Palindrose

Look closely: the paired waw letters form the contour of a vase. From it rises a tulip, long associated with refinement and cultivated beauty in Ottoman symbolism. At the crest, the curvature suggests a butterfly at rest, sitting in peace. 

‘And your Lord glorify’ –وربك فكبر

The design is effectively a muthanna – a mirrored composition I acquired in 2010. I remember carrying the framed piece through Atatürk Airport that winter, balancing it with my luggage and walking what felt like miles to reach the gate. It became a quiet reference point for me; a study in elegance, restraint, and precision – qualities that naturally found their way into my perfumes.

Most mirrored compositions repeat a phrase symmetrically. This one does not. The verse appears only once, yet reads from right to left and from left to right, sharing a single fa at its center. A palindrome, it resolves into itself when reversed. Such a composition is exceptionally rare in modern Thuluth.

I chose this piece for Palindrose because it reflects the same idea that defines the perfume.

One sentiment, read both ways, with the conjunction suspended at the center. 

In olfactory terms, Palindrose reads Rose ↔ Oud ↔ Rose. And not just some lonesome rose…

It opens with a flash of citrus torn open by hand, bergamot and tangerine spraying into green Sichuan and crushed ginger. A cool ribbon of spearmint flashes through. There’s something almost frosty in the first breath, a charged brightness that smells like an elegant rose fest.

Afghani rose enters first – bright, white, pristine. Persian rose follows with its silky profile, fuller in body, less sharp. Turkish rose adds its red lift and classical poise, its rouge gliding above oud and frankincense. Japanese rugosas ooze out everywhere, while Ta’ifi rose arrives later with that signature lemony radiance grown under the desert sun.

An ensemble of different frankincense varieties – bright, smoky, mineral, almost saline – morphs the roses into a gorgeous, resinous bloom. You can smell the luban curling, the faint citrus peel bitterness riding the edge of agarwood incense. Green vetiver, angelica, and lovage add a green bitterness that smells medicinal in an ancient sense.

Then King Super pours in – not the polished idea of Malaysian oud, but old-growth Malinau gaharu, resin-heavy and humid. Beneath the surface, a camphor-laced greenness hums quietly, its Terengganu-like resinous purple-blue tinged with a faint camphoric shimmer. There’s a faint wild-berry nuance that’s not sugary, but fermented-sap sweet emerging from aged oleoresin. In this composition, King Super doesn’t overshadow the roses, but deepens them.

Pear and lychee shimmer at the margins – not sugary, but on par with the brightness of the roses – like a fruity glaze over a thousand petals. And beneath it all, the animalics murmur. Civet, muskrat, hyraceum, not loud, not crude, but intimate and faintly feral – exalting the sensual pulse of the roses. 

The effect mirrors the calligraphic palette: rose into oud, oud through rose, without beginning or end.

Plaques are custom-made. A limited number is currently available and will ship immediately on a first-come, first-served basis. Subsequent orders will ship as each plaque is completed.