AGANOVICH - Let's Murder The Moonshine

Let's Murder the Moonshinethe first fragrance of the duo Aganovichis indeed a concentrate of evocations, both olfactory and narrative. Its creation is the result of two meetings, first between Nana Aganovich and Brooke Taylor, and then with Arnaud Poulain, the Nose and founder of Eaux Primordiales. The fragrance, inspired by the studio of Irish painter Francis Bacon, brings together creative madness and devastating passion. Notes of burnt wood, gouache, incense and ink convey the creative energy and "terrible beauty" of the painter's work. A whole world, intimate and personal, revealed during an open hearted interview.

Let's Murder the Moonshine, just that?
Not only is it a title borrowed from the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, but it is also and above all the very first book that Nana gave me, an original edition of his essays. I fell in love with Futurism, with the manifestos, with Marinetti himself, and especially with Let's murder the moonshinea founding text that led to the creation of Futurism. We actually called our first show that. When Nana gave me this book, we were both completely crazy. This explosive encounter, which was probably not in our best interests, marked the beginning of a crazy time for both of us. At the time, she was making faces like a clown every day, had five passports in her purse, and wads of cash. I really wondered what I was getting myself into. She was very provocative and very professional at the same time. For example, she was accepted at Central Saint Martin after only twenty minutes of interviewing... We spent the next two or three years touring London from top to bottom, from its worst slums to its five-star hotels. We devoured the city voraciously, which was quite new for both of us. Let's murder the moonshinewas also that, to kill the night, to enjoy...

Your meeting with Arnaud was also unexpected.
Arnaud had been around one of our groups of friends for a long time, without us understanding who he was or what he did. He speaks little. He is very tall, with the powerful physique of a rugby player, and we would never have imagined that he was a perfumer, even though he clearly looked like a man who knew how to do things. One night, when it was raining like crazy, Nana and I went out for a drink in the neighborhood, and we happened to run into him. It was the first time we really talked, he started telling us the stories he puts in his perfumes, and we lost all sense of time. Arnaud looks for inspiration in his past, in his region of the North, so important in the history of France. The Germans, the war, the territory... He is a man of the soil. He will draw from his feelings, from the memories of his father and grandfather to do what he does.

And what about yours?
The research started a bit by accident. I was going through some old files for a family reunion and I started to sort out and put aside important, touching photos, like for a mood board. Those of my grandmother and grandfather, to start with, extravagant personalities, always intoxicated. They were obviously very rich for a short time, before spending all their money on their social life in the 1920s. They totally embody the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. I found a picture of Nana's parents. Pictures of squats. Experiments we had done with clowns, in reference to Nana, of course. Pictures of my best friend, from Las Vegas, of Nana's adopted half-brother, also very clownish, very tragic. Two chefs, exhausted in a restaurant, who had marked me. And the studio of Francis Bacon, who is in our eyes one of the most beautiful and singular artists. We then proposed to Arnaud to come to the studio. He came, he looked at the mood board, he left. Three days later, he was back with a sample that he handed to us saying "This is it". And indeed, that's what it was. Like a paint factory that caught fire at night and the chemical smell spread through the forest. Something direct, like a blow to the head. We did some fine-tuning but he understood.

Any other scents to come? 
Yes, we have plans to create a whole line of perfumes under the nameAganovichbut with Arnaud. It's a nice little bridge, like any true friendship. And it's a privilege to work with someone you know, trust, and who has so much experience.

Who did you imagine this perfume for?
For us, first of all, who love it. We both wear it, since it is unisex. And for those who will recognize it.