An Interview With Angela Ciampagna by Alfarom

One of the hits at the recent Esxence in Milan was the fragrances of Angela Ciampagna. Alfarom speaks to the founder.

Angela Ciampagna has a quite striking aesthetic as a brand. A fascinating mix of post-gothic imaginary, a rustic / artisanal design which is quintessentially Italian and a strong mediterranean vibe. Can you explain your concept as an artisanal line of fragrances?

The artisanal mindset is something we have to deal with everyday. We work in the fire-line… I mean that Enrico Maraffino and I concretely and straightly work with the raw materials, everyday. Our perfumes are the result of the combination of my creative effort, I work with the formulas, and Enrico’s technical effort in developing the laboratory procedures. We study the formulas, we choose the suppliers of the raw materials, we build the tinctures, we follow the ageing out, the mixture, filtration, packing, etc. Everything has a unique handmade feeling, but using innovative processes, prepared ad hoc to have “faded” fragrances. For this reason we have made our debut conveying an appearance with no misunderstandings. Not a glowing perfumery, full of redundant luxuries. Our style of perfumery is the result of a genuine passion, research, tests, work and the will to constantly improve ourselves.

We live in Atri, a small town in Central Italy, and we have chosen the rose window of the cathedral of Atri as the symbol and signature of our perfume house, because, in Italy, everything happens in the shade of the rose window, or the campanile. And the genuine craftsmanship is often hidden in the web of pathways, typical of every ancient Italian village, just like a treasure covered with dust, waiting to be unveiled. In our fragrances, you can find that treasure, concealed by dusty bricks, mouldy woods, smoke and fog, and the majestic but quiet nature. The excellence of every batch is guaranteed by our small-scale manufacturing process, so you can have your own numbered perfume,with its serial number exhibited on the bottle and box, because each and every single perfume is a unique piece.

How did you get involved with fragrances?

The history of our perfumes is the history of our workshop, Label Laboratorio Artigianale di Profumeria. When we decided to professionally devote our life to the perfumery we started from ground zero… Before opening a production workshop, in 2011, we had taken the first steps making perfumes for third parties or creating custom-made perfumes for clients that were simply niche perfumery lovers. Every and each project was very important to improve our skills. For example, we have created long lasting perfumes for clothes, committed by some leading international fashion brands together with olfactive set-ups, scented candles, etc. That’s school! Practice is a very good teacher.

Your line is run by Angela and Enrico. Are you both perfumers or do you cover different roles?

Enrico and I are “partners in crime”. We are husband and wife, we’ve been living together since we were both 23 and now we’re 37. “Fortunately”, we spend a lot of time in the workshop with the mask on our mouths, so we don’t have many chances to argue… seriously, our roles are rather different and precise, even if we could intervene in the tasks of the other. I create the compositions, he follows the laboratory techniques and then the production processes. We work together during the ageing and maceration steps, when we have to check the performance of the fragrance. If everything is ok, we can finally say “we’ve got it!”. Anyway, I often ask for Enrico’s opinion during the study of the essays: if he embraces a certain facial expression, it just means “throw that stuff away”. If he says nothing, that usually means he approves.

Your fragrances are clearly and by all means artisanal but they never feel rustic or

overly unpolished as many artisanal perfumes often do. What’s your training when it comes to perfumery?

No industry schools. I was lucky to have the occasion to develop my own production techniques with an important Italian industrial chemist, that has in part designed our manufacturing processes. But, beyond the procedures, I think that it’s equally essential to know carefully the raw materials, their “behaviour”, alone or mixed with other materials. That requires dedicated practice and research. I have paid special attention to the smells since I was very young, collecting and memorizing many smells and scents, so I have spontaneously enhanced this feature of mine. I remember that when I was just eight I paid my aunt a visit in a small village of the Veneto region. It was fall. The landlady of the flat, that we had taken for rent, guided us to the upper floor. Well, for the first time I had a kind of “Stendhal syndrome”, when I met the smell of the bedroom where I had to sleep: mothball, dry flowers, dust, clean sheets and a woman with her violet perfume that opened the riverside window. Oh my God! It was neither good nor bad. It was lively… It’s my pleasure to create perfumes that are able to tell a story, just like the scents in that bedroom. Perfumes shouldn’t be good or bad, they should be a fist to the breastbone.

