Art o perumery
Exposing the Perumer What it means to be a perumer in the inormation age and the need to communicate c ommunicate with w ith consumers Michelle Krell Kydd
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ccording to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, a perumer is dened as “one who makes or sells perumes.” This rather simplistic denition, circa 1580, oers no insight into what a perumer actually does. Twenty years ago, it was o to the library i you wanted to know anything more than what a dictionary or Encyclopedia Britannica would tell you, but today, both proessionals and hobbyists can turn to Web sites like that o Project Guttenberg— www.gutenberg.org— to download The Art of Perfumery by George William Septimus Piesse, or www.amazon.com to look or used copies o William Irving Kauman’s Perfume . Presently, true atelier methods and the structured orm o perumery education are not public knowledge. As more inormation on ne ragrances and raw materials becomes public on the Internet, people peopl e want to know more about the creators behind their avorite ragrances. rag rances. Not all o the inormation available online is accurate, which aects perceptions ofine, leaching into other media, such as print. It is time or the industry to take the reigns and bring perumers into the limelight.
What a perumer does has always been personal stories about what they have learned and a mystery to consumers, according to discussing ragrances they have made or themselves perumer Jean Pierre Subrenat, organizer or riends. There is an ethos that surrounds these o the World Perumery Congress groups that is highly personal, something one and owner o Creative Concepts. does not nd in a department or specialty “Our job has always been an store. A rejection o synthetics is part o that obscure and misunderstood one, culture or members o the Artisan Natural and the consumer cannot decide Perumer’s Guild, ounded by author Mandy i we are chemists, alchemists or Atel. Members avor the purity and beauty o just witch doctors. All o this is naturals, speaking about raw materials with the due to a lack o communication same enthusiasm that chocolate lovers have and exposure. Real perumers go Michelle Krell Kydd when discussing the organoleptic properties o through long and rigorous training their avorite varietals. It’s not about ashion or that lasts at least 10 years. One cannot be a brands to these creators and consumers—it is about sel-declared perumer just because they the relationship they have with knowledge, crated scents and raw materials. are able to blend a couple of essential oils ... [otherwise] everyone who cooks or burns a steak is a three-star Michelin che!” Perumer Defned A growing number o ragrance cratThe meaning o the word perfumer was precious to ers, most without traditional training, are Givaudan perumer Jean Carles, who ound the lack studying many o the old texts and colo a standard in olactive training quite maddening. lecting books such as Stephen Arctander’s Carles developed a system o study, creating two distinct charts that organized raw materials by Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural similarity and contrast, one or naturals and one or Origins —the same book used by proessional perumers. In virtual communities, synthetics. (See example charts in T-1 and T-2, and enthusiasts avidly explore the history learn how perumers train rom them by reading o ragrance and raw materials, sharing “Using the Jean Carles Method.”)
The method, which bears his name, is an industry standard used by all proessional perumers and was practically olactive apocrypha to people outside the ragrance business until enthusiasts started telling each other about William Irving Kauman’s Kauman’s Perfume. Carles also ounded Givaudan’s Perumery School in 1946, when it was part o Roure. Jean Guichard, who is currently director o the Perumery School, is proud o that legacy and adds that, “one-third o ne ragrance creators working in the business today are graduates o the school.” These graduates include Jacques Polge (Chanel), Jean-Claude J ean-Claude Ellena (Hermès), Calice Becker and Françoise Caron, among others. For Guichard, the boundaries regarding who is and isn’t a perumer are clear—just because someone can smell well and is adept at mixing accords does not make him/her a perumer. “Mixing raw materials or un and creating interesting accords is creative and promising, but a perumer needs real [perume] bases, real knowledge and real experience. Can we call someone a che i he takes pleasure in cooking and mixing favors at home? Can we call someone an oenologue i he likes to drink wine, and appreciate it? Can someone be called an artist i he enjoys painting? I think [enjoyment] is not enough. Hobby and proession are two dierent things. In a hobby there are mainly nice acets. In a proession there are a lot o rustrations that stimulate your creativity [and lead to new discoveries].” Guidance and training: The incomplete denition o a perumer oered by Merriam-Webster supports the assumption that selling perumes alone makes one a perumer. Acceptance o that denition dilutes the hard work and eort that goes into traditional training, to Subrenat’s point, which not only means attendance at an established perumery school or three to our years, but ve or more years o apprenticeship under an experienced perumer, whose skill and know-how help a junior perumer grow into a seasoned one. When Givaudan perumer Yann Vasnier reers to Françoise Caron, he does so with loving respect or his maitre parfumeur (master perumer), the experienced proessional who trained him. A master perumer can provide the kind o nurturing that one cannot get rom reading books or participating in the virtual world o the Internet. Carlos Benaim, a senior perumer at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), says that, “or each mod made, there are at least 50 mods behind [it],” a act that makes a threshold or rejection and tweaking an absolute requirement o the job o a perumer. Benaim reminisces about his early days at IFF, IFF, under the tutelage o Ernest Shitan, and is pleased that his company ollows the historic atelier model that was in eect when he began his career at IFF IFF.. Emotional connection to scent: s cent: There are standards in every proession, but the sensorial nature o ragrance creation brings a great deal o emotion to the table. Our identity as individuals is based in part
The Fragrance Conversation Online Here are just some o the numerous Web sources or perumery discussion, education and debate:
Download The Art of Perfumery by George William Septimus Septim us Piesse at: www.gutenberg.org/etext/16378
Natural Perumery: www.artisannaturalperfumers.org (Mandy Atel’s Artisan Natural Perumer’s Guild) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalPerfumery
Perumery Discussion and Blogs: www.boisdejasmin.typepad.com http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com www.perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com www.scentzilla.com www.leffingwell.com/perfume.htm www.PerfumerFlavorist.com
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on how we arrange our recollections, and scent is the ultimate evoker o memories. There is no wrong answer when it comes to how someone feels about what they experience with their senses. Understanding this is quite a revelation to some who don’t work in favors and ragrances. ragrances . Combine the physiological and psychological aspects o smelling with inormation that can be ound on the Internet and it is easy to see how misunderstandings can occur. There isn’t a universal editor working to make sure that all Web content is accurate—there are millions o edoms. This unleashes tremendous virtual creativity, but it can also leave a trail o invisible snake oil between Internet users and their computer screens.
