WHAT WE DO IS SECRET

What To Watch For In 2007

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- When and how Made by Blog will be completed: I still don’t have any idea….
- Another merger between the fragrance houses: I feel a little bad for the perfumers, but Givaudan’s acquisition of Quest International in November was interesting. Gilles Andrier, the CEO of Givaudan, had been planning a “Big Shopping” since the beginning of 2006, and I had speculated that Givaudan was going to buy Firmenich (which would have been complicated since Firmenich is privately owned). More than two decades ago, before Givaudan and Roure merged in 1991, a person at Roure had predicted that there would be only two major fragrance suppliers in the future. The industry seems to be moving towards that direction. I guess how long Firmenich can remain private is a matter of time, and I won’t be surprised if a merger between IFF and Firmenich takes place in the near future.
- Movements of hotshot perfumers: Some well known perfumers will move from one house to another. Givaudan will loose some good perfumers from Quest, just like they lost good perfumers at Roure after the merger in ‘91. There may be some movements at IFF as well, but I won’t speculate on that while this blog goes on. Firmenich perfumers will stay where they are since they have the best “playground” (the best R&D, unknown numbers of captive materials, and their great salaries) for now.
- Francis Kurkdjian: I haven’t met this perfumer yet but have been interested in the way he maneuvers in the fragrance industry (I hear he’s extremely talented, but this guy must also be very smart). He shows a good example of how some of the perfumers at the big houses should be in the future. Take a look at his website.
- In-House Perfumer: Thanks to Jean-Claude Ellena’s successful new career at Hermès since 2004, in-house perfumers are definitely in. With big ambition and many brands in their hand, Procter & Gamble has started to conduct consumer tests for the new fragrances created by their young in-house perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez for Jean Patou, just like they do with their other brands Hugo Boss and Dolce & Gabbana. If the fragrances by these new in-house perfumers continue to do well in the market, some other powerful brands are likely to hire their own perfumers.
- Bespoke fragrance by Carlos Benaim or Dominique Ropion: Well, this is just a thought, but doesn’t it sound great even if it’s a little more than affordable? I think $40,000 for this kind of service is a rip-off, but $10,000 will be reasonable, and if it’s done directly by a major supplier the price could be much lower, I think…

See you in 2007

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Made by Blog Team would like to thank all of you for a fantastic year, and we look forward to seeing you in 2007.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

Giddyup! Katie’s Letter to Laurent and Reviews of Mods I, J & K

This concludes Katie’s Round 3 with mods R3/I, R3/J, and R3/K.

Dear Laurent,

I want to begin by calling a quick time-out to tell you just how thoroughly I’ve enjoyed this last round of mods. Like, a can’t-see-straight enjoyment. I seriously want to be nose drunk off of them, rather than have to set anything down into words. Which would land me in the doghouse with you and Nobi, and grind the project to a halt, so here goes…

It’s funny. I see a progression from first to third in this series more than I did with the previous rounds.

“I” pushes forward with those things we talked about in our phone conversation nicely. Breathing a little bit of funk and “animal” into it really puts Auxeos’ feet on the ground. The incensey leather suddenly seems richer to me. There’s more layers of shadow now?

But as we move over to “J,” I discover I am demolished by it - in a good way. “J” takes place in a parellel universe to “I,” where everything from “I” bears a comparatively “spicy” twist. I’m hard pressed to describe it accurately, but I’d say it’s almost like an aromatic balsamic quality that gently rises off the composition. Especially at the top. That truly is an awful verbal approximation, so I hope from that you can gather some idea of what I’m trying to say? It’s not really “spicy,” but I lack a word to nail down what I mean. This is really frustrating! I don’t know how to communicate this, and my apologies!

“J” lights up all those primal reptile knurls in my brain. Obviously, I responded the most viscerally to this mod.

Next we have “K.” I am initally struck by its “perfumey” quality in the initial first phase of wear. I’m not sure about the top on it. It’s a little powdery to me, but then on the other hand, it’s sure not any powder I’ve ever known.

The development on “K” seems the most far-reaching of any of the mods thus far. And I love that. The way it moves and shifts in tones as it develops is quite rewarding. The drydown has a lovely flourished feeling to it, which I can see being very appealing to others, too.

But I love the cozy warmth on “J“s drydown, too. I think it’s something to do with the way the vanillic element in it is used, perhaps. But it’s not explicitly vanilla at any point, which I appreciate. (Or it’s not there at all and I’m a total nutter.)

I hope you can extrapolate something meaningful from this feedback. I have layered “J” and “K” together for some sort of mutant creation, but of course… that’s neither workable nor an elegant solution.

After sniffing this round, I’m tempted to rename our fragrance project “Gestalt.” These new mods create allusions without condescending to spell every little thing out too completely: None of the notes whomp you over the head with a frying pan of obvious. But then, “Gestalt” isn’t a very pretty word, so maybe not. Heh.

“I,” “J,” and “K” are all so well done, and they’ve induced an inability to speak objectively or analytically here. I keep putting them on with the idea I’ll be wearing my thinking cap, too. But I can’t do it! I simply enjoy them too much to do anything except inhale happily. We are galloping down the right path, to say the least.

Oh wait - one hope? Please don’t lose that brittle crust of salt! So many sweet fragrances are out there in the world. If Luca Turin is right, and perfume is not about sex but food, then there ought to be more bold salty ones, too. (For the record, I happen to think it’s both: a little from column A, and a little from column B. It’s my Chinese take-out menu hypothesis on perfume.) That quality seems a little less apparent with this round, but that’s okay. As the fragrance becomes more involved and complex, it’s to be expected that it’ll all change. But I do hope you might find a way to retain just a hint of that, if possible. Unless it smells bad, of course. Then nevermind, heh!

