WHAT WE DO IS SECRET

Perfumers（調香師の仲間達）

私の様々なプロジェクトに参画してくれた香水調香師達（ファインフラグランス パフューマー）の中で、特にお気に入りの６人の調香師達それぞれについて、個人的な感想を求められたことがありました。今日ちょうど２年振りにその記事を目にしたので、改めて読み返してみたところ、割と的を射たことを言っているなと、ひとりで笑ってしまいました。英語ですが、辞書を使ったりオンラインの機械翻訳を使って読んでみてください。世界を舞台にして香水を作っていきたいという方。。。これからまだ暫くは、本場の香水業界の仕事に関わる為には、英語とフランス語が中心に物事が進んでいく環境に身を投じなければならない、という事は覚悟しておいた方が良いでしょう。

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Exactly two years ago, I was asked by someone to describe each perfumer I had worked with. Have my views changed in two years? Not really.

ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grojsman - There are so many things that I want to say about her. The article on Sophia in the popular perfume blog Bois de Jasmin describes the perfumer very well. In short, Sophia is a very warm person, a dynamo, and an absolute genius!

アルベルト・モリヤス／Alberto Morillas - Had I only known his creations on the market, I wouldn’t have asked him to create scents for me. I was simply drawn into his personal creations and ideas that didn’t end up on the market. What makes him unique is having a very strong style of his own and being versatile at the same time. He is wild at heart, fun to be with, workerholic, and he really loves women. I think we have a perfect recipe to be a great perfumer here.

クリストフ・ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel - 4 years ago (so, it’s 6 years ago.), when I first heard about a young talented perfumer with “a red Mohican,” I knew he was meant for my projects. There is a charismatic woman like Sophia in the industry, but most others look too conservative and uptight. After all it’s a luxury business, and I want to see more colorful guys like Christophe in the industry. However, that’s not the most important thing about him. The most striking thing about Christophe is his extremely innovative ideas - he is a scientist and an artist at the same time.

アニック・メナルド／Annick Menardo – As Luca Turin believes, this is another genius. She is extremely intelligent, but a bit difficult. I am madly in love with her creations, especially the one that didn’t end up on the maket called “MADONNE.” I don’t understand why no one has taken it.

ティエリー・ワッサー／Thierry Wasser – An international man of mystery… a great guy with so much talent, but so elusive to the point it’s too difficult to describe him. He is handsome and stylish, but that has nothing to do with his talent. I worked with Thierry most frequently since he understood my ideas very quickly. He is a very artistic person himself in a way classical musicians are. His powerful perfumery balanced very well with the style of my art.

ロク・ドング／Loc Dong - Loc is another ‘different kind’ among the young perfumers today. He is ambitious [good], doesn’t think he is an artist [interesting], Asian [Yes!], and might be a genius [we'll see]. Loc still doesn’t have many solo creation under his belt, but his unique style is getting a lot of attention in the industry. I will say he will be the first Asian perfumer to be as prominent as Cavallier and Morillas in the future.

I was also asked to assign each perfumer a single perfume note that I felt best represented their personalities. I thought it was kind of a boring question and decided to give each perfumer a theme or a mission.

ソフィア・グロスマン／Sophia Grosjman: Essence of women, or Mother

アルベルト・モリヤス／Alberto Morillas: Scent for an elegant and wealthy European woman who spends time in New York City during the weekends

クリストフ・ロダミエル／Christophe Laudamiel: A Night at the Opera

アニック・メナルド／Annick Menardo: The Virgin

ティエリー・ワッサー／Thierry Wasser: He would be perfect to revamp a brand like Guerlain. (I first said this more than five years ago.)

ロク・ドング／Loc Dong: n/a (I didn’t assign him a theme since I was working on a project with him at that time.)

(By the way, LVMH/Guerlain will announce their new perfumer early next month.)

Correction and Addition

I am probably was wrong about the news on Takasago yesterday. It might be It’s Firmenich. Many rumors are circulating in the secretive industry. It’s simply fun to speculate on the rumors. The Givaudan kingdom is in turmoil (this is almost certain), and what I’m hearing seems to be the beginning of a bigger story.

Firmenich may be the one laughing in the end, but many people there, including Jacques Cavallier and Annick Menardo, must have been in tears to see Thierry Wasser leave Firmenich earlier this week.

