WHAT WE DO IS SECRET
アート／Art  安藤忠雄／Tadao Ando  クリストフ ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel  クレモン ギャバリー／Clement Gavarry  ゲラン／Guerlain  建築／Architecture  広告／Ad  ザハ ハディッド／Zaha Hadid  ジボダン／Givaudan  ジャック キャバリエ／Jacques Cavallier  シャネル／Chanel  シュウ ウエムラ／Shu Uemura  ジョン バーナム シュワルツ／John Burnham Schwartz  ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grojsman  高砂香料／Takasago    調香師 パフューマー／Perfumer  ティエリー ワッサー／Thierry Wasserr  デザイン／Design  テリー リチャードソン／Terry Richardson  匂い／Scent  フィルメニッヒ／Firmenich  フェラーリ／Ferrari  フランシス クルクジャン／Francis Kurkdjian  三宅一生／Issey Miyake  メイド バイ ブログ／Made by Blog  吉岡徳仁／Tokujin Yoshioka  レム コールハース／Rem Koolhaas  ロホン ルゲルネック／Laurent Le Guernec 

What To Watch For In 2007

© What We Do Is Secret

- 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…