Merry Christmas,
Katie

And since I doubt I’ll be posting here again ’til the calendar flips over:

Happy Chanukah, Kwaanzaa, and Christmas to everyone who’s been following our project.

And thank you! It’s been a fun ride this year, and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the ride in 2007.

A limited quantity of samples from this round will be briefly available through the Made by Blog shop. The set includes sample vials of both mine and Marina’s latest mods.

Smells like fish（調香師 ジャック・キャバリエ）

調香師 ジャック・キャバリエと夕食をした時の話。

＊＊＊＊＊

A few years ago I had dinner with Jacques Cavallier and some other people from Firmenich at my favorite Japanese restaurant in Manhattan which he had heard about from Issey Miyake and wanted to go. Jacques had been in Japan a few times to work with Issey and seemed to have liked being there except for one thing. During the dinner Jacques told me that the smell of Japanese women’s skin bothered him when testing fragrances on them, “Their skin smells like fish.” I laughed and told him that I kind of liked it.

First, I have to say I don’t know about Japanese men because I’ve never stuck my nose to a guy to smell his skin, but I knew the subtle smell of the Japanese women’s skin that Jacques spoke about that evening. However, I’m not sure if I can pick up that smell when a fragrance is sprayed over the skin. I’m talking about a genius that appears only once in many years - Jacques Cavallier can smell many of the things that we can’t. There are a few “scent experts” trying to discredit the genius, but I have to say they either are jealous or cannot understand his sharp sense of humor, and therefore dislike him.

Anyway… what am I trying to say here? Oh right, I think most fragrances smell boring on Japanese women. Generally they have faint body odor, and on top of that they cleanse their bodies too much. When they wear fragrances they only smell like the fragrances. I’m not a big fan of Paris (I’m talking about the city) but love the way women there smell. I don’t particularly enjoy the smell in the Metro or NYC subway during summer, but the mixture of a woman’s body odor and her perfume is often more exciting than any perfume.

Basically the fragrance industry is driven by Western people who don’t know much about Japan or other Asian countries. They often say “Oh, it’s so difficult to sell fragrances in Japan,” or “The Asian market is so unpredictable.” Maybe it’s not important for them to make smash-hit fragrances for Japanese market… but think about Prada or other European fashion brands. Sometimes more than half of their revenues are coming from Japan. Fragrances could do the same as well. So Fragrance Industry, bury your noses in Japanese women and think! I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys come up with a scent that smells like soy sauce.

Clement’s Fragrance Forecast for the Holiday Season

“It’s the season for gifts, and most people are looking for a safe bet, especially men.” Clement says it’s the time for classics and good sellers.

Among the classics Clement chooses:
for women: Beautiful, Happy, Chanel 5, Chance, Romance, Light Blue
for men: Acqua di Gio, Eternity

Among the newer fragrances he chooses warm, rich and musky:
for woman: Euphoria, Lovely, Angel, Hypnose
for man: Code, Le Male

Clement also predicts Unforgivable will be popular among younger consumers during this holiday season.

Report on the phone conversation with Clement Gavarry and a review of the latest mods

This concludes Marina’s Round 4 with mod R4/L and R4/M.

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I had a wonderful opportunity to talk on the phone with Clement Gavarry, the wonderful perfumer who is creating my Holy Grail. He said that my idea behind the scent was very “niche” and “avangarde”…and that is the best compliment I have received in a long, long time. In turn, I told him that I loved one of the two latest mods, R4/M, and that I thought that we were on the right track.

R4/M has all the qualities I am looking for in my ultimate fragrance. It has soft spiciness (cardamom), sweet amber, quite prominent leather and musk, and a comfortable and comforting but not too “fluffy” vanillic drydown. What I want now is for all these qualities to be amplified and emphasized. I would like more spice (I asked Clement to experiment with pepper and coriander), more leather, more musk, even more vanilla. Plus I’d love for the scent to acquire a distinctly smoky undertone. Not so realistically smoky as to be borderline disturbing, like CB I Hate Perfume Burning Leaves; I am looking for subtle, elegant and softly-enveloping smoke of Bois d’Armenie.

The other mod, R4/L, although not drastically different from R4/M, still had, on my skin, the saffron note that I apparently cannot stand anymore. I realize that I actually specifically asked for saffron in my proposal. I loved the note but now the love is gone. I wonder if perfumers in general and Clement in particular find their clients’ ever changing requirements exasperating. I also wonder whether working with one individual client is actually harder in that respect, whether it might not be easier to deal with a committee who submit their brief once and don’t mess with it again, like I do with my “brief” for Holy Grail. In other words, I wonder if it is easier to satisfy a corporation than it is to satisfy one fickle perfumista.

As we wait…

I used to make sculptures from sugar. That’s when I started to incorporate scents made by wonderful perfumers like Jean-Pierre Bethouart and Thierry Wasser in my art.

In 1999, I used 5 tons of sugar and 50 kilograms of fragrance oil for an installation in Japan. Everyday during the exhibition, 2 kilos of scent created by Thierry Wasser was sprayed on the floor. The visitors to the exhibition left with the scent on their clothes and shoes. As a result, an old downtown neighborhood in Tokyo was scented for a several block radius during the exhibition, and the scent remained for more than a year in the former rice market which housed the installation. Surprisingly, there wasn’t even a complaint, and I was still receiving messages from people who wanted the scent a year after the exhibition.