#035 Grimoire Parfums A Conversation with Trung Vu

In this episode of Olfactive Melbourne, we welcome back Trung Vu, the founder and perfumer behind Grimoire Parfums, the independent Melbourne house building a body of work one Volume at a time. Trung first joined us in Season 1 to take us through Nephilim, Volume I of the Ex Fabularum collection. He returns with two new releases, Wú Gāng and Batonebi, and a conversation about what has changed in his practice since the debut five.Grimoire is a house built on story. Wú Gāng takes its name from the mortal exiled to the moon, condemned to cut down an osmanthus tree that heals itself with every stroke. Batonebi turns to the Caucasus and to the folk spirits that Georgian tradition holds must be soothed rather than driven out.Wú Gāng, Volume VI, is set in Huáxià and revisited from one of Trung's earliest formulas. It opens on raspberry leaf, apricot, tea and mandarin, lifted by Sichuan pepper, cardamom and davana. The heart turns to osmanthus at its centre, threaded with magnolia, maté, aglaia, jasmine sambac, cinnamon and carnation. The drydown takes a sharper turn into tobacco, cedar, birch tar and patchouli, grounded by wool, castoreum and asparagus in a base that is dry, mineralic and deliberately unresolved.Batonebi, Volume VII, is the newest release and the softer of the two. Aldehydes, pear leaf, yeast, barberry and chamomile open it, before a heart of milk, rose raduga, honey, tuberose, wild flowers and silk vine settles in. Musk, sandalwood, sweet clover, dark chocolate, butter, benzoin and vanilla carry it through to the base.We explore how the Volumes work, how Trung's approach has shifted since Ex Fabularum, and the craft behind two very different compositions. Watch or listen now for a note by note masterclass with one of Australia's most distinctive independent perfumers.https://www.grimoireparfums.com.au/