Thierry, Google your name. This is for you.

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高砂が新しい調香師を獲得したというのニュースは誤報でした。この数日間、主に世界のトップレベルの調香師達の間でいろいろな噂が飛び交っています。２００６年の秋にクェスト社を買収し、世界最大の香料会社となったジボダンが、この先も何人かの調香師を失うことになる模様。すでにジボダンからフィルメニッヒに２人の調香師が移籍することになっているようですが、その他に数名の有名な調香師達の今後の動向についていろいろな噂が流れています。高砂がこの機に乗じて何かの動きを見せてくれると、今後の香水業界のビジネス展開が面白くなると思うのですが…

さて、先に述べたようにフィルメニッヒの調香師ティエリー ワッサーが、ゲランの調香師、つまりあのジャン ポール・ゲランの後任になるというニュースには驚かされました。ゲランが正式な発表をするまでにはまだ時間があるので、詳しい話はひかえておきますが、１年程前にLVMH社が（ゲランの親会社）がティエリーにアプローチしたという話を聞いていましたから、かなり慎重な話し合いが進められたものと思われます。ティエリーのパワフルで飛び切りイカした調香のスタイルを思うと、ゲランの今後が楽しみで仕方がありません。

Damn, I Was Right!

Yo, Thierry!

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!

Do you remember what I predicted 3 years ago?

… man, you’re the best.

A huge congratulations !!!

Nobi

(what a day…)

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３年程前にフィルメニッヒの調香師ティエリー ワッサーに「お前は、そのうちゲランの調香師になるよ。」と言って茶化したことがありました。いやぁ、本当のことになってしまいました。６月の初旬に正式に発表されるはずです。

Things are moving on…（高砂香料の野望）

It seems like this is the year that perfumers are going to change companies. As I predicted in the beginning of 2007, Givaudan is starting to loose good perfumers. What I didn’t think about was that this movement might work in favor of the smaller companies. Takasago, the leading Japanese house that hired Francis Kurkdjian in 2005 (I once heard he was more than satisfied with the freedom that he got at Takasago), seems to have lured another great talent. Takasago has been holding on to 5th place only with their good flavors division and toiletries. If they keep adding talented fine fragrance perfumers, they could establish a good team for fragrance creation and dominate the Asian market which has long been neglected by the whole fragrance industry. This is interesting, Takasago might become big enough to buy Givaudan one day. (I thought IFF should buy Takasago to secure their position in Asia, but obviously Takasago was too expensive.)

Like Takasago, the smaller companies are probably ready to listen to the growing artistic egos of young perfumers. The big threes are on alert. I can feel the heat and the pressure.

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高砂香料は、スター調香師のフランシス クルクジャンに続き、２人目の才能に溢れる調香師を獲得しました。長年香料産業の香水部門では日陰にいた高砂も、ようやく世界に通用する香水を作ることのできる会社になってきたのかもしれません。もし高砂が充実したファイン フレグランス チームを確立できれば、アジアのマーケットは独占できるのではないでしょうか。アジアのマーケットが急成長していることを考えると、高砂香料が世界最大の香料企業になる可能性は充分にあると思います。

Perfumers and Model in the Studio

There is a famous woodcut by Dürer called “Artist and Model in the Studio.”

I am working on a series of prints portraying the relationship between perfumers and a skin model which will be a part of my new project.

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香水というのは、ブロターという紙に吹き付けた場合と、人の肌に吹き付けた場合の両方を確かめながら作っていきます。この写真は、スキンモデル（その妖しげな響きが何とも言えません）を使ってパフューマー（調香師）達が試験作を比べているところです。比率的に男性のパフューマー（調香師）の方が多い為でしょうか、スキンモデルに選ばれるのは美人が多いようです。

Tokyo

The essence of concrete and steel mixed with the smell of humidity

Is perfumery art?

I noticed that I haven’t posted about perfume for a while. I spent most of the time thinking about a new project related to perfumers and perfumery this week and felt comfortable posting something related.

Last weekend my two sons had an annual play date with Les Christophs (Christophe Laudamiel and Christoph Hornetz) at home, and I had an opportunity to speak with perfumer Christophe Laudamiel on various subjects including art and design. Laudamiel is one of the few perfumers (if not only) who is trying to think perfumery outside the realm of commercial perfumery or a mere scent making. The most interesting discussion with him was on the possibility for the perfumery to be recognized as art.