You could say that I learnt this job in an odd way, and it’s quite true, because I wasn’t in a school or in a corporation, that’s why you can find a “dirty” track in my own way to create a perfume formula. I don’t want to loose that track. Enrico is the chemical side of the workshop and he’s an excellent working partner. We have a similar approach and even in the production steps we look for innovative solutions to accentuate the “imperfect” tone of every composition. The brand is not only the outcome of my creativity, but also of our laboratory experience. For both of us, “imperfection” is something the always has a story to tell, something that wants to show exactly what it is. And our products want to show our genuine artisanal excellence.

How do you source your ingredients? Do you create your own extraits and absolutes or you just buy them from bigger suppliers?

We follow the extraction of several raw materials, but many more are produced in different locations: Vietnam, Africa, India, etc., even Europe, of course. Acquiring premium raw materials is not so easy, it requires a great competence and too much money… this is one of the reasons why we have decided to work even on olfactive projects for third parties designed for the selective market.

For how long have you been working on your former range and how did you assembled it?

When we started to work in Label we had just one purpose in mind: to launch our niche perfumery brand. Since then, together with the third-parties projects, we have worked to build what the Angela Ciampagna brand is now. And we have two more fragrances, we created during the last years, that we are going to introduce in the near future. Why too many years before launching our own brand?

We struggled to get our deserved credibility. We had not partners, agents or big distributors that supported us. We are not well-born. Our everyday work supports our everyday work. Diligence is our sole ally.

I find most of your fragrances to have an incredibly solid bone-structure which can only be achieved via objective skills but mot of them are also competently twisted to introduce an element of ‘disturb’. What does this element mean in your way of creating perfumes?

Life is made of imperfections: the train is late, you punctured a tyre, your pizza is burnt, that special date was a failure, your daddy is going to die… that’s life. When I deal with raw materials, first of all, I give them my respect, it doesn’t matter if they are natural or synthetic. Only after I listened to them in depth, I’m able to find the best way to let them speak and to let them tell people my story. Every composition is then scratched, blemished and covered with dust, so it’s made really lively, more true, just like all the imperfect things.

Is there a common theme in your line?

Imperfect is perfect.

How living on the italian countryside influenced your way to conceive and create fragrances?

Enrico and I move many times. At the moment, we live in Atri with our two daughters, Blu (8) and Era (3). A tiny village on the hills, located very few kilometers away from the Adriatic Sea, is the perfect place to raise your kids and company. Living there surely helps us to focus on easy things and to look at the sky. You should have enough humility and moderation to do this job, to do every job actually, so it’s better if the sky is at hand.

What’s next at Angela Ciampagna?

To have the favorable opinion of the fragrances lovers. To convey that there are hardworking people behind this brand, there are study and research, and we offer the outcome of all this work in some tens of ml.

You can find out more about the company at their website here.

This interview originally appeared on Basenotes.

by Alfarom

Parfumerie Générale - Huitième Art - Phaedon: An Interview with Pierre Guillaume by Alfarom.

- You're one of the most prolific perfumers out there and your main line Parfumerie Générale celebrated its 10th birthday a couple of years ago. Congratulations and here's to many, many more years. How do you keep your creativity alive and vibrant?

I have the privilege of being able to dedicate myself almost exclusively to creating within the Studio PG… So it’s my daily life, my full-time job… I can go on for several months without coming up with a validated formula, and then “give birth” to one or many satisfactory ones within a few days… Creativity is a matter of inspiration, which is pretty unpredictable. Anyway, the pace at which fragrances are created has to be dissociated from the launch calendar, and at PG, since I’m my own boss, I put out what I feel like putting out when it feels timely… I propose and the public disposes!

- In my opinion, you're responsible for some of the most novel accords in modern perfumery and on top of that, you've been able to bring some popular themes such as, say,  gourmands, to a completely higher level. Do you have any personal approach or technique when composing a fragrance?

Thank you for the compliment! I’m always a bit surprised that my fragrances are stuck with that “gourmand” label… there’s ethyl maltol (a molecule that smells like sugar) in Sucre d’ébène, L’oiseau de nuit and Cèdre Sandaraque… and not a trace of it in the rest of my output. I don’t have a sweet tooth but I do love balsamic notes (benzoin, tolu, vanilla, cereals, cocoa, coffee, milk, honey…). These notes are not synonymous with sugar in perfumery but personally, they inspire me a lot and I like to use them in various registers and themes, from the Orientalized bitterness of Aomassaï (where all the balsamic notes are treated with roasted, toasted, burned, pyrogenized aspects) to Cozé (which plays on the aromatic complexity of a blond tobacco leaf and its cocoa, fig and coffee aromas).

- We often read about the photo-refining technique you use in some of your fragrances (Cozé is the first that comes to mind). Can you tell us about it?

