A Fight & A Rose

• Vegan MMA gladiator, Mac Danzig, won his bout against Efran Escudero at UFC 145 in Atlanta. His victory came via unanimous decision. According to the Bleach report:

"Early in the first round, Escudero caught Danzig in a heel-hook and, while Danzig was able to escape, the submission took its toll. Danzig's ankle was noticeably swollen for the rest of the fight, but he managed to tough it out and win the fight using superior boxing and clinch work."

Danzig was quoted saying this, on mmajunkie.com:

"This performance wasn't that great, but I am happy to win," he said. "Nate Diaz is someone I want to fight. He's at another level right now, and I know I need to put three very impressive wins together to get back up there. But that's what I am aiming for now that I am healthy."

A fight against Nate Diaz would put Mac Danzig in pretty amazing veg showdown, as both fighters are powered by plants. Here's to hoping!

• Le Labo makes a bag! (well, 300 of them). Every morning, from mid-May to mid-June, thousands of hand-pickers work the fields of Grasse, Bulgaria, Tunisia, and Morocco when dawn breaks. Rose petals are ideally picked when the dew protects their perfume from evaporation, and must be processed through steam distillation within 24 hours, to yield the best quality and quantity of oil. It takes about 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds) of rose petals to produce one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rose oil, which makes Rose Absolute oil amongst the most expensive perfume ingredient in the world. Rose Centifolia, the rose quality from Grasse used in Le Labo's Rose 31, is the most precious of them all.

Le Labo has partnered with LA based "Boro Queen" Heather Heron, to create a very special messenger bag. Freely inspired by the original shape of a bag used by pickers in the rose fields of Grasse, each one of the 300 limited edition handmade bags is unique and numbered.

The fabric Heather chose for the "Rose Project" is the original conveyor belt material used in US industry prior to plastic conveyor belts. It is incredibly rare and special in its origin and industrial durability. The straps are all carefully selected from vintage military strapping. Every bag has been made, dyed, assembled and stenciled by hand in downtown LA (and the natural overdye process includes drops of Rose 31 too, by the way).

This bag pays tribute to the work of these pickers who wake up early, work hard and are the first to care for our beloved rose petals before they undergo the long transformative process of olfactive extraction that makes them end up in our bottles.