The Art of Weird Inspiration: How a Fragrance Starts with Curry, Ends in Coconut

Here’s the thing about inspiration, it doesn’t always behave. Sometimes it starts in one direction and takes a wild left turn. And sometimes, that left turn smells really good.

When we began working on what would eventually become Kashmiri + Coconut, the idea was simple(ish): something inspired by curry. Not curry as in “pour this into your candle and suddenly you’ve made dinner,” but curry as a feeling, warm, spiced, a little unexpected.

We were chasing golden turmeric, whole cardamom pods, a touch of cracked pepper. That dry heat. That depth. Something that felt bold and grounded, but not heavy. We didn’t want it to smell like food, we wanted it to smell like flavour memory. Like comfort with a little bit of edge.

Spice blends are tricky. Especially when they flirt with savoury notes. The balance between “soul warming” and “what is happening here?” is razor thin.

And then came the coconut.

Adding creamy coconut milk smoothed out the sharper edges. It mellowed the black pepper, softened the spices, and gave the entire blend this silky, warm base. Suddenly the fragrance felt wearable. Approachable. Weird, in a really good way.

We didn’t expect it to go in that direction. But once it did, we couldn’t stop sniffing. It became something new, Kashmiri + Coconut.

It still carries the bones of the original idea: the heat, the spice, the warmth. But it’s been refined into something comforting, softly sweet, and just a little daring. It doesn’t smell like curry. It smells like a memory of spice woven through cream and wood and sun.

We’re learning to lean into these twists in the road. Because sometimes the best fragrances come from the ideas that don’t work, until they do.