I’ve only applied it to two of our compositions: Cozé and L’eau de Circé. This technique can be understood as a controlled, accelerated aging process: it’s used to add a patina, expression lines to the composition. The UV radiations don’t destroy the olfactory impact of certain ingredients in the formula: they soften and modify it. There’s no point in using the technique for citrus-based compositions or white floral bouquets. For Cozé, by acting on the impact of the spicy notes, it adds vibrancy, whereas in L’eau de Circé, by making the osmanthus/rose/sandalwood accord wilt a bit, it adds a certain old-fashioned, melancholy touch.

- A lot of new launches in the last couple of years, including some “exclusive” stuff such as Arabian Horse. Why the need to differentiate some of them from your “regular” range?

 These fragrances were intended as objects of contemplation, exchange and reflection with the visitors of Pitti Fragranze in Florence, a bit like certain models are only made to be displayed in car shows. I rewrote formulas I’d composed a decade ago: Cozé (which became Cozé Verde) and Cuir Venenum (which became Arabian Horse). The point was for the brand to be present, but not just from a commercial standpoint, and to take stock of my past ten years as a perfumer by retracing my steps.

Elena & Zoran from Fragrantica urged me to produce small batches of Arabian Horse and Cozé Verdé because they thought it was a pity to restrict them to being “show fragrances” and not make them available to fans of the brand… We received other requests and we decided to produce a micro-series that will be exclusively available at our online shop.

- Some prices are getting crazy when it comes to niche and too often they don’t reflect the quality of the ingredients or the artistry. It seems as though a lot of lines that pretend to be high-quality are just inflating their prices to give a false idea of luxury. What's luxury in your opinion?

While I attempt to find the right balance as far as distribution and commerce are concerned, I try to maintain what I consider to be reasonable prices for my perfumes, and though they’re not cheap, I think my brand is one of the most accessible within the genre. When I started out in 2002, I remember that some of my competitors sold their 100 ml bottles for 80 euros… today, the same products are sold by those same brands for 180 euros. Their talk about the scarcity and cost of raw materials makes me laugh. Since we are independent, we can buy our own raw materials and assemble our juices ourselves, so we can offer much higher-quality products than our competitors at a lower price. If I bought an oil that costs 200 euros per kilo for me to produce from a big company like Givaudan, IFF or Firmenich, I’d probably be paying it three or four times more… The oil would cost me 800 euros per kilo… but in no way would that reflect its true value… Just for fun, my assistant Catherine calculated the ratio between the cost per kilo of the oil and the price of the bottle… If I applied the same margins as some of our competitors, I’d have to sell a 50ml bottle of Indochine for 300 euros…

I discussed this with Françoise Caron a few months ago: in the end, the juices that cost the most to produce aren’t automatically the ones that sell the most… everyone in the industry knows it.

As far as I’m concerned, luxury is rarity… I don’t see how you can pretend to be rare and different if you’re in all the department stores… Besides, I’m afraid a lot of brands base their attractiveness solely on their price point: “If I’m more expensive than my competitors that means I’m better.” I’m not reaching out for that type of clientele. 

- Beside Cozè, what are your most widely acclaimed fragrances?

Louanges Profanes for women and L’eau guerrière for men are our best-sellers world-wide. 

- Which fragrance did you compose so far that you're particularly proud of but you think it didn't get the attention it would have actually deserved?

Papyrus de Ciane was a lot of work because I had one technical issue after another… after two years of effort I achieved my goal and presented the fragrance, which was acclaimed by professionals and critics… but it’s right at the bottom of our sales figures!

- It would be interesting to smell some of your compositions in extrait strength. Should we expect this to happen at some point?

IFRA constrains us: depending on the formula, you can only use the oil at a certain concentration, which varies according to the juice’s chemical composition. So it’s a matter of aesthetic relevance but also of technical feasibility from the regulatory standpoint. Some notes like Isparta, Ilang Ivohibé or Myrrhiad would lend themselves to this, so… to be followed.

- When it comes to your perfume-related background, what are your points of reference?

As far as perfumes go? I was struck by the best-sellers that came out when I was a child or a teenager… Acqua di Gio, Fahrenheit, Angel, A-men, Armani eau pour homme, M7 by Yves Saint Laurent…

- What's your role in Phaedon?

Buying up Phaedon gave us the opportunity of extending our offer to home fragrances. The candles are manufactured by Guilhem Rousseau, who produces part of the catalogue of Diptyque and LVMH… This has allowed us to offer a catalogue of original scents (no fig, tuberose or wood fire) while immediately achieving a high quality standard… As far as the EDT and EDP are concerned, I had already contributed juices to the first series. After buying up the company, I was able to reformulate the entire range based on my tastes and quality standards, also to invite lesser-known perfumer friends to showcase their talent through new compositions – Jean Claude Gigodot,  Danièle Maniquant and Anne Cécile Douveghan come to mind.

