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Passion for Perfume - Portraits Archive
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If you are an amateur of historical perfumes, you are bound to have happened on Prastara Royal, a perfume based on a recipe created by a chemist to Louis XIV, as the tradition recalls, and now faithfully re-created by Douglas Hopkins & Co at the Perfume Factory. We asked its founder Douglas Hopkins to tell us about the story of this fragrance and his own role in shaping anew the destiny of this ancient eau. It turns out this is not just an inspired marketing project, but more an adventure taking its main hero, Douglas Hopkins, from the milieu of the New York fashion industry to Royal Austrian castles and post-Communist fragrance factories in Eastern Europe. The material contained in this exclusive interview will be part of a forthcoming photography book, Real.Views. Marie-Hélène Wagner: The story of Prastara seems complex; I see that there is a Polish brand that sells a similar product. Do you have any information about that other Prastara?
Douglas Hopkins: The short story is that I bought the Prastara trademark from the Poles back around 1987, from a trip with a fragrance industry expert, looking for investments after the Wall went down. The Communist factory keeps the domestic Polish market, I have the rest of the world. I've since created three other scents, Prastara Blue, Åse (OH-say), and Zazou. I was friends with a number of European royal families, stemming from portraits I did during twenty years as a New York fashion photographer, and through their exquisite private castle libraries (You can yet see a photo of one on the first page of our old site www.DouglasHopkins.com). I found intriguing formulations, which I used in creating my scents. With my background as a volcanologist at MIT/NASA, I expanded into geothermal-based skin care products, which did exceptionally well. They were licensed a few years ago and are being redesigned for a new launch. We made an unintended splash in the fashion press for a $800 per ounce "Deep Sea" limited edition, therapeutic mud, which sold out at Bergdorf Goodman in a week. We have been more or less exclusive to Bergdorf's for 15 years, but are now expanding into a wider market. We have been a hit in Italy for a decade, and recently entered Galeries Lafayette in Paris, the first American niche fragrance in the store. These are a few of the highlights........  Graf Alchemy Diagram, Poland © Douglas Hopkins & Co
Continue reading "Interview with Douglas Hopkins of DH & Co - Part I: The Story of Prastara & a Fashion Photographer Turned Fragrance Developer {Passion for Perfume - Portrait} {Celebrity Fragrance}" »
Roja Dove commissioned Baccarat to recreate the dolphin flacon of L'Océan Bleu by Lubin
This is part four and the last installment of our interview with fragrance expert and perfumer Roja Dove on the occasion of the launch of his three personal creations: Scandal, Unspoken, and Enslaved. In this section he sheds light on his activities as the instrumental person behind many recreations of classic masterpieces of perfumery that can now be exclusively found in the Haute Parfumerie in London. Perfumistas in particular will be thrilled to learn of a few scoops regarding new recreations or creations that are to arrive soon. The Haute Parfumerie does not have an e-commerce website, but you can mail order perfumes from the boutique using this telephone number: 020 7893 8797 If you missed the previous installments, you can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Interview Part 4 Marie-Hélène Wagner: There is also your work as a historian of fragrances and we have heard about your attempts at resurrecting a number of fragrances. Could we have a clearer understanding of what you do? How do you convince people to put old perfumes back into production?
Roja Dove: [laughter] You have to be very persistent. The first thing I would say, which I am sure not many people realize about my perfumery, is that when we opened the perfumery I wrote a list of all the houses, in my opinion, that made great things. Then I wrote a list of what I thought those great things were…….. Lubin L'Océan Bleu Advert from 1926
Continue reading "Interview with Fragrance Expert Roja Dove - Part 4 {Passion for Perfume - Portrait} {Fragrance News}" »
That which is Unspoken but was photographed by Lillian Bassman in 1951, "It's a Cinch, Carmen" Today, Professeur de Parfums and international perfume expert Roja Dove shares his thoughts on the revival of chypres and also the special brand of seduction conveyed by chypres versus oriental fragrances. He then reflects on the state of the perfume industry and the role of the new media and traditional media on the promotion of fragrance culture and education. If you missed the two first installments, you can also read Part One and Part Two of this interview. Roja Dove: But I think that….I have this whole story on the chypres. I think that oriental perfumes are all about seduction. They are about just that right amount of décolleté showing, the height of the heel, the shade of the lipstick, all of those things. But I think they’re all about tease, about teasing and they’re about promise. Whereas I think that the chyprés are actually the ones that deliver.........
