Materia Viva is a work in progress dedicated to aromatic raw materials: resins, plants, woods, essences, balsams, flowers, seeds, roots.

It arises at the meeting point of scent, writing, image, and living research.
Each material is listened to not only for its properties, but for its history, its provenance, its landscape, its symbolic gesture, its presence in the world.

It is a cultural and sensory notebook, an aromatic ezine: it follows materials back to their source, crossing geographies, traditions, trade routes, archives, images, and intuitions.

A resin, a wood, a flower, or an essence become the centre of a research: a route opens, traces are gathered, the scent is listened to, images are sought, a form is allowed to emerge.

Part of the research takes shape in texts and digital publication.
Part of it becomes original artwork with fine art printing.

The May issue is dedicated to Sumatra Benzoin. Here is an excerpt:

Benzoin carries with it a crossroads — like those trail signs where you must decide which way to go. There is Siam Benzoin, from the Styrax tonkinensis of Laos and Vietnam, and Indonesian benzoin, from the Styrax benzoin of Sumatra. Today we choose Indonesia, where Sumatra Benzoin awaits us with its pungent aroma mingled with an intoxicating sweetness.
Every aromatic material is, in the end, a path. But few declare this as explicitly as benzoin. The name itself says it: benzoin comes from the Arabic luban jawī, “incense of Java” — a name that is itself a route, a geographic area of origin carried inside a word. The resin crossed the Indian Ocean to the Arab ports, from there the Mediterranean, and arrived in Europe already with its provenance engraved in its name. For centuries, before it was ever smelled, it was pronounced as a place.

If you are interested in reading Materia Viva, contact us via the WhatsApp button on the site to request a free copy.