- What's next at Parfumerie Générale / Huitième Art / Phaedon?

There’s a big surprise in store at Parfumerie Générale in 2015 but it’s still a secret. Phaedon will add more home fragrances to its catalogue, and at HAP, in answer to our customers’ requests, we are introducing a black, matte 100ml Cyclops bottle alongside the 50ml format. A 12th fragrance will be presented at Pitti and will be available in September.

This interview was originally published on Basenotes.

An Interview With Alberto Borri Of Nu_Be By Alfarom.

Your line is a solid candidate to become one of the most interesting ranges of fragrances of the last few years. How everything started and what's the concept behind it?

Until four years ago, I worked in a perfume company called Morris Profumi (mainly we produced perfumes for selective brands, but we also distributed some niche brands as Robert Piguet, Etat Libre d’Orange and some others…). I was fascinated by the world of niche perfumes, so after 10 years I left my job and I decided to found my own company in order to create a niche brand. I was really impressed by the way in which Etat Libre D’Orange developed one of the most interesting line in the last years. 

My idea to reach the goal for something really different was to collaborate with different artists that have never worked for the beauty industry before. After some experiments, I met our designer Francesca Gotti (she didn’t know almost anything about perfumes, she used to design bags and accessories) and thanks to her passion for materials and textures we create the concept of nu_be. nu_be means cloud, like the nebulae of dust responsible for stars and planet formation, and “new being”, like a newborn creature made of the same substance. 

It is a perfume that speaks of the origin of the universe, but that deals also with the primordial elements at the foundation of life or that shape matter and its transformations. The thread which connects the collection is represented by an “olfactory periodic table”, in which each perfume is inspired by a basic chemical element.

You're working with very selected and extremely talented perfumers such as Antoine Lie, Françoise Caron and Sylvie Fischer. How did you choose them and how the creative process works? 

I met some of them because of my previous job, within the common work in several projects, or in past collaborations. Other perfumers were taken into consideration on the basis of the affinities which they showed in respect to the spirit of the project. After an initial and general draft, which encompassed all our inspirations and references about the elements, we let every nose free to express their own personal interpretation of these suggestions. In the further phases, we have worked together with them on the development and adjusting of different alternative versions for each perfume. My final choice was always encouraged by the cohesion of a determined composition in respect to the concept and by particular features of discovery and mysteriousness, which I required it to have.

What's your background when it comes to fragrance? Your reference houses, if you have any, favorite perfumers of the past, favorite fragrances...

I made classic studies and then, after some exams in a Business University, I decided to take a course of design and communication. A very important reference for me is represented by my family stories about the beginning of Morris and the particular kind of perfumery projects typical of those years (the period after the Second World War). That approach has deeply influenced me, as a peculiar way of doing things. Among the perfumers that I admire the most, with the exception for the ones I’m already working with, I can surely mention Pierre Bourdon, Alberto Morillas, Christine Nagel, Pierre Wargnye…

Have you always been into perfumes and perfumery or Nu_Be is the result of a different artistic path?

I’ve always been into perfumes since I was a child, as my grandfather was the founder of Morris Profumi in 1948. My father Giovanni Borri continued then to develop the company until today. So I remember that I used to smell all the samples of the different projects that my father took at home and I shared with him many moments and thoughts within the different phases of product development. I met many perfumers during this time and I was always fascinated by them. 

I particularly like the tear apart styrofoam packaging. Minimalistic, not expensive but incredibly striking. What's the concept behind it? 

We were trying to conceive a particular “sensitive object” which could have a life on its own. We are definitively fascinated by an experiential way of thinking in design and sociology, according to which objects are never inert nor passive, but rather contain their own potential for action: they always invite and provoke gestures that can be also very original and unpredictable. We wanted to transfer this into a packaging, aiming at the same time to break up with the “sacredness” of many traditional perfume boxes and bottles. The opening of the pack is turned then into an adventurous breakage, which is daring, enigmatic and it ends always in a final outcome which is never the same. It symbolically represents a “triggering” of the fragrance which has to be “unleashed” to express itself… On the other hand, we neither wanted nu_be to be a sort of ‘glamour icon’: we prefer the unusual beauty hidden in the “brutality” of the industrial object, a hybrid charm which comes from blurred boundaries between natural and artificial, animated and inanimate. 