Bettina by Georges Dambier, 1955
Continue reading "Interview with Roja Dove - Part Three: On Chypres & Orientals, the Perfume Industry & Media {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
The Haute Parfumerie at Urban Retreat, Harrods Today is the second installment of our interview with London-based fragrance expert Roja Dove. Please visit here for Part One, Marie-Hélène Wagner: And so, logically, you are going to add more fragrances then, to cover more families? Oh, maybe?
Roja Dove: Maybe, maybe. It depends where you see the other families being. In my opinion, the citrus family is a sub-section of the chypres. So maybe I might make an eau somewhere along the line, I think it’s not very likely. I already have one, very beautiful one in the “hidden fragrances.”..........
Continue reading "Interview with Roja Dove - Part Two {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
We are delighted to welcome Roja Dove, Professeur de parfums, founder of Haute Parfumerie - and appearing perhaps in a role that is less often stressed - perfumer, on these pages. Roja Dove has recently launched a trio of perfume creations titled Scandal, Unspoken, and Enslaved, which we reported about earlier and which is his inaugural attempt at a relatively more mainstream approach to the dissemination of perfume delight. It is not by chance that there is the word "Haute" in "Haute Parfumerie", his perfumery for the connoisseur at Harrods, which proposes a personal selection of perfumes he considers worthy of the esthete's attention, as well as his work as a perfumer. Roja Dove's own creations are usually known only to the happy few, extremely limited in their editions, and as you will see in this interview, they bring the concept of exclusivity to new heights. With this new trio, we see a more ready-to-wear approach in terms of distribution, yet the philosophy presiding over the creations of the fragrances remains very niche, that is, that there is no brief and, yes, that there is an insistence of high quality ingredients sourced with exceptional care. This is at least what "niche" is supposed to mean in the best sense of the term, although one would have to notice that is does appear at times to just be another overblown marketing label, except in terms of limited distribution. Interviewing Roja Dove over the telephone felt almost like a conversation at times. It was a delightful experience and for us there was a sense of contributing a few more pages to the fragile history of perfumes. We could have asked even more numerous questions but we had to limit ourselves. Despite this precaution the interview is long so we have decided it was best to publish it in several installments.Today is part I/4. Marie-Hélène Wagner: First, thank you for accepting to take our questions.
I might perhaps start with a question about the origins of this perfume creation project. Because you have been for so long in this industry, more than thirty years, it must have been quite a long time in the making. And also, was it initially your motivation for entering the perfume industry, to pursue a career as a perfumer?
Roja Dove: I’ve only really worked on this project for two years, so it’s not so long. I mean I started on it two years ago. I’ve made perfumes for a long time, for a very small clientèle. It’s normally a private clientèle and fragrances are bespoke. That service is something I never normally seek publicity for. It gets written about from time to time but and I also have, I’m sure you know, the Haute Parfumerie in Harrods and in this place I have various fragrances for sale. They’re hidden in a drawer.........
Continue reading "Interview with Roja Dove, Perfumer, Professeur de Parfums, & Founder of Haute Parfumerie at Harrods - Part One {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
Nicolas Olczyk, thank you for accepting to answer our questions. You are an independent fragrance consultant based in Paris, France, the founder and owner of ROUGE CURACAO, as well as a journalist working for osMoz, an educational and informational website owned by fragrance development company Firmenich.
TSS : How did you become interested in perfumes and when did you know it was going to become your profession? Was there an epiphany, an aha moment or was it more progressive?
Nicolas Olczyk: I guess I fell in love with scents when I was a child. I travelled a lot and particularly to the French West Indies where I got attached to the culture. There, scents are everywhere! Moreover, my uncle had an aromatic company where I was able to improve my olfactory training. I did a master’s degree in chemistry that I completed with a work placement in Grasse. Between 1999 and 2002, I continued to train ‘on the other side of the mirror’ in the sales force for Sephora and then for Estée Lauder Companies. This enriching experience allowed me to understand better customers’ perceptions, but also to have a sharp vision of the whole perfume development process, from the labs to the final client.....
Continue reading "Interview With Nicolas Olczyk, Fragrance Consultant - ROUGE CURACAO {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
Each perfume has a history and a story to tell, some more than others it seems. When we learned that Le Labo Tubéreuse 40 had been worn by Kirsten Dunst to better enter the role of Marie-Antoinette in Sofia Coppola's biopic Marie-Antoinette about the former French queen, we wanted to ask a few questions to the founders of perfume house Le Labo who created the perfume for her. Fabrice Penot (on the left on the picture), one of the two co-founders with Edouard Roschi, answers our questions. TSS: How did it come about that Kirsten Dunst wore this perfume for her role as Marie-Antoinette in the Sofia Coppola's movie?......
