance industry, the Belgian-born perfumer moved Down Under in 2015 to learn about and work on prestige fragrances. While Weber had looked forward to exploring Australia-specific brands, he discovered few seemed to exist in department stores, which compelled him to start creating scents in tribute to Australia. Goldfield & Banks celebrates its home’s nature and spirit, from its name—acknowledging Australia’s first botanist, Joseph Banks—to unique wood, flowers, and fruits. Though all perfume production takes place amidst the scents’ land of inspiration, the brand also keeps French perfume heritage in mind through its craft and consultation. Fragrances are unisex and have a colorful appearance in bottles that pay tribute to Australia on the label and lid.

Blue Cypress, one of Goldfield & Banks’ carefully crafted fragrances, comes from Kakadu in the northern territory and aims to resemble the scent of morning dew on gum and eucalyptus leaves. It accomplishes this using a woody base and notes including lavender, patchouli, clove, and star anise, and the liquid’s aqua shade helps to add visual refreshment to the olfactory creation. Blue Cypress at once pays tribute to Australian heritage and possesses a transcending lively energy, so Weber shared a bit more about Banks, nature, and summer vibes.

If your fragrance was the star of its own movie, which actor would play the starring role? 

Chris Hemsworth definitely! He is so very Australian and at the same time elegant, natural, sporty, and extremely vain. The fragrance is gender neutral so if it also could be Nicole Kidman in the iconic film Australia. Open air, country life, and spontaneous.

What color(s) does your fragrance smell like? 

Misty water colors. The fragrance is like a haze of light incense that fuses with the scent of morning dew evaporating from a deep, blue-green forest. In Australia, Eucalyptus diffuses due to the heat, creating a blue mist above the mountains. You can see colors going from pale green to deep blue, and sometimes even purple.

Which city/place in the world does your fragrance encapsulate best?

The majestuous thick and aromatic forests of New South Wales in Australia.

If you had to place your fragrance in an iconic decade past, which one would it be? 

The 18th Century, when Joseph Banks came to this vast land down under and discovered the extraordinary, untapped, and lush flora of this country. Imagine no pollution but only fresh air and plants with new scents to discover! It must have been extremely joyful then to discover new shapes of leaves and flowers with different smells with organic shapes.

What item from your wardrobe would you compare your scent to?

Crisp, starched cotton white shirts with long sleeves because the fragrance is at once crisp, natural smelling, and incredibly elegant and clean. The oil of Australian Blue Cypress is also spicy and woody, so it evokes the beautiful Victorian wooden wardrobes in Australian terrace houses.

What genre of music do you think your fragrance most aligns with and why? 

Jazz and summer ballads. Blue Cypress is a fragrance that is reminiscent of lavender fields and sun kissed cypress trees in the summer. Comforting and unique, it makes you feel like you want to dress up and have an afternoon cocktail at the beach and smoke a cigar.

If your fragrance had a night out on the town, what drink would it order at the bar? 

An aromatic gin with berries, lavender, lemon, clove, and star Anise.

If you were to relate your new scent to a book, what would it be? Why?

Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage. It consists of 743 engravings of plants gathered by Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook’s first voyage around the world in 1768. Each and every engraving is a work of great beauty and of such historical importance that it’s quite overwhelming. You can almost smell all the plants and botanicals in the book, or at least imagine their scent and therapeutic effect.

If your new fragrance had a soundtrack, what three sounds would play once you spray the scent?

Jazz piano, saxophone, and drum kits.

If it wasn’t called Blue Cypress, what would it be called?

Mountain high, valley deep!