What do you think of the status quo of contemporary perfumery? How did you manage to stand out?

I developed nu_be when there were already many brands on the market, but I was conscious that many of them are just a luxury packaging with a fragrance more or less good. 

I think that we stand out mainly because with nu_be we contributed to outline a different way to interact with perfume, based upon discovery, mystery and the invitation to reconnect ourselves with our origins. We are speaking about life and I think that this can move people in the most intimate way.

What most fascinates me about your brand is the incredible honesty it exudes from all over. Reasonably priced, extremely nice compositions, artsy but not pretentious, avant-garde but not snob. Very solid fragrances that feel incredibly wearable but have remarkable twists. In this context, they often made me think about the work of Comme De Garçons or Etat Libre D'Orange. Do you feel any kinship with these brands?

It is an honour for me to be compared to those brands. I think we have some points in common with them, the minimal and industrial art of Comme de Garçons, the courage and the iconoclastic attitude of Etat Libre D’Orange.

Your new launches (Sulphur and Mercury) are now hitting the shelves. Can you introduce them to us...

Sulphur and Mercury are two “demanding” elements, notorious because of the

dangerousness of their physical properties and thick of alchemical and historical references… Thus they required an unconventional and brave approach, a really free and open-minded spirit, in order to be translated into perfumes. Qualities which nu_be could share once again with Antoine Lie. In his interpretation and “reading” of these elements, Sulphur [16S] discloses then a kind of “mephistophelian” aspect, instinctive and visceral, while Mercury [80Hg] surprises for its funambulist and dynamic facet, evoking the restless imagery of a metallic and technologic fluid. We worked on the aspect of persistence and we wanted for them a formula which could be respectful of the complex cultural fascination which emanates from the both.

If you were to collaborate with another brand, which one will it be and why?

I think that we are currently too busy with many projects for nu_be to consider a collaboration with other brands. But luckily enough, since we always connect with other people to find new roads for nu_be, we never exclude a meeting with other brands beforehand… Well, let’s see! 

Your distribution in Europe seems very good. Are you planning to expand to the US as well?

Yes, we would like to, but we are thinking about the best way to enter in their market, as the US are very different in terms of retail logics and needs.

Sulphur and Mercury are available now from Les Senteurs (London), Nose (Paris), Skin Cosmetics (Netherlands), Aus Liebe zum Duft (Germany) and other nu_be stockists

An Interview With Vero Kern of Vero Profumo by Alfarom.

Some of your fragrances have been compared to huge classics of the past such as Mitsouko, Djedi and Sous Le Vent among others. How's your relationship with the aforementioned compositions and have you actually been influenced by them?

The so-called "classics" are my favourite scents in fact. Some of these have been with me every day since my youth. Such as Jicky, Shalimar, Vol de Nuit and Mitsouko and later Nahema - in other words mainly Guerlain fragrances. All these fragrances have a personal story with me and belong to a particular part in my life. At times I have also worn Shocking by Schiaparelli and Tabac Blond by Caron.

The relationship with my fragrances has always been a libidinous one, very intimate ... I felt the scents as part of my personality, of my DNA, my identity ... All these fragrances have also inspired me deeply and lasting, and for me it was always clear that I wanted to create just this kind of perfume.

Fortunately, I was taught at Cinquième Sens in Paris by Monique Schlienger, which in turn was trained at the Ecole Roure in Grasse by Jean Carles. That is to say, in the tradition of all these wonderful classics. This then has influenced me even more.

The fragrance market seems to be a bit saturated. Your style have always been quite different from most other brands. You always seemed to have a more *classical* and restrained approach to the whole thing but proposing a restricted range of compositions offered in different strengths and different variations. You seem to not follow any trend and, instead, you do your own things with honesty and passion. How is it to survive the plethora of new brands, new launches, aggressive marketing campaigns?

In fact, the market is full of new products and is increasing daily. We learn of strange "shocking" perfume concepts with blood, semen, urine and other body fluids. After a while I just stopped thinking about it and do what’s right for me.

I see myself as someone who has learned a craft that refuses to let go, because I'm

extremely interested in it. My goal is to make a good product, and not to be a famous perfumer. And my goal is to create the perfume as a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, with the right bottle, the appropriate packaging and at the heart an original emotionally touching scent. Drama, passion, opulence, structure, complexity and serious craft are my criteria. This type of composition is very complex, time consuming and something of the hardest there is. It needs a lot of courage to go their own way and not follow any trends. For example, the Oud trend ... I love Oud but use only pure solid Oud wood that is very precious and rare, solely for personal incense rituals.