Perfumery is not art in today’s context. For example, we cannot speak about perfumery as we speak about contemporary art. Perfumery is still like 18th or 19th century art. As Laudamiel pointed out to me, I too believe that finding the answer to this issue will ultimately take the commercial perfumery to the next level.

I also found an interesting article by chance addressing a similar issue. Here is the link where you can download the article.

Jacques Polge

100% LOVE

Yeah,
it’s about
a perfumer
this time
!

Vodka of the Year

100% LOVE

The new campaign by Belvedere Vodka (originally from Poland) owned by LVMH is called “Luxury Reborn.” The celebrities in the campaign are Terry Richardson, Vincent Gallo and RZA. As you can see from the casts in the commercial, this is a niche campaign, and people who don’t get it are unlikely to recognize the campaign.

If you can relate to the short commercial, it’s worth checking out the interview of Vincent Gallo at the Belvedere Vodka’s website. Unfortunately the entire site is Flash, and the navigations is not so good. The interview can be found where it says DISCOVER LUXURY REBORN/THE CAMPAIGN BEHIND THE SCENE after the splash page.

And for those who love perfumes - Sabina Belli, the woman who is interviewing Vincent Gallo, was Dior’s International Marketing Director for Fragrance, Cosmetics and Skincare a few years ago. According to perfumer Thierry Wasser, he was able to complete the scent of Dior Addict in just two and a half months because of Sabina Belli’s inspiring description of what she wanted for the fragrance.

Sophia ‘93

“Perfumers have signatures,” Mrs. Grojsman said. “You can pick up a fragrance and know who the perfumer is by the way certain ingredients are put together. I’m known for floral accords, bottoms and cleavage.” Noses talk that way. Translation: the bottom note is the scent on the skin several hours after application. There is, however, no bottom without a top — a note that lasts a couple of minutes after perfume is put on — and a middle. Without this layering, heaven forbid, a scent could turn out to be what Mrs. Grojsman called “a bottomless pit of infinity or nondescript.” Cleavage is the “sensual” part of the fragrance.

From a New York Times article in February 1993

100% SOPHIA

DIRECTED BY MISS LIZ
EDITOR: TAYLOR THOMPSON
MUSIC: SEAN MCBRIDE
PHOTO: LEONARDO BARRETO

(click here for a higher resolution movie.)

branding the future

I haven’t been to Colette for a while, and a recent post in 1000fragrances certainly made me want to check out the store. It’s not surprising to hear that this hip store in Paris has done a good job of building its olfactive identity. After all this is the store in Paris run by an innovative trendsetter ’sarah’.

Olfactive branding is a relatively new area in the fragrance business… but I see two problems here.

The first issue is whether to scent a space or to launch an olfactive campaign, it doesn’t require tons of fragrance oil to achieve these goals. This is not really a good business for the suppliers. To profit from this new trend the suppliers will need to change their old-fashioned billing system which has been spoiling their clients for many years and be prepared for a new business form. Not an easy thing to do.

Solving the second issue could be even more difficult. Today’s big companies are like young people. They want to be cool. However both fragrance business and its market are uncool, and worst of all, this is contagious - an example: Tom Ford used to be cool, and Estee Lauder wanted to borrow some of his leftover aura. In the beginning of Lauder-Ford alliance, some people in the industry made fun of one of the big bosses at Lauder who was trying to dress like Tom Ford. How does the relationship look today? I think Tom blended in with Estee Lauder so nicely that it’s hard to remember that he had been undeniably cool in the ’90s… will it be possible to change this uncool environment into a cool one, and how? That I don’t know yet.

Lost in Translation

In brief, this short film is so Tokyo - it’s almost too good for an ad. I haven’t smelled the fragrance but am pretty sure that it isn’t anywhere near this level.

Oh, and ladies (and some gents), if you encounter a young caucasian male in a trendy part of Tokyo, he will likely be as handsome as the “gaijin” in this film. If he is driving a car, it could be a sporty Mercedes or a red Ferrari.