“Mixing raw materials or un and creating interesting accords is creative and promising, but a perumer needs real [perume] bases, real knowledge and real experience.” —Jean Guichard The Rise o Sel-trained “Perumers”
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Should one consider the rise in sel-trained ragrance craters alarming? The answer is maybe. The movement is a natural response to department store ennui, a dearth o genuine olactive and sensorial educational initiatives and the over-celebritized fankerization o ne ragrance. In addition, there is a legacy aspect among enthusiasts, similar to the one that perumery schools and programs promote, based on ragrance history and the idea o learning something rom others who possess knowledge. There is, however, cause or debate, as in 2006, Allure, Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine gave craters and oil mixers ink as “perumers.” This is a reminder that the denition o a perumer may not be clear to beauty editors, writers or the public.* *Magazine articles that reer to untraditionally trained ragrance creators as “perumers”: L Van Gelder, The Scent Renegades. Allure, October, 298–303 (2006). Your Sexiest Scent Revealed. Cosmopolitan, November, 87–90 (2006). C Burr, What Is That Fragrance You’re Wearing. Wearing . O, The Oprah Magazine, November, 165–170 (2006).
The path to clarication o who is and isn’t a perumer will require that the client side o the industry get more comortable with putting a public ace on perumers, and educating their respective marketing and communications sta with regard to the science behind the sense o smell. This is a long-term project or the industry, but one that has been slowly building momentum. In 2004, IFF Perumer Carlos Benaim was included at the in-store launch o o Prada at Saks Fith Avenue’s Avenue’s New York store, but very ew o these types o events have occurred. Prior to that, in 2000, Frédéric Malle Editions de Parfums began putting a public ace on perumers. Beore this, at least in the United States, perumers were shrouded in mystery due to ears that they would upstage the brands or which they were creating ragrances. Malle’s line o perumer-inspired ragrances put the creator center stage, becoming part o the brand’s equity, an ingredient that niche perumery Le Labo also touts, albeit in a less prevalent manner—pictures o the perumers who make the scents are not on the box, but they are openly discussed at counter. Malle, the grandson o Dior Perumes ounder Serge Hetler, was recently named ragrance columnist or Allure. When asked i valid work was being done by untrauntr aditionally trained perumers, Malle says, “No. The traditional way seems best to me. Also, [traditional perumery training] only works i you work very hard, as it is a skill based on experience. O course one does not go anywhere without talent. The types [untraditionally trained perumers] that you make reerence to are most oten amateurs. From experience, I can tell you that their work, although some s ome rare times dierent, is always imprecise and mediocre. It takes a very skilled artist to nish a ragrance.” Malle goes even urther with regard to training by stating, “The best [perumers] come out o the ex-Roure, now Givaudan, in Grasse. Another great source o top perumers is International Flavors and Fragrance’s in-house training.” Other academic perumery schools, like the two Malle mentions, exist—but the public doesn’t know about them.