My fragrances are very complex and I am absolutely aware that this complexity that also shapes the style of my creations might overwhelm some perfume lovers. However, this kind of complexity was the secret of good perfume, a perfume style that was also called Haute Perfumery for a long time. And even though as I said my fragrances are very unconventional, there are now sophisticated fragrance lovers who are enthusiastic about them, looking for something special in my creations, love and finally wear these scents also. For me the most beautiful and biggest recognition of my work ever since!

But besides this, I am experiencing also a growing “massification” in all perfumery 

sectors, even in niche. And with this more and more an ongoing lack of understanding and knowledge about the beauty of special creations. It takes place a trivialization, ignorance, a vulgarization in this industry – all the way down to bloger and customer. Absolutely terrifying!

How being a former aromatherapist reflected in your work as a perfumer?

During my many years of training as an aroma therapist, I learned all about the natural essences and that in turn helped me later during my perfumer training. The knowledge about the natural essences is an important component in the classical perfumer training and in my case it was deepening existing knowledge. In my creations, which I largely compose in the traditional way, I use a high proportion (up to 60%) in natural essences, together with the remaining synthetic raw materials.

I always work with the risk that any one of a special natural resource is not available in sufficient quantities or not at worst. Synthetic products cannot simply replace many of the natural essences. That makes my work not easy. Since the objective complexity in my case can only be accomplished with a good mix of natural and synthetic products, this uncertainty is always present.

This also explains why this type of perfume has no chance of survival in a global market and why the bigger perfume houses have adapted and modified their formulas accordingly.

Tell us about the Mito Extrait.

With Mito Extrait I wanted to create a nocturne variant to the existing EDP.

Mito EDP is a dreamy-sunny-airy-sensual interpretation of the garden of Villa d'Este at daytime. Mito Extrait is the olfactory implementation of this jewel of a garden in the moonlight:

The garden is there, peacefully and quiet. The darkness enhances the sound of the cicadas, maybe a nightingale is singing and thousands of little fireflies are dancing in the warm and dusky air. The soft, milky moonlight embraces the pearl white marble statues. Emerald green water sparkles in the candlelight. Snatches of music and whispering love babbling that blow with the wind across a dinner party at the Villa…Mito Extrait is a scent of strong feelings, a collage of art and kitsch, of pathos and protest, like a cliché from an old Hollywood movie. A fragrance like an séance, a love letter to the love, awakening desires that can never be fulfilled – 

The perpetual projection of eternal love, at the same time scary and addicting - glorious and as dramatic as in the Fotoromanza we read through in one go - over and over again.

For this more dramatic interpretation of the garden I have replaced the Jasmine in the EDP by the Tuberose and by complementing the base notes with warm ambry components. Thus the scent appears slightly warmer and heavier - as it should be for an Extrait.

A lot of exciting news from you this year. The Les Voiles D'Extrait versions of all your range. Can you introduce them to us and how the Les Voiles differ from the previous versions of the EDP and Extraits?

Les Voiles d'Extrait complement as standalone version and as an enrichment to the existing collection with the four fragrances Kiki, Onda Rubj and Mito. With the Voiles we would like to offer a somewhat milder form of the Extrait concentration and are responding to many requests and wishes from our customers for an Extrait to spray beside the Extrait to dab.

EDP's and Voiles are offered in the same bottle with a different label.

In the structure, the two versions are completely different. The EDP’s are in contrast to the Voiles more sparkling, light and fruity with a separate formula. The Voiles on the other hand, have the same formula as the Extraits but come in a lower dilution. The Voiles are temperamentally softer and more complex than the EDP’s. Whether one decides for the one or the other variation is a matter of personal preference and choice.

Dab or spray? You know there are people that only like to spray fragrances. Even extrait dilution. They simply decant some juice into an atomizer and go away with it. What's your take on spray vs dab?

The Extrait version of a perfume is the most concentrated form that is being offered. The extrait is one hundred percent “French style”, and this kind of drop wise perfuming is in my opinion the most erotic form to perfume around. This has already understood Marilyn Monroe when she dabbed on her Chanel 5. Dabbing the Extrait has for me to do something with rafinesse and cultivated eroticism.

With the Voiles we have created the possibility to use the Extrait as a spray. Personally, I prefer dabbing the pure Extrait… I want to feel and smell the scent on my skin and not on the clothes. In addition, dabbing is the most ecological way of perfuming. The pure Extrait to dab on will always be especially for cultivated Eccentrics!

If you were supposed to collaborate with another perfumer, who will it be and what kind of fragrance you would like to create?

