HONEYLOVER OF THE MONTH: Roxana

BEES RESCUED FROM:
Hive #1 (The Warrior Girls): old garage/barn structure in Woodland Hills.
Hive #2 (The Mische Girls): upside down large pot in Northridge and a small citrus tree at the LA Times building.

The small book Love in the Garden by Jean-Pierre Otte, contains a splendid eight-page poetical fantasy called “The Astonishing Deception of the Bee Orchid.” After reading it and learning how the bee orients herself through smell and gathers nectar to make an alchemical potion, I was quite keen on using the honey bee as part of the branding for my botanical perfume company.

A few years later we witnessed a swarm arrive at the compost bin outside our studio, which started us on the path of urban beekeeping. The French bee historian Yvon Achard says, “Beekeepers are chosen by bees.” Indeed! We now have two active hives on our property.

For Roxana Illuminated Perfume I create concept-driven fragrances, many of which have a call to social action. To Bee is a fragrance I created using aromatic extracts from extra combs from bee rescues. The perfume is named after the soliloquy from Hamlet “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”