Natural vs. Synthetic Published in 2001, Atel’ Atel’ss Essence and Alchemy presents the early history o ne ragrance and application o select raw materials in perumery. It encourages the crating o ragrance rom natural essential oils and absolutes, and includes simple ormulas that are accessible. Because Atel is aromamolecule averse—hence the chapter title “A Natural History o Perumes”—there are missing pieces i one is seeking a complete and accurate history o ne ragrance and its evolution beyond Ernest Beaux’s use o aldehydes in Chanel No. 5, the benchmark or ashion-based ragrance concepts. In the same vein, Chandler Burr revealed some o the political inner workings o essential houses in his book, The Emperor of Scent (2003) , , through the
Using the Jean Carles Method Jean Carles’ rustration over a lack o olactive training method led to the development o two distinct charts that organized raw materials by similarity and contrast, one or naturals and one or synthetics. The charts shown in T-1 (naturals) and T-2 (synthetic) contain 60 materials in each. Although Givaudan’s perumery school gives their students more in-depth charts—with about 150 natural and 350 synthetic raw materials—T-1 and T-2 are great examples o how this method works. The charts may be interpreted as ollows: 1. Starting with Study 1, and moving down the column (vertically), students are able to “learn by contrast.” This This enables trainees to smell very dierent raw materials (lemon, rose, star anise, jasmine, mint, etc.), which are each very characteristic o the amily they represent. According to Jean Guichard, who is currently director o Givaudan’s Perumery School, “Normally, there is no problem learning to distinguish between materials in this vertical study. It would be similar similar to seeing and being able to distinguish black, red and yellow.” yellow.” The same exercise can be carried out with Studies 2–6, always working vertically. This concludes the study o the contrast type o smelling. 2. Moving on to Study 7, and moving across the row (horizontally), students are able to compare the raw materials o the same amily and distinguish between them. Students start with the citrus amily: lemon, orange, graperuit, lime, etc. All o these raw materials are citrus, resh, energetic, acidic and juicy. The goal is to ind the acets that characterize each o them—some words, some peculiar odors typical to lemon that are reminiscent o graperuit, etc. Here are some examples: • Lemon: acidic, sour and sweet, aggressive, bright, lemon cake, lemon tea … • Graperuit: resh, orangey, orangey, but bitterness is coming in some minutes, aldehydic, piquant … • Orange: resh, sparkling, reshly squeezed orange juice, summer holidays … The idea or these charts is simple but ingenious. As Guichard explains, “In every learning process we never start with the impossible, but we should proceed progressively. Here our nose will be slowly getting [acclimated] and slowly improving. It [requires] continuous work; exercise is necessary everyday. Exactly as musicians need to practice scales with their ingers, perumers need to practice raw material scales with their nose.”
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It’s not about ashion or brands to these creators (“natural,” sel-trained perumers) and consumers—it is about the relationship they have with knowledge, crated scents and raw materials.
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experience o Luca Turin, a biophysicist who openly challenged the shape-based theory o olaction purported by Richard Axel and Linda Buck (who, incidentally, received the Nobel Prize in 2004 or their discovery o the human genes governing olactive receptors, a year ater Burr’s book was published). Turin was an interesting study, and his knack or describing his love o perume has become as beloved as it is emulated. Burr, appointed perume critic by the New York Times Times in 2006, is on the opposite end o the ragrance spectrum when compared to Aftel—he Af tel—he has an interest in molecules that are created in the lab.
Bickering regarding naturals and synthetics does more to serve ego and ignorance than it does ne ragrance creation and education. A well-made ne ragrance has distinct signature and when that quality is not present, whether in a natural composition or one that utilizes both synthetics and naturals, the consumer will be dissatised. This is something everyone can agree on.
Reaching Out In addition, when the naturals vs. synthetics debate replaces well-inormed dialogue, favor and ragrance houses need to take action, alongside industry organizations like the Fragrance Foundation and the American Society o Perumers. Building on existing erudition, these institutions and corporations have tremendous potential that can be actualized through education programs in schools and in the media. The public is hungry or this kind o inormation, which explains the ervor with which ragrance bloggers and their readers discuss a perume’s creator and the juice. For those who are more numbers ocused, less than expected sales in an oversaturated market should be reason enough to listen to the consumer and build the knowledge base. Givaudan’ss Jean Guichard makes a simple, yet Givaudan’ powerul observation regarding the appreciation o the art o ne ragrance and the importance o education. “Perumery can be compared to painting. There are some masterpieces that we appreciate more when they have been explained to us, when we understand the context, the historical climate, the idea and the personal lie o the painter. It is the same or some ‘complicated’ perumes, such as chypre ones. Some perumes are simpler to understand, like citrus or foral ones, but we can’t impose olactive education—the interest needs to come rom a person. We can try to introduce a module in school as it is true that children are very perceptive and interested in odors … we can educate their ‘noses’ and help them to be more expert choosing their products later.” A ne ragrance git with purchase or sexy marketing story may be an attention grabber in-store, but neither are catalysts or long-term sales growth— knowledge is. Knowledge reaches beyond the parameters o brand awareness and evokes passion in the customer and makes them want to learn more. So who can be reasonably considered a perumer? I the industry does not make an eort to educate the public regarding what it takes to become a perumer, then the answer is virtually anyone . Address correspondence correspondence to Michelle Krell Kydd;
[email protected]. To purchase a copy of this article or others, visit www.Peru merFla vorist .com/ artic www.PerumerFla articles. les.
