Related Articles
With the help of an artist and two bloggers, International Flavors & Fragrances is shaking up the traditional formula for creating a fragrance.
The project is the brainchild of artist Nobi Shioya, who wanted to experiment with the fragrance development process by including the input of two passionate consumers. It started last May when IFF perfumers Clement Gavarry and Laurent Le Guernec began working with fragrance bloggers Marina Geigert, of perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com, and Katrina Voll-Taylor, of scentzilla.com. The goal: for the perfumers to create each woman’s “dream fragrance.”
To follow the process online, Shioya created a blog called “Made by Blog,” which tracks every step in the development of the fragrances. After receiving specifications from Voll-Taylor and Geigert, the perfumers send them samples for feedback. Le Guernec, best known for his work on Michael by Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs Rain, is working on Voll-Taylor’s fragrance, called Auxeos. Gavarry, who created Carolina by Carolina Herrera and Matthew Williamson, has teamed up with Geigert to create a scent called Holy Grail. Also, the two perfumers worked together to create Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker. Both fragrances are due to be finished by July.
Le Guernec said that Voll-Taylor was looking for “leathery, animalistic, sexy notes” for her Auxeos scent that were not commonly found in today’s market. “We’re pushing the notes further from what we do usually,” said Le Guernec. “This triggers lots of new ideas and the desire to explore new territory.” On the other hand, Geigert wanted a “spicy scent” for her fragrance, which she had already named Holy Grail — and wanted Gavarry to use notes like cardamom, saffron, iris, vanilla, musk, sandalwood, cedar, cinnamon and amber.
“These types of animalistic and sexy notes are hard to balance,” said Gavarry. “You have to really stretch the boundaries. For me, it’s a nice challenge to work for one person and have fun.”
According to Le Guernec, the biggest difficulty throughout the project has been communication, since the perfumers use technical terms to describe fragrance compositions. The bloggers are unused to technical vocabulary and are more consumer-driven, referring to already finished fragrances in the market. However, he said he was surprised by the depth of Voll-Taylor’s knowledge, from the smells to the ingredients. He was also amazed by the number of site visitors. According to Shioya, between 300 and 500 visitors log on daily.
A sculptor by trade, Shioya has incorporated olfactory art into his work before. But this project shines a spotlight on the creative side of an industry that Shioya has referred to as “strange” for the secrecy with which it creates its products.
“The whole industry became my subject, and the blog acts like a canvas,” said Shioya. “I wanted to find a new way to document this process that’s normally concealed.”
“IFF has a deep history of focusing on innovation,” said Nicolas Mirzayantz, IFF’s group president of fragrances. “We pride ourselves in allowing our perfumers to be free to create in new and different ways and to explore new olfactive territories.”
Shioya placed no financial restrictions or deadlines on the projects. To allow room for creativity, perfumers were allowed to use whatever natural or synthetic raw materials they desired. Most important, said Shioya, the project had no business objective. Shioya said he just hoped the project provides the participants and blog readers with a better understanding of the complexity of the fragrance development process.
“Anyone with knowledge and passion can make their own scent, but to be a perfumer at one of these major fragrance suppliers is much more difficult. One needs to have an exceptional olfactory sense, to be able to go through years of rigorous training and to withstand an enormous amount of pressure from their clients,” Shioya said in a statement on his home page.
Veronique Ferval, IFF’s creative development director, views the project as an “artistic exercise” to give someone fascinated by scent a personal creation. “It reveals the difficulty in creating a fragrance and the process of developing a scent,” said Ferval. “It’s a slow process, and we’re able to show how different it is to create a perfume through direct communication.”
Although the fragrances were not initially designed for commercial sale, Shioya is hoping to receive interest from distributors about putting the fragrances in high-end specialty stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel. However, no deals are in place. The scents will be finished by late summer, but Shioya said they would not be in stores before the Christmas season. Since the concentration and packaging of the fragrances has yet to be determined, Shioya estimated the fragrances would retail between $50 and $100 for 50 ml. Shioya is considering donating proceeds to a children’s charity if the scents are sold commercially.