So far, I have encountered only perfumers as loners. Both, in the choice of raw materials as well as in the personal style in creation. Just now, I cannot imagine a possible collaboration in creating a scent together with another perfumer. As far as I know we find this kind of cooperation only in the industry but under very different conditions.

Beside perfumes, what are your biggest passions in your life?

I see myself as a passionate person with different passions. One of my biggest one is about loving good food, eating and cooking at regular times, at home and also away. At home I cook mainly beloved Italian dishes with fresh organic food that I buy at the local market. Away I prefer French fish and seafood cuisine in the Brasserie Lipp here in Zurich. This feels so being in Paris! 

But the absolute ultimate culinary highlight is a shared meal in exciting company in one of Europe wide best Japanese restaurant here in Zurich: Sala of Tokyo! Pure heaven!

Who have been, perfume-wise, the most influential person in your life?

I’d say Monique Schlienger from Cinquième Sens in Paris.

Have you already started working on a completely new Vero Profumo's fragrance?

I'm working on a fragrance with a rose theme. The rose seems very abstract and alienated in this fragrance - the launch is scheduled for 2014.That’s all I can say about it on the moment. It shall be a surprise...

My creations evolve with me. I am inspired by what I am going through.

An interview with Gérald Ghislain - Mastermind of Histoires de Parfums

Gérald Ghislain is the person behind the Histoires de Parfums line, which he founded in 2000, following training at ISIPCA. He has also recently launched two new lines: The Scent of Departure and Alice & Peter. 

First of all, congratulations for building such a solid line of fragrances. Several of your compositions have achieved a "pillar" status in the fragrance world. Who is, beside you, behind your line?

Everybody is behind our perfume line! I might have met some of your readers and something they said, or something they wore inspired me!

I always keep my eyes wide open as my everyday life, as well as all my travelling are inexhaustible sources of inspiration. I often bring ideas to life while walking ... I enjoy strolling in each city I discover. Feeling the atmosphere of it, hearing the sounds around me, admiring the architecture ...Those are very unique moment where I can give birth to my ideas. For instance, I will always remember the way my youth in the South of France, and this blend of Mediterranean scents, that really moves and inspires me.

Besides, and as I am very curious, I am also influenced by new trends and I spent so my free time reading magazines, going to the cinema, discovering new blogs in the Internet. I almost don’t sleep at night so I have some extra time to get new information. So behind our line, I would say there is you, but also all my imagination.

Of course, I am in a collaboration with my small laboratory team, Magali Senequier who is our designer, and all the “hands and noses” that want to help !

There are rumours that some of your fragrance have been recently reformulated (one of these being 1740). What's true about it?

This is great! I love gossips! (laughs) It makes business so much more exciting ! But unfortunately I have to refrain those rumours, as none of our fragrances have been recently reformulated.

Out of respect for our customers, and because we take their desires and expectations very seriously, we would never have changed our formulas. When a man wears 1740, he expects to communicate the identity of an audacious gentleman! He wants everybody to enjoy the impudence of the spiced wooden scent, and to accept patchouli's and and everlasting flower's invitation to pleasure!

But it is true, and every perfumer unfortunately experienced it, that scents are made to evolve, tochange, to transform themselves according to the selected raw materials.

Also, even if we pay close attention to our suppliers' and products' quality, our materials may change year on year. In fact, a bottle of perfume is a bit like a good bottle of wine! Add a little bit more sun than the previous year, or a little bit more water, and your harvest as well as your fragrances won't be the same. 

Each vintage brings out the character of the materials in its own way. As regards 1740, we use for the fragrances specific flowers known for being more oxydable, as patchouli and everlasting flower : the longer you will have one bottle, the more your perfume will evolve.

2011 and 2012 have been two very prolific years for you. Some new Histoires De Parfums (L'Olympia Music Hall), the first three releases in the Edition Rare Series (Ambrarem, Rosam and Petroleum) and two brand new lines launched (The Scent of Departure and Alice & Peter). There is a lot going on at Histoires De Parfums...What are these new lines about? What's the concept behind them?

In everything I do, from Histoires de Parfums to Alice & Peter including The Scent of Departure is sensuality. What truly counts in perfume, is sharing something unexpected with the people you love, and make it possible to them to seduce with your fragrances. Sensuality must be part and parcel of the creations I introduce. Sensuality is exciting to my mind as it triggers something which is bewitching.

The Edition Rare Series are similar to poems to me. After having created olfactive novels, I was looking for a shorter form based on aesthetics. Ambrarem, Rosam and Petroleum are three haikus built around very rare and precious materials.

