A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In Shakespeare’s comedy about love, dreams and magic, four lovers frolic in the forest during the heat of summer. When creating this image of my fragrance bottles, I was inspired by the idea that each perfume is similar to a distinctive character in a play. Here are my characters depicted in the tradition of a formal portrait. Greek Keys is the unbuttoned playful type; Leopard is the classic beauty; Tartan is stoic and reliable; and Lace is calm and lovely.

I created this image in my London Fields studio, with my assistant Lucas. We knew there had to be strawberries, because to me strawberries are the epitome of summer. Summer in London is truly excellent this year, and I’ve been fortunate to enjoy many picnics with family and friends. Of course watermelon is also quintessential summer picnic fare. We tried to bring watermelon into the scene, but we couldn’t find a watermelon with black seeds (or “pips” as they call them here in UK). It was hugely disappointing that all of our watermelons have been modified to not have those gorgeously shiny, beautifully photogenic, but admittedly irritating black seeds.