Continue reading "Q & A with Fabrice Penot of Le Labo: The Lowdown on Tubéreuse 40 & Kirsten Dunst {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
We are delighted to welcome Christopher Chong, the Creative Director of the Omani perfume house Amouage. This luxurious perfumery brand has succeeded since 1983 in projecting both an image of classic Arabian opulence mixed with the Western tradition as well as in becoming popular in the circuits of niche perfumery where demanding amateurs abound. It is an excellent example of how the guiding principles of luxury and creativity of the prestige and niche markets can coalesce. Amouage has just released their latest creations, Reflection Women and Men. We felt it would be a great time to learn more about the work of the perfume house and in particular that of its Creative Director, Christopher Chong. TSS: First, may I ask you how you became involved with fragrances? Or again, where does this love of fragrances of yours spring from? Christopher Chong: Let me tell you about my funny childhood. My first encounter with perfumes started when I was four. I took one of my mother's perfumes and intoxicated the house with the entire bottle. Everyone was fighting for air. Whereas I was transfixed by the notes dancing around me. It was a magical moment that I hope I will experience again.
Ever since that time, other children wanted to go to the playground, I begged my mother to take me to the perfume hallls in department stores. That was my wonderland filled with magic and spellbinding excitement.
I further developed this love for perfumes by studying humanities at university which gave me an in-depth knowledge of art, music and literature. Also, as a trained opera singer, perfume is the perfect complement. I used to sing the notes. Now, I smell the notes. TSS: -When one talks about the creation of perfumes today, a lot of focus is put on perfumers. A debate has arisen recently around the question of authorship in perfumery with, as you know, different conclusions in Holland and France. Yet at the same time it is quite obvious that perfumery appears more and more to be the result of sophisticated teamwork akin to the level of collective effort found in the making of a movie, from designing the perfume, to composing it, blending it, to packaging it and marketing it etc. What is exactly the role of an artistic director in that enterprise, at least in the way that you see it?......
Continue reading "An Interview With Christopher Chong, Creative Director of Amouage {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
Sylvie Jessua is the founder and owner of Ambregris, a niche, even extreme-niche perfume brand as we like to think of certain labels. For the moment being, the line centers around a unique perfume called Ambre et Diamant Noir (Amber and Black Diamond) that is exclusively sold in one brick and mortar store in Paris at the Ritz Hotel although it is also technically possible to order it through the Ambregris website. She is also the head of a company called Habaco that specializes in the development of luxury and fashion brand franchises. Ambregris appears to be a parallel space dedicated in her life to personal creativity. We started by asking her a couple of questions and ended up asking a few more so we thought it would be best to regroup them here. We first started by asking Sylvie Jessua some questions about the naturalness of the ingredients used, her sources of inspiration for the perfume, and what she calls the process of "fabrication à l'ancienne" that is, the old-fashioned way of creating fragrances. Here are her answers:.....
Continue reading "An Interview With Sylvie Jessua Owner & Artistic Director Of Ambregris {Passion for Perfume -Portraits}" »
The Scented Salamander is delighted to introduce French designer Olivier Durbano. Apart from being a talented jewelry designer, Durbano is also a perfume designer and has developed the concept of a collection of perfumes inspired by his lapidary art called Parfums de Pierres Poèmes (Perfumes of Stones Poems). His first fragrance was called Cristal de Roche (Rock Crystal); he is going to release a second scent in 2007 called Améthyste (Amethyst). These fragrances are part of a project to create 7 different scents inspired by 7 different stones. Symbolism and philosophy preside over his creative process inviting us to look at perfumes in a renewed manner. His fragrances call us back to a state of naturalness and limpid contemplation where things are experienced rather than analyzed. In this manner, his perfumes individually bear no identifying names but contain in each flacon three marbles of the stones by which they were inspired and are colored the same colors as those. The interrelationship of perfumes and stones was intriguing to us. Olivier Durbano has accepted to answer our questions. TSS:
You are known first and foremost as a jeweler or jewelry designer. Are perfumes for you yet another means of expression that stands apart or is it a reflection, an illustration if you will, of your vision of the art of jewelry-making? In other terms would you say that you are attempting to transcribe stones into perfumes or is there something unique to perfume that cannot be expressed by a jewelry piece and which motivates you in seeking out a complementary artistic medium? Why create a perfume and not a piece of embroidered textile for example?
