person who can conjure its smell mentally. In this diary I could easily reveal various elements that composers of perfumes would be able to decipher. Even so, giving away the composition of the outline I have in mind would not make readers any the wiser about where I’m going with it. My ideas are evolving constantly. I don’t know in advance what might be corrected by experiences from the past, nor what those of the future have in store for me.
To the uninitiated, discovering a perfume from a list of its raw materials is like reading the ingredients for a cooking recipe with all the frustration of not being able to imagine what the dish would taste like; images seem to create more of an echo in us and speak more fully to our senses. Marketing people understand this perfectly. Seeing advertisements has never meantbeing able to smell the perfume; at the very best it elicits a
desire
to smell it: such are the strengths and limitations of the exercise.
Paris, Friday 18 December 2009
The Pygmalion myth
I have been invited by one of the foremost producers of fine perfumes to gain an insight into market trends. Although I never try to analyze the market, drawing information from the street and the Métro as to which perfumes are worn, I am curious to see this study. The presentation about trends is based around a classification of perfumes. Images of the bottles are projected on to a screen while test blotters impregnated with each perfume are passed beneath our noses. I’m shocked, saddened and disgusted. Too many perfumes are alike, merely variations of models that sell well.
The choice of perfumes depends on marketing directors; they make a selection that is then tested on consumers alongside one or two perfumes already on the market. These act as benchmarks, and facilitate a comparative analysis of preferences.
This sort of procedure dates back to the 1970s when the commercialization of perfumes ceased to be governed by a company chairman’s choice and was entrusted to a marketing team, who first assessed ‘market needs.’ Today product managers or project managers not only advise perfumers about what to make, they also want to choose the people who will execute their concepts. By choosing young perfumers with whom they can identify, they turn themselves into Pygmalions. Convinced they have ‘good noses’ while paradoxically relying on market trials, they exhaust the abilities of these young creators by askingfor more and more daily samples and not respecting the time needed for evaluation and reflection.
I like to think that every perfumer considers his or her work an art, and that a desire to create constitutes the motive for this work, because the perfumer is the first to appreciate the emotional investment he or she has put into the project. Unless freely chosen, collaborations with other perfumers can only do the utmost harm to a project. Even if the exchange itself is beneficial, the accumulation of ideas is an utter negation of any creative process. Dividing up the personal investment in order to lighten the emotional load that goes into a project means misunderstanding the techniques used and developed by a perfumer in response to a commission. This sort of attitude and process cannot fail to engender frustrations which will later become difficult to manage.
Cabris, Tuesday 5 January 2010
Mint
The launch of the 2009 annual theme for the House of Hermès, ‘L’Échappée belle’, 2 took place in April at the Rungis market, the largest fresh-produce market in the world. In the early hours of the morning, as guests emerged from the covered market, they were asked to fill a basket with fruits and vegetables of their choice. I remember putting bunches of fresh mint in my basket. The smell acted effectively as a joyful and soothing energizer. I still remember in great detail this ‘olfactory encounter,’ which I recorded in my moleskin notebook, and have now decided to start work on it.
The theme may
To the uninitiated, discovering a perfume from a list of its raw materials is like reading the ingredients for a cooking recipe with all the frustration of not being able to imagine what the dish would taste like; images seem to create more of an echo in us and speak more fully to our senses. Marketing people understand this perfectly. Seeing advertisements has never meantbeing able to smell the perfume; at the very best it elicits a
desire
to smell it: such are the strengths and limitations of the exercise.
Paris, Friday 18 December 2009
The Pygmalion myth
I have been invited by one of the foremost producers of fine perfumes to gain an insight into market trends. Although I never try to analyze the market, drawing information from the street and the Métro as to which perfumes are worn, I am curious to see this study. The presentation about trends is based around a classification of perfumes. Images of the bottles are projected on to a screen while test blotters impregnated with each perfume are passed beneath our noses. I’m shocked, saddened and disgusted. Too many perfumes are alike, merely variations of models that sell well.
The choice of perfumes depends on marketing directors; they make a selection that is then tested on consumers alongside one or two perfumes already on the market. These act as benchmarks, and facilitate a comparative analysis of preferences.
This sort of procedure dates back to the 1970s when the commercialization of perfumes ceased to be governed by a company chairman’s choice and was entrusted to a marketing team, who first assessed ‘market needs.’ Today product managers or project managers not only advise perfumers about what to make, they also want to choose the people who will execute their concepts. By choosing young perfumers with whom they can identify, they turn themselves into Pygmalions. Convinced they have ‘good noses’ while paradoxically relying on market trials, they exhaust the abilities of these young creators by askingfor more and more daily samples and not respecting the time needed for evaluation and reflection.
I like to think that every perfumer considers his or her work an art, and that a desire to create constitutes the motive for this work, because the perfumer is the first to appreciate the emotional investment he or she has put into the project. Unless freely chosen, collaborations with other perfumers can only do the utmost harm to a project. Even if the exchange itself is beneficial, the accumulation of ideas is an utter negation of any creative process. Dividing up the personal investment in order to lighten the emotional load that goes into a project means misunderstanding the techniques used and developed by a perfumer in response to a commission. This sort of attitude and process cannot fail to engender frustrations which will later become difficult to manage.
Cabris, Tuesday 5 January 2010
Mint
The launch of the 2009 annual theme for the House of Hermès, ‘L’Échappée belle’, 2 took place in April at the Rungis market, the largest fresh-produce market in the world. In the early hours of the morning, as guests emerged from the covered market, they were asked to fill a basket with fruits and vegetables of their choice. I remember putting bunches of fresh mint in my basket. The smell acted effectively as a joyful and soothing energizer. I still remember in great detail this ‘olfactory encounter,’ which I recorded in my moleskin notebook, and have now decided to start work on it.
The theme may
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