When I started thinking of doing a perfume for L'Olympia, I wanted vicariously to experience perfume through stories of others. I was really seduced by the history of this legendary Music Hall, conceived and then patiently built over the years by Bruno Coquatrix. I tried to share a perfumed tale about the legendary Parisian venue and to invite my customers to take a seat in to experience the concert of scented notes.

The same mood drove the creation of Alice & Peter's world : I invented a fantasy dreamworld where everyone can let his mind wander, take a break from reality to go back to an innocent and more playful time. I imagined a first perfume collection taking the form of five savory and evocative cupcakes... But be curious ! New items are about to come...

Finally, The Scent of Departure is a new global fragrance concept that has been taken off a few months ago ! I travel all over the world and spend my life waiting in airports, watching suitcases moving along carousels, and visiting cities.... One day, I got the idea to capture the essence of the cities I love and am so drawn to. I am talking about the cities that inspire me with their architecture and atmosphere, and with the incredible almost magnetic allure they hold.... So I began traveling with the idea of using fragrance to translate my impressions of 20 very unique cities !

At all the recent Fragrance Fairs around the world (Element Showcase, Fragranze 2012 etc) you presented a new trio in the Edition Rare Series. Veni, Vidi and Vici. The first three were caracherized by a common denominator (Oud) of which you presented three different iterations: an animalic one (Ambrarem), a vegetal (Rosam) and a mineral one (Petroleum). What is the common denominator of the new trio? And what will be the main differences between the three iterations of Veni, Vidi Vici?

I think that in the same way as Julius Caesar fought on the ancient battlefields, we face nowadays new challenges. I wanted to give people the chance to relive the power of the roman victorious words in their day-to-day life, with the help of three new intense fragrances. Veni, Vidi, Vici is a way to reconnect with powerful natural elements. Veni represents the earth, nuturing as much as wild. Vidi, the wind that carries us over seas and oceans, and allowing us to take our gaze beyond the horizon! Vici finally, embodies fire! Vici is an olfactive mix of passion and power! It encourages mankind to create as well as destroy!

Are you planning to enrich your former Library Of Scent series?

I've been wanting to take part into a practical commitment to a charity for a very long time. But as I am working and travelling all over the world, it has always been very difficult to get involved in the day-to-day life of an organization. That's why I decided to help with my skills as a perfume creator, and to create a new fragrance for the defense of childrens' rights...This perfume is going to be a universal scent ... That's all I can tell at the moment (laughs).

If you were supposed to enlarge your Library of Scents line by composing a masculine and a feminine fragrance inspired by living characters, who would they be and how the fragrances would smell like?

This fragrance would be neither feminine nor masculine! I would love to create and develop a perfume for the human of the future! Who knows? Maybe that in 100 years time gender won't exist anymore? I could send beyond earth thousands of small space capsules containing fragrances samples, as a gift to the next human generation!

Which historical fragrance do you think you would have loved to create?

Without a doubt the cologne given to me by my first love when I was 13, Mûres et Musc created by Jean Laporte.

After all this oud craze, what do you think will be the next hype?

Histoires de Parfums! (laughs) 

What's your most used aromachemical and what it smells like?

I love using powdered, slightly woody animalic notes : that is why I tend to use Para Cresol for its castoreum and civet scents.

Ambroxan is also one of my favorite aromachemical as ambergris is well blended with animal notes.

Iso E Super is finally a very intriguing scent, that has some sort of skin aroma. I love the way this chemical appears on the surface of the skin and then vanishes so quickly ! It is magical.

What's your blockbuster release so far?

I don't really like to talk about my fragrances as “blockbusters”. My perfumes are like my children :I love each one of them equally, it is therefore hard to say which one is my favourite... It is also very hard to talk about a best-seller, as fragrances are very personal.

Yet it would seem that “1969” is one of my major work. The success of this edition probably remains in the sensuality and the erotism of 1969 mythical year.

What should we never expect from Histoires Des Parfums?

Others expectations to become mine. I have a free mind.

Do you smell new perfumer's fragrances? If so, who's one to watch out for in your opinion?

Absolutely. When you spend so much time working on your own perfumes, it is important to create space and time to have a look at others creations. I was quite interested in Lady Gaga's perfume.Not on an olfactive point of view of course (laughs), but I found the product quite innovative as the fragrance was black. I also long for Louis Vuitton's entrance in the perfumery. I wonder if their scents will be as ambitious are their recent collaboration with the street-art world?

Interview by Alfarom. Originally appeared on Basenotes.