Olivier Durbano:
After I completed my training in architecture, I quickly became involved in the creation of jewelry pieces, especially necklaces, which are already rich with history and symbols. Stones, which were very important during my childhood resurfaced fascinating me with their naturalness, their truth, their imperfections, their power or their symbolism.....
Continue reading "An Interview With Olivier Durbano, Jewelry and Perfume Designer {Passion for Perfume - Portrait}" »
 Sali Oguri is a New York based singer and musician. She is a multi-talented artist who has managed aside from her activities as a composer and singer to dedicate herself to creating a perfume which has generated a cult following. Called Pink Manhattan, it was named after her song album. She is also the popular TV host for a Japanese weekly satellite TV-show called “New Yorkers” that boasts an 11 million-strong fan base. We love her blog Pink Manhattan. Her fluid style of writing and her thoughtful posts about music and perfumes are a treat to read. Sali’s personality comes across as a mix of excess and balance if that makes any sense to you, it does to me. Her view of life is very personal and we wanted to get to know her better, understand a little bit more what makes her tick. We think it is perhaps the fact that she seems to re-work endlessly the material that life is. For The Scented Salamander Sali has accepted to answer questions about her work and ideas as a perfumer and an artist. TSS – Sali, you are a musician, a songwriter and singer, a perfumista who writes regularly on fragrances on your blog Pink Manhattan, and last but not least, a perfumer, the creator of Pink Manhattan. In what order did these interests or rather passions of yours arise in your life?
Sali Oguri - Music first; everything else comes after. What connections do you see between them? Do you think they are part of the same creative process? Writing music and making perfumes can be similar in that they're both about creating compositions with notes. Music differs from perfume in that music consists of many more notes and not just notes but rhythm, which means in music, we also play with time. You can't time the evaporation rate in perfumery yet so there's no rhythm to speak of. Where there's no rhythm and no upbeat, it's static. Where the upbeat is, there is movement and life...
Continue reading "Passion for Perfume - Portrait: An Interview with Sali Oguri" »
The owners and designers of Nez à Nez, Christa Patout and her husband Stéphane Humbert Lucas have opened for a us a little door into their rich universe. Creativity, sensuality, and love seem to be their guiding principles. Let me have the pleasure of introducing them to you.
TSS - Can you tell us how Nez à Nez started and what are the origins of this very recently established house? I am told that a number of perfumes were created by your father, Jean Patout.
Christa Patout with Stéphane Humbert Lucas - The adventure of Nez à Nez started a little more than five years ago. It is first and foremost the story of an encounter...
Continue reading "Passion for Perfume: An Interview with Christa Patout and Stéphane Humbert Lucas of Nez à Nez" »
Andy Tauer is an independent perfumer from Switzerland. He has already made his mark on the world of niche perfumery within a very short period of time by launching three fragrances to connoisseurs' acclaim, Le Maroc pour Elle, L'Air du Désert Marocain, and most recently, Lonestar Memories. Tauer came relatively late to perfumery, yet he did not start his journey on this new path completely unprepared as he is a doctor in chemistry. He is also one of the perfume bloggers that I like and esteem and am glad to have as a neighbor in cyberspace. His always sincere and sometimes very funny posts on his blog, Perfumery, are recommended readings.
Please tune in again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow as I will review his latest release, Lonestar Memories. I am hereby inaugurating a new series on TSS which bears the title Passion for Perfume - Portraits and which will be devoted to offering portraits of people who are passionate about the fifth sense and all things perfumey and aromatic.
TSS - I am struck by how the sense of place as well as your travels are made to be an integral part of your work... Morocco, Texas, not Switzerland. Is this distancing from the familiar necessary for you to create perfumes? [Note: In a way, I am reminded of the quest for light and colors by painters like Van Gogh or Gauguin -- northerners travelling to the south or to exotic lands for inspiration.]
Andy Tauer - Not really, part of my inspiration is based very much on my immediate surroundings and is nourished by jogging trips in the woods nearby for instance. Of course, the exotic ambiance of the uncommon helps trigger associations and sometimes is finally closer in memories than the settings of everyday...
Continue reading "Passion for Perfume: A Portrait of Perfumer Andy Tauer" »
Passion for Perfume - Portraits Archive
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A Funny Post About Scented Candles {Fragrant Reading}
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Two Organic Oud Scents: Sama Oudh Jasmin & Undergreen Black Classic (2011) {New Perfumes}
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Top 12 Best New Department Store Fragrances of 2011 for the Holidays {Perfume List}
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Dance with Givenchy (2010) {New Perfume}
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Aftelier Perfumes Secret Garden (2011): Featuring Real Civet & Castoreum {New Fragrance}
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