The Morning That Changed Everything

by Andrew Dyer, Crave Perfumes

I recently went to Bali for some R & R, but as a perfumer, you're never that relaxed, always looking for new scentspiration!

There are mornings that simply arrive in your life, and then there are mornings that rearrange you. Tagalalong in the volcanic northern mountains of Bali, an hour or so north of Ubud, was the latter.

I remember sitting inside a small wooden hut at the edge of the rice terraces, the mist still clinging to the green steps as though the earth hadn’t quite decided to wake. A farmer had just cut open a coconut for me — the water cool, sweet, impossibly clean — and a ginger‑and‑white cat circled my ankles, welcoming me into its landscape with the casual confidence of someone who knows they belong to the land.

I waited for the sun to warm the air. I waited for the scent of the rice terraces to rise. I waited for something I couldn’t yet name, a theme, an inspiration to capture this rare time in perfume, and then Gede, my Balinese guide, reached up into a tree and plucked some blossoms — creamy, golden, perfect. Champaca!

I recognised it instantly, though I had never met the real flower before. I’d worked with inferior synthetic versions of champaca for years, and I honestly thought I would have to travel all the way to India to experience the true blossom in the wild. I’d been waiting — truly waiting — to smell its living fragrance, so you can imagine my delight when Gede found it for me.

When I inhaled it, it was like my sensory world shifted. I'm not sure what my guide thought of my waxing lyrical about a flower that was common to his daily experience.

It was exotic, honeyed, luminous — but also unexpectedly fresh, with a tea‑like clarity that felt like golden light passing through green leaves. A brightness that lifted the entire heart of the scent. A softness that felt alive. 

That moment became the emotional spine of the entire Bali Perfume Trilogy currently macerating for the next month in the small amber bottles in Crave School's Perfumery Department. Champaca — the Queen of the tropical flowers — now sits at the heart of each of three perfumes, always supported by the soft, glowing spice of frangipani. The trilogy begins with Bali Sunrise - my attempt to honour that morning.

I wanted to create a fragrance that captured the island before it fully wakes — the dew on bamboo leaves, the brightness of citrus rising with the sun, the soft breath of ginger moving through the morning air. And woven through it all, the subtle, comforting scent of rice fields warming under the first light.

The florals bloom slowly, just as they do on the island: champaca, frangipani, ylang‑ylang, jasmine. They glow rather than shout, lifted into radiance. Beneath them, a gentle warmth — sandalwood, benzoin, musk, and a whisper of coconut — settles close to the skin like sunlight.

Bali Sunrise is the dawn of the trilogy. The inhale before the day awakens. A fragrance for those who love beginnings, clarity, and the quiet beauty of morning.

And then there was the coconut.

What most people think of as “coconut” in perfume is nothing like the real thing. It’s sugary, synthetic, candy‑like — closer to sunscreen than to the warm, woody creaminess of a freshly opened coconut on the island. So, I built my own coconut accord from scratch: soft creamy lactones, soft woods, a touch of sun‑warmed hay. A coconut that feels real, natural, quietly radiant.

That morning in Tagalalong became Bali Sunrise — the first chapter of the trilogy, the inhale before the island awakens. It is the scent of possibility, of gentleness and being held by the world rather than pushed by it.

And it all began with a single flower placed in my hand.

I'll keep you posted on perfume 2 - Bali Gold soon...a scent for those who enjoy the fullness of the daily golden sunshine of Bali in full bloom.

If scent speaks to you…

If stories like this stir something in you — if scent feels like a language, you’re ready to learn — you’re warmly invited to join me at Crave School for one of our perfumery courses.

It’s where your own fragrance journey begins.