Who’s Who - Perfumer Directory

There’s one thing I have been thinking about for a while to make perfumers’ identities more visible. The idea came up as I began to hear some perfumers being unhappy only to find their names in a motley list of perfumers in the web. I think it’s not a bad idea to have a reliable source to find information on perfumers, I mean an orgnized list of perfumers at recognized houses with their bios and photos.

Some details:
- sort the list by house (Givaudan, IFF, Firmenich…), by category (fine fragrance, beauty care, household…), and by location (New York, Paris…)
- have a photo (nice ones) and a bio (less corporate, more personal) of each perfumer
- update information every year (wins, transfers…)
- include perfumers from Beauty Care and Toiletries (they are equally important assets for each house)
- list only the notable wins of each perfumer or list only what each perfumer is proud of

The information is obtainable… but who is going to put the time and money for it? This is clearly not my job. So, I suggested Perfumer & Flavorist to think about making a directory website of perfumers. The editor seemed keen on the idea, and I hope something will come out from them.

Cleaning - ‘Super’ Molecules

As Octavian mentioned in his last comment, cleaning a formula must be an interesting process in finishing a fragrance. I suppose this is not something any perfumer can do. For a multi million dollar project, you got to bring in the expert of experts to perform the operation.

I find beauty in a certain kind of “cleaning.” I used to enjoy cleaning HTMLs after building web pages with a software. Web design softwares usually leave useless “frills” in the html or scripts. I believe the most beautiful form of html is written with a minimum number of tags and in a single line without any indents or line breaks. There are scripts that won’t work without line breaks, and sometimes I chose not to use a script just to make a single-line html.

There’s another cleaning job related to perfumery. It is cleaning raw materials, more specifically, cleaning a natural material and cleaning a molecule. I’m not sure if there’s something close to mathematical beauty in cleaning a natural material, but there must be something close to it in cleaning a molecule.

A well known Firmenich molecule Hedione has a sister called Hedione Super. The way I understand is that the frills in the molecular shape of Hedione which have not much to do with the smell has been removed in the “Super” version.

I’m sure many of you have heard of Galaxolide, one of the most known molecules by IFF used in perfumes (I’d say most perfumes today), detergents, and many other household products. Galaxolide seems to have frills. Givaudan had wanted a slimmer, cleaner version of Galaxolide. There had been some discussions between the two rivals, but anyway, in the end Givaudan took the matter in their own hands. They successfully, well, not exactly… slimmed down the original molecule and obtained the patent for the new version. However, there was a problem - this new molecule, quite contrary to the original, cost too much to manufacture, and Givaudan had to give up the idea of using it for fragrances and other related products.

… what a shame. I will be willing to pay a few hundred bucks for a small bottle of clean and lean “Galaxolide Supermodel”… and I hope there will be a market in the future for superb molecules that are almost too expensive to produce.

Ao Dai（調香師 ロク・ドング）

気鋭の若手パフューマー、ロク・ドングについて述べてみました。

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There is something striking about the image below…

It reminds me of a fragrance that perfumer Loc Dong was working on for S-Perfume® more than a year ago. You may not have heard about Loc Dong yet, but his recent achievement is compared to that of Jacques Cavallier when L’Eau d’Issey was created. Naturally, other suppliers are now waiting for a chance to lure Loc from IFF.

I have a sweet spot for Loc Dong for many reasons, but the biggest reason is simply because he’s a god damn Asian. Loc often said to me, “I want women to feel beautiful when they wear my fragrance.” His simple statement is very powerful, just like this stunning beauty in a white ao dai.

So, why didn’t we finish the fragrance? Well, I thought his great mods should fall into the hands of L’Oreal or P&G one day, and not in mine. Loc Dong’s fragrances should be appreciated by as many women as possible, and they are simply not meant for niche markets.

via erikg.codepoet.no

Performance is one thing but sustaining it is another

IFF Paris is very different from IFF New York in one way. In Paris, there are stars like Dominique Ropion and Olivier Polge, and there is also a future heavyweight Bruno Jovanovic, but these male perfumers are outnumbered by very talented female perfumers. It’s great to have more and more women in mainstream perfumery, but a good balance of male and female perfumers is important, too. IFF PARIS NEEDS A NEW GUY! Listen IFF Paris, don’t just let new resumes pile on top of older ones, but check out the ones you received recently. You may be looking at a future star in one of them