The aroma of Cyprus in a bottle

The island has a rich history and those tales, and scents, are now the inspiration for a range of perfumes. ELENI PHILIPPOU tracks down the story behind the fragrances 

Cyprus’ distinctive aromas are hard to forget – the fragrant jasmine flowers that bloom in spring, the light aroma of the eucalyptus trees, the citrus. On a mission to bottle the island’s fragrances and honour its myths, legends and ancient history is Myrodikon, a family-owned perfume business storing the history of Cyprus in small glass bottles.

Founder and creator of Myrodikon, Yiota Zingi’s fascination began long ago, when she was in her teens and completely unaware that the aromas of the world around her would one day charm her so. “When I came across Les Miserables by Victor Hugo at the age of ten,” she said in an interview, “I was bewitched by the dark alley descriptions of Paris, Jean Valjean, the small piazzas and all the ‘smells’ France exuded through the pages – and that turned into a life-long dream for me to experience. Even in my sleep, I would see this recurring vision of me walking through the narrow streets of Paris only to come to a grand avenue and stand in front of the Arc de Triomphe. As life would have it, I was blessed to fulfil this adolescent fantasy as it was through my trips mainly to France that I realised that Cyprus was always following me.”

Yiota got her first job at a big French perfume house at Larnaca airport some 40 years ago. That job allowed her to meet other cultures, worlds, styles and stories and find a deeper love for Cyprus and the need to show it and its stories to the world.

“When you work in a place like an airport, you can’t help but feel like an ambassador for your country – both to people coming in and as the last taste of your home for those who leave. I wanted to be such an ambassador of my home and its history – but how well did I really know either? At barely 20 years old I knew not that much. It was mainly through my travels that I started to see a deeper picture of Cyprus.”

Travels mainly to France were the second step in her aroma journey and while visiting perfumeries and factories, the scents of Cyprus were brought to mind. It was in Grasse, a town of the French Riviera, that while marvelling over ancient findings, ewers and perfume bottles she discovered that many of the relics were found in and around Cyprus and that Cyprus was believed to have had the earliest perfumeries in history, only rivalled by Ancient Egyptian counterparts.

Then, while following a seminar on perfumery’s raw materials in Normandy, she was shocked to learn of a perfume family called Chypre. “I stood agape,” Yiota recalled. “She mentioned that the then renowned perfumer Francois Coty was so enthralled by a holiday he took in Cyprus, he came back to France to create ‘Chypre de Coty’ (1917) – a perfume that then became recognised as one of the Families of Parfumerie and used around the globe.” It was time to bring it home.

In 2018, Yiota decided to look into the perfume business more seriously yet it wasn’t until the lockdowns and the peculiar time-freedom they came with, that Myrodikon began to take shape. Now it is a family affair. Giota’s children oversee the packaging and design, a close family friend is in charge of marketing, Giota sources the finest quality French oils and collectively they oversee the bottling and finalising of the products. “It is a true labour of love, and a great family effort to make each Myrodikon perfume,” she said.

Still in its early days, Myrodikon circulates primarily online via an Instagram account and a Facebook page and sells seven perfumes: Mesaoria, Myrodikon tis Kiprou, Rigena, Cyprus, Arodafnousa, Anerada and Cyclamen of Cyprus. Citrus and jasmine scents, fragrances from the time periods that a perfume bottle refers to and more make up the Myrodikon perfumes. The king and queens that reigned over Cyprus and shaped its histories, from Kyrenia to Bellapais and Paphos, and their tales inspired the Myrodikon perfume bottles, each of which is accompanied by a short tale explaining the story of the perfume and what it refers to, and a poem that relates to its history.

Looking ahead, Myrodikon will have a festive base within the Christmas village of Kalopanayiotis from November 27 to January 15 where Yiota and the family look forward to sharing their work. On top of that, she says her space in Oroklini is always open to visitors.

“Behind Myrodikon is a great love story: Cyprus,” Yiota concludes. “And this love runs as deep as Cypriot history through the ages. Just as a painter would immortalise a story with their brushes, a poet with words and a musician with notes so does Myrodikon with its scents.”

Find Myrodikon on Instagram @myrodikon, on Facebook Myrodikon or via email: [email protected]