THE WILDCRAFTER
As summer winds down and we gear up for the upcoming holiday season, our wildharvesting crews are hard at work collecting the raw, natural ingredients for our fragrances. Every Juniper Ridge product has a Harvest Number stamped on the front of it. These numbers are how we indicate the vintage of each fragrance. Like wine, our fragrances vary over successive years based on rainfall, temperature, and exact harvesting location. You can look up the Harvest Number on your package at www.JuniperRidge.com to see photos of the plants in your fragrance, along with the Juniper Ridge crew who gathered them.
Montreal-based lifestyle blog Boucle d'Or just posted this lovely piece on our Campfire Incense. Have a look (you can use Google Translate if your French is a little rusty).
Our Backpacker's Cologne is featured on AskMen's "Manly Colognes of Past Decades." Head over and check out the list for the rest of "The Most Significant Colognes Of The Past 5 Decades." Sounds like we're in pretty good company.
"...the power of these fragrance goodies is so inviting I can’t do it justice here but deem it closest to those evoking thoughts of familiarity and fresh open ground that hit you in the face with a calmer outlook, dreams of nostalgia and of transportation right back to that moment on your bike when you’re riding through woods or brush and get a waft of the outdoors. The musty smell of trees, fresh ferns, the grasses – even the sun on your back and the smell that engulfs you while on your travels. Here I was in a hot tradeshow but this was a fragrant heroin got me easily hooked on concoctions of bark, moss, mushrooms, flowers, firs and pinecones."
Our Trail Crew Soap was just featured in this great article from Nowhere Fast Cycle Club, visit their site for more.
"I had the pleasure of spending two days in the hills of Big Sur with the Juniper Ridge crew. We foraged for flowers, hiked to swimming holes, and drank whiskey by the fire. It was a reminder that we all need a quiet escape once in a while, and now you can buy that reminder in a bottle."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Many thanks to Jose Mandojana for shooting these wonderful images of a recent wildcrafting trip, be sure and visit his site for more.
"I always think of myself as being an accidental perfumer. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and spent my summers hiking and backpacking around the lakes and peaks of the Casacades – Mt. Hood, Mt Jefferson, The Three Sisters … just saying those names brings some kind of magic into the room for me and that’s what my perfume is all about. If I can put a summer day on Mt. Hood’s timberline trail when the wildflowers are peaking into a bottle, well, that’s just the most beautiful thing that there is or could ever be."
CaFleureBon is the the # 1 niche and natural perfume blog in the world and a top five international fragrance site. They just posted a great interview with Juniper Ridge founder Hall Newbegin, touching on a range of subjects - from the state of the American perfume industry to Hall's inspirations. Head over and have a look >>
Juniper Ridge was featured in Soen Magazine, Japan's longest running fashion magazine. Thanks to Victoria Jent (@EauMG) for the heads up!
"Rugged, dark, and handsome. I've fallen for @juniperridge #BIGSUR Trail Crew Soap at @thestandardstore launch this evening."
Thanks Lauren Yates (@ponytailjournal), we definitely agree!
Too much time in front of the computer screen? Jessica Matlin (@JessicaMatlin) has got the right idea - get your...
The Siskiyou forests of Northern California seem to be composed of an endless river of mountains supporting an equally endless array of tree species. The per acre biomass here out-measures the deepest heart of the Amazon basin. This rugged landscape, so alive, so remote, is not only the inspiration, but the source of all the fragrance ingredients in our Siskiyou Backpacker's Cologne. Here are some pictures from last week's adventure in this, one of our favorite wildernesses.
"Immediately I’m transported back to the Central California coastline, with its mix of ocean breeze, sage, and pine, even though we’re sitting on the 33rd floor of an office building—a green one, at least—in New York City. I’m pretty sure my eyes roll into the back of my head. This isn’t a headache-inducing faux Christmas tree smell, but something far more organic."
Read more of this excellent article from Town & Country about our products, process, and philosophy here >>
Another great feature about our friends at Fellow Barber, this time from the stylish folks at Fashionista. Click here to read the full article >>
"One of the most pervasive mindsets of 21st century marketing seems to be that 'green is the new black' Labels like organic, biodynamic, sustainable, Fairtrade, FSC, ecological, natural, ISO, Better Cotton Initiative and so on all function to allure the environmentally conscious consumer; in total the global Ecolabel Index has more than 400 registered ecolabels. And even though some of all the 'green' seems like sugar coating generally consumers get healthier and more sustainable products. In spite of this, the fragrance industry is one that hasn’t been rocked much by the green wave. In fact, California’s Juniper Ridge is the world’s only fragrance company producing 100% natural colognes and perfumes wildcrafted from real plants, bark, moss, mushrooms, tree pitch, and other truly natural ingredients – the scent of the real outdoors."
Denimhunters is an online magazine about the passion for jeans and denim, and other well-crafted products and designs. They just posted this insightful piece on Juniper Ridge, our story, and how we're blazing our own path in the fragrance industry.
From Hall's Journal: Backpacking on the Desert Trail through the Mojave, I run out of water. Too far to hike out to the highway tonight. I make the most of the last little bit in my bottle, swishing it around my mouth, and then going to sleep dreaming of trickling sounds... ice age creeks flowing down from sun-varnished peaks.
Death Valley Campfire Incense: Made only from wildcrafted plants, herbs, tree sap, wood and bark found hiking the backcountry. No hidden ingredients. No charcoal or perfume. Incense for people who enjoy sitting around the campfire.
Caruthers Canyon Backpacker's Cologne: Perhaps the purest expression of what we do. The bright scent of Desert Cedar and many other plants and herbs found only in the deserts of the Southwest. The real scent of the real place because it is made with the real stuff. None of the ingredients in this little bottle are found in any perfume library anywhere; the only way to get these scents is to put on your boots and go up into the desert mountains and get them. It doesn't matter if you have never been to this lonely canyon deep in the Mojave desert, the scent will take you somewhere back in your own imagination: a lonely road at sunset, a camping trip from when you were young, a true memory of a wild place. You can trust the truth of this aromatic snapshot. You can go there.
The New York Times' T Magazine just published this feature on Fellow Barber, the latest project from Sam Buffa of FSC Barber. Read an excerpt below to find out how Juniper Ridge and Fellow Barber will be working together in the near future:
This Saturday morning, Sam Buffa, the man most responsible for igniting the barbershop renaissance of recent years, will open the doors to his newest space, Fellow Barber. Located on the ground floor of a seven-story brick walk-up in SoHo, it represents a departure from the antique-y vibe of Buffa’s F.S.C. Barber franchise. The old-school barber chairs and bottles of blue Barbicide are still part of the equation, but the space has a cleaner, sparer aesthetic that’s more modern and more upscale: powder-coated...