Xyloflor, 2023

Night in the Garden of Love, Inspired by & featuring Yusef Lateef exhibition is accompanied by a unique scent Xyloflor, created especially for the occasion by Dawood in collaboration with Olivia Bransbourg of boutique perfume label Iconofly, Paris-based perfumer Nicolas Bonneville and fragrance house Firmenich, bringing to life the various plant notes of the Garden's collectively imagined ecosystem. The perfume-with hints of jasmine and brugmansia - is housed in a specially designed ceramic vase developed in collaboration with Ofumum.

Xyloflor is a dreamlike bouquet inspired by Yusef Lateef's imagining of the Night in the Garden of Love, bringing to life the various plant notes of the Garden's collectively imagined ecosystem. Fusing wood (xylon) and flora, the fragrance is named after an invented, mutant word - Xyloflor.

Not all of the plants referenced by Dawood and Lateef have a discernible scent. Therefore, using the garden's potential as a site of creation, and conceived by perfumer Nicolas Bonneville with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Headspace technology, Dawood described an embodiment and association to the plants, enacting a call and response, which translated into the corresponding scent.

In Night in the Garden of Love, Inspired by & featuring Yusef Lateef exhibition, Xyloflor is presented in a large ceramic vase using bamboo reeds for capillary diffusion, releasing the scent into the night garden, immersing oneself within Dawood and Lateef's metaphysical space.