Perfumism thanks Jean Claude Ellena for his contribution. Merci!

Jean Claude ELLENA on art in perfumery: "Discussing what constitutes art in perfumery necessitates roughly explaining the creative process behind perfumery. Creating a perfume is difficult to describe, however, because words cannot adequately evoke a scent. And yet language is at the heart of this creative process! Words enable the perfumer to classify fragrances according to various elements, such as intensity, warmth and degree of complexity. Words also enable him to evaluate fragrances and to make them memorable.

As far as I am concerned, whether a scent is of chemical or natural origin is of no importance: I choose the scent only for its smell properties. Chemistry has something going for it, because it led to a revolutionizing of the perfume world: it enabled perfumery to be regarded as an art, because chemistry produced scents which no longer had any rapport with nature. Previously, perfumers had tried to reproduce natural scents from which the essences could not be extracted (such as lily of the valley, lilac or sweet pea).  Thanks to chemistry, perfumers were able to create ‘abstractions’. Look at Guerlain for instance: Jicky (1889) as well as Shalimar (1921) are examples of complete abstraction!

Historically, there are two schools of thought at large about perfume-making and, even though I appreciate the former, my style is distinctly distanced from both: From the end of the 19th century until the 1970s, perfumery was bourgeois, just like middle-class cooking, indulging in complicated, full-bodied “recipes” that produced “heavy” offerings. This resulted in the use of many ingredients, overloaded formulae and use of “leftovers”. In the 1970s, on the other hand, technical ways of making and describing perfumes were introduced, inspired by marketing and guided by market research. Manufacturers developed instruments to assess scents objectively and not subjectively. In other words, a perfume had to be reliable and measurable, as well as having a constant scent, thus easing its marketing. These two methods of creating perfume still apply.

Market research continues to occupy an important place in the perfume industry: Consumers are asked to give their reactions to a composition, sometimes to the point of being asked to compare it to leading perfumes in the market. There is form filling required about the various aspects of the fragrance (freshness, femininity/masculinity, whether it’s flowery or spicy or woody etc). Thanks to technological progress it’s possible for perfumers to recalibrate any aspect of a fragrance into a more flowery or fresher or less masculine take.  But in so doing, they are destroying the original creation!

My own refusal to test perfumes on the market is almost inflexible. In the past, I worked for large companies which tested perfumes systematically. Some of my creations, having undergone as many as 20 market tests, were completely distorted; spoiled. It was as if I had started off with a square and at the end of the tests, the square had become a circle. The end result smelled of nothing in particular! It smelled ‘nice’ but not ‘lovely’. It was as if these perfumes did not convey any message any more. I really want the client to interpret my fragrances on a personal level. I anticipate ‘weaker’ moments in my perfumes, so that clients can take the time to get used to them and make them their own. This is very important to me, but it is totally out of synch with the current market. In many regards, I am lucky Hermès lets me do what I please."

© Jean Claude Ellena and Elena Vosnaki 2010, used by permission on Perfumism.com. Not to be reproduced without the editor's prior written consent.

Perfumism is based on three axes:
 
It wants to inform about perfumery and perfumism, perfumism being a statement on style and quality in perfumery. For me, perfumism is in a fluid state. Thus, the statement, and the underlining manifesto might change over time. We might discover new aspects that we need to consider. Discussions will lead to new insights. Ultimately, I want perfumism to become the site where visitors find truthful. Information on perfumery, and where perfume lovers can judge for themselves what artistic perfumery is all about.

Then it wants to be a playground where perfumers, united in spirit and sharing a passion, play and share their thoughts with the visitors of the website. Playing can be playing with raw materials, with music, with an idea, a question. I hope that from time to time we can motivate perfumers to play and share with our visitors. Some may even engage into a dialogue. Who knows?! I am very open and optimistic. I hope that perfumism will turn out to be a platform where perfumers talk to perfume lovers and vice versa like they cannot anyplace else.

And the website wants to be a lever and a signpost: I wish that it motivates perfume lovers to look out for high quality perfumes and perfumers working with passion, with creativity, daring to innovate, and using high quality materials. In a sense, I feel it is time that this group of perfumers producing wonderful perfumes gets more visibility. I feel it can also become a signpost directing towards beautiful perfumes, created by engaged artists, everywhere, in simple and/or expensive bottles.

Author: Andy Tauer

Perfumism is an answer to a trend of banalization in perfumery. We want to make a statement that perfumery is art. But, the term art as used by so many these days becomes meaningless. We want to initiate a movement, a quality label, a network and an information hub for perfume lovers. We feel the time is right to start this now.

Perfumism is about creating aesthetic perfumes. It is about low volume perfumery. It is about crafting innovative perfumes.

Perfumism discusses about perfumes. And perfumery. And you can be part of this. Perfumism initiates, guides and communicates about perfume art with fellow perfumers and perfume lovers.

Perfumism is free of ads and non commercial.

Andy Tauer, owner of Tauer GmbH, who kick-started perfumism. A decision making board supports the core decision making process. We share our passion and work in trust without guidelines. We discuss and decide where perfumism is heading. It is us who define what perfumism stands for. ABOUT US will give you an insight in who is behind perfumism and how we operate these days.

Perfumism starts with a website in January that publishes a manifesto.

This manifesto is the guiding principle behind perfumism.

We continue with a few pages and see where the platform is heading, such as a weekly blog, our impressum (who we are), who is behind perfumism. Other pages follow: such as the newsletter to register for later quarterly updates.

Thank you for following us.