“Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.”
-Diane Ackerman
SCENT & DESIGN
Flowers are inherently beautiful, but we believe they can be revelatory when experienced through multiple senses. Fragrance is an especially powerful and unique means of accessing memories and emotions, and local, seasonal flowers are the perfect medium for creating fragrant time capsules. Typically picked hours before going into your design, these fresh cut stems are redolent with the nuances of the garden.
Few artistic mediums offer the intimacy of scent, so we embrace the opportunity to incorporate your favorite notes into your floral design. Whether its scented geraniums, a sprig of fennel, chocolate cosmos, or a precious tea rose, we’ll carefully curate a scent profile for maximum enjoyment of your design.
THE FARM
Emily Brennan established Mal du Pays in 2017 when she turned family land into a small, sustainable flower farm. Nestled on a peninsula, the farm is surrounded by the serene wildlife of Lake Warner. We grow a large assortment of annuals and perennials on our quarter acre plot; many are cultivated from seed in a greenhouse on site. The modest size allows crops to be grown without tractor machinery, and provides just enough space to grow our dream flowers. We carefully select unusual, special varieties that encapsulate the Mal du Pays aesthetic.
Founder of Mal du Pays
Emily Brennan is a self-taught floral designer and perfumer. She studied the psychology of olfaction at Bard College, conducting research on the relationship between scent and memory. She is a faithful student of the Proust phenomenon, working to understand odors’ unique ability to conjure autobiographical memories.
“Le mal du pays”, is a French expression for “homesickness”. When naming the business, Emily chose this name to evoke the inexpressible nostalgic feeling one gets when they encounter a familiar scent. Mal du Pays is a tribute to her late mother, a watercolor artist and Francophile who shared Emily’s eye for color; and an homage to her late father, a regional planner who worked tirelessly to protect the natural beauty of the Pioneer Valley.
