The Sibling Stand-Off

There are some things in this world that we are forced to figure out on our own; some things that don’t have instructions or are rarely the same way twice. As children, the only thing we are responsible for is learning; figuring out life and how to live. For many, this is a process they must learn as individuals. Many people will only have the chance to learn from people have a great difference in years of understanding. But there are those who are lucky enough to have a companion to figure out the things in life people have long forgotten how to learn. 

 

There’s a quote, in the many pages of Mark Z. Danielwski’s House of Leaves. This quote asks “What did God really know about brothers (or for that matter sisters)? He was after all an only child and before it all an equally lonely father.” As a child, you have no frame for what happens around be beyond what you’re told and what you experience. To have someone who has some similar reference as you is something that is natural only to conscious life. 

 

To have siblings is to learn about strength and competition, to challenge and provoke each other, to disagree on everything just because it is the other who is saying it. It is also to learn about love and compassion, it is companionship, loyalty, and a deep, unspoken bond. To have siblings is to not have to learn alone. Siblings, then, are those tangible things; that in life that we truly feel. Siblings are the earth in the world that is sometimes malleable but often it is rigid and unmoving.

 

For this relationship, we wanted to capture the complicated concepts of lifelong friends. The closest we could come was the repetition from rows of trees: a place in nature where you worry because you see no end but also find comfort in the recurrence. Siblings is a special relationship that forces you to engage consistently, it’s a relationship guided by quantity. The repetition and stubbornness of a bamboo thicket forces stronger emotions, whether good or bad, it is the concept of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Similarly, this is also a unique environment that allows greater appreciation for beauty and artistry. After a certain point, you see no major change but such high volumes of interaction allow for a greater focus on the notes of beauty and brightness when they appear.

 

Sometimes we get caught up in the new or in the exotic. It is easy to find those things and get excited about those things that are different. There is something special about appreciating the things that are always present, those parts of our life that we do not question.

 

We made this bamboo scent, inspired by the idea of companionship. We wanted to share our memory of having someone with whom we can learn about life. While most people may only think of this as a romantic relationship, or something you do as an adult, we believe otherwise. We wanted to create something that shows people there is a unique space in life that you inhabit on your own, one that only a sibling can share with you.

 

Sibling relationships are so unique because they depend on people that have a similar life experience in a way no other pair or group of people do. Siblings share a unique space that operates at a primal level, one that is as simple as it is complex. This is a bond that does not have an equal and cannot be replaced. It is something we never think to question because they are the closest person to ourselves as individuals.