Made by Blog, Scent

It seems not much is happening lately, but both Clement and Laurent are working hard for Marina’s and Katie’s next rounds. Actually, Laurent and Katie had a phone conversation recently, and Katie’s post on the conversation will be up soon.

In the meanwhile I am going to willfully invade this blog to write about my new ideas…

#1
As some of you may know, I sell perfumes called S-Perfume, S-ex and so on. Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel is the author of S-Perfume (he remixed Alberto Morillas’s original scent) and S-ex. Christophe is always willing to show his formulas if his clients are OK with it. But of course… no company will want to talk about their secret formula, and he hasn’t been able to do it. So, maybe we should at least make it happen with S-Perfume and S-ex. The formula will be written all over the bottle, I like this idea visually.

#2
There are raw materials which will be banned by future regulations (don’t think they are only synthetics). These materials are the endangered species, and some are critical for creating certain notes. I’d like to make a list of seven most critical and fatal raw materials and called them The Seven Deadly Scents. They will also be available in precious packaging and be accompanied with a list of well known perfumes which include these materials. Maybe this is a bad idea…

#3
There is a company selling Iso E Super (by IFF) as a perfume. OK, that’s unusual. But there are more interestingly smelling molecules, like Galaxolide or Muscenone for instance. How about making some of these molecules available in safe level of alcohol solutions. To make this more interesting, I would ask perfumers like Sophia Grojsman or Dominique Ropion to choose one molecule and one natural to create a “super short formula.” The composition will be so simple that the perfumer wouldn’t mind sharing the formula. Now, I think this is a good idea. [by Nobi]

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A sculptor living in New York

5 Comments

  • October 7, 2006
    Victoria

    I like all of these ideas, but given the educational potential of idea No 2, I would love to give a vote for that.

    I have had a chance to try the precious jasmin de Grasse, and I was in awe of its beauty. So many materials disappear every day, and although many more are created, one cannot but feel sadness that this is an inevitable process.

    Of course, No1 and No3 are great too. Actually, I would love to see all of your ideas realized. 🙂

  • October 7, 2006
    kuri

    All fascinating ideas. I find 3 the most interesting personally. The idea of such simple formulas seems very elegant. But all the ideas sound great.

  • October 9, 2006
    Sacre Nobi

    Victoria,
    Thank you for your comment.
    Cost and demand, environment, health and safety… for different reasons some unreplaceable raw materials disappear from great formulas. However scientists are working hard to make great new molecules to replace the materials that have ran into problems. Firmenich probably has the best R&D in the industry and has the edge on captive materials. I once heard that they make about 100 to 150 new molecules in one year, but only 2 or 3 will be useful for perfumery. And these few molecules will need a few years for safety studies and registration before they become available for fragrances. It’s a long process to get just a few new materials.

    We should should also remember that some naturals still exist because of the big industry.

  • October 9, 2006
    Sacre Nobi

    Thanks, Kuri-san.
    It makes me happy to know that the ideas appeal to others as well. #3 is the newest idea among them and is the one I’m thinking about most now. It’s fun to think about these things but difficult to materialize.

  • October 15, 2006
    Anya

    #1 is interesting, why not do it?
    #2 may be a bad idea, but so are many of the EU restrictions, based on bad science (not talking about the endangered species here). “Deadly Scents” seems all marketing. After all, many of the restricted chems aren’t deadly, they’ll just give you a rash. Perhaps. “Illegal Scents” perhaps, because the laws will put the perfumer in a precarious legal position.
    3 Personally, I’m totally unintereseted in this.

    On your last comment to Victoria, I’d like to add: some naturals are now being introduced because of the little aromatherapy and natural perfumery industry. I can name many that were not available even five years ago. Additionally, our demand for naturals now accounts for what? 15% of the market. Little is big.

    And me? As a perfumer, I can live without sandalwood. I’ll just find something else. I live in a fluid, evolving world, and “make do” and “improvise” are in my vocabulary.

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