Some time has passed since I first wrote here about being a nose. Things have moved on for me in that department - and in many ways to a stage beyond what I first expected, or dared to hope for. Let me explain.
I tend to throw myself in fully when engaged in a project and this one has been no exception. I would say though, that the perfume thing for me, well, it's much more than a project. It's been a long-running thread from an early age. I'm not comfortable with, nor do I wish to limit myself to, just one career, one purpose, or one label, but among the many labels I've happily collected over the years, I am now proud to add "a perfumer-in-training" to the list. (I might write about the label-collecting and related discoveries soon. It would require a post in its own right though. I've had a fairly life-changing month, actually).
Much of my previous perfumery related experience came from a highly commercial side of things. First, as a keen consumer, then as a sales assistant, then, after a number of detours and other career paths, as the training manager for a UK cosmetics and perfume distributor.
From there onwards, lines started to blur. I was no longer content knowing about the fragrance houses, sales figures, packaging, merchandising, sales techniques, press launches and so on - I wanted to, no, needed to understand and learn how to make perfume.
Whilst in the employment of the fragrance distributor, I had the opportunity to scratch the surface. I was exposed to some of the raw materials, to some of the extraction methods and to miniature perfume-organs (collections of raw materials and essential oils, from which a perfumer can select the "notes" for a perfume in the making).
Many years passed. I took my training management skills, combined them with my largely self-taught knowledge in computer software and the Internet, became a training manager for a UK software developer and spent a while immersed in a completely different world.
My passion for perfume and the inspiration that continuously bursts forward from the olfactory world all around us was not gone, far from it, but it lay somewhat dormant. I was content to be a consumer for the time being, with my mind occupied elsewhere.
And now, I'm once again involved in work that has fragrance in its heart. What's more, I have been making my own prototype perfumes, face oils, massage oils, massage bars and other experiments at home. I'm using myself and some close friends as guinea pigs. Much of my current work is limited by lack of financial resources (getting into real perfumery tends to be quite expensive, as many of the raw materials are costly and difficult to obtain). I have been able to progress, slowly, but yes, I've definitely made progress.
Eventually I would like to be able to set up a small business selling these products. I'm not interested in that just yet because the time isn't right. I consider many of my current activities as part of the learning process towards this goal and that's good enough for right now. But once I am ready, the small business will hopefully pave the way for a bigger venture. I have much larger business aspirations for some yet-to-be-determined future date. The bigger business plans depend on whether I am personally and financially ready before someone else develops my idea (the idea I've had is so obvious that it's only a matter of time before someone does it; as such, I know it's a good idea, but as such, I also realise that I may need to once again watch someone else realise a dream I've had. No matter. I've got plenty of ideas).
Something else has happened; something that I certainly wasn't expecting. The company I work for is known for developing all its own perfumes and fragrances (most companies tend to commission flavours, fragrances and perfumes from a handful of players in the big-boys network).
Through a series of seemingly disconnected events, I was invited for a day in the company's laboratory. This happened a few months ago. I was absolutely over the moon about it! Nervous, excited and everything in between. The day went well and resulted in a mini project. I was asked to develop a prototype perfume (not a commercial one, but more like a sensory journey). I did so and was able to present it to the powers that be a couple of weeks ago. I was then invited back to the lab for a further day's experimentation.
I don't know where this is leading (maybe it won't lead anywhere; not everything does, or has to), but the journey itself has already been worth its weight in Orris Absolute. Really, I'm not sure how I could describe how it has felt - it is an opportunity of a lifetime; something money couldn't buy. Not just the ability to experience materials I've only read about (which has enabled me to start training my nose to recognise them), but to be able to receive what one could almost describe as apprentice-like gentle tutoring by people who do this sort of thing successfully for a living and are some of the pioneers in the industry. It's been wonderful and I treasure it.
The downside (if there is one to be had), is that my little escapades to "The Lab" are but a drop in the sea for a very busy international company and for the schedules of everyone involved. From my perspective, these things have been huge, but from theirs, it must be just a blip in the radar. I am waiting to see if I would be able to return to the lab, or to be able to get involved in some other way. Such news may never come, or they may appear when I least expect them. So in the meantime, I've withdrawn back to home experiments.
What all this has done though, is given me the added confidence of knowing that this is something worth pursuing and that things are only as real and tangible as we want them to be. Because I've persisted and worked on this, something is materialising, even though I don't know quite what that is yet. And for now, maybe that's enough.
Needless to say, I have been reading everything about, or relating to perfume for some time and with gusto! I read "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind last year and although it's obviously much more about the human condition, about macabre banality of life, and about morals and murder, it is also a delightful (if quite disturbing) exploration of perfumery using techniques commonly found in magic-realism (such as "Like Water for Chocolate", which I also enjoyed immensely). I tend to have an appetite for the macabre (I am, after all, a fan of certain kinds of horror and dark fantasy), so the chilling elements of "Perfume" did not ruin anything for me, in fact, quite the opposite. The book felt like a picture of the most exquisite garden framed using human bones. Or something along those lines.
Perfume, the celluloid version, premièred in Munich in September 2006. It was apparently the costliest German-made film to date. I was delighted to hear that it had been made into a film, as it had previously (apparently) been declared as "ulfilmable" by big names such as Kubrick, Scorsese and Scott.
I was absolutely gutted when I realised that I'd missed it in the local cinema, so Timo very kindly booked seats for us in London yesterday. We met up, had a stroll in town, ate Subway's sandwiches, went for a coffee and visited Selfridge's perfumery where I homed in on a number of new fragrance launches I was interested in trying out (and - a little bit embarrassingly, but it always happens, so I'm used to it - out-talked the perfume girl about the properties of the fragrance I was sampling).
We both enjoyed the film. Timo hasn't read the book, but when we came out and I asked him what he thought of the film, his reply was: "It was a little bit like being at home; with all those test tubes and bottles and things." He paused and added: "Without the murdering, of course. One hopes". He smiled.
I reassured him that my interest in perfumery was not about to include the scope of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
I remarked: "It's a fictional dilemma that would be out of place in today's perfumery. Jean-Baptiste could have done with some Headspace technology; then he could have captured all the scents he wanted without having to kill all those girls. It's a shame he needed to kill them. Would have been interesting if he could have preserved their scent otherwise."
Timo: "You said needed."
Me: "Well, yes..."
Obviously this was tongue-in-cheek, just in case you're wondering.
I was left with the impression that I perhaps enjoyed the film more than average due to the fact that I'd read the book and that I have such a strong personal interest in the creation of perfume. Timo seemed to like the film more due to its distinctly un-Hollywood-like message and ending, as well as perhaps due to knowing that I was enjoying myself. He called the film "Very European, in a good way."
EDITED LATER: Read what happened next... and after that!
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