Monsieur Roucel,
Perfumes classically consist of smells from meadows and forests, fruits and flowers, water and wood. But traditional perfumery has moved into the 21st century. What new challenges does this bring to perfumers?
That’s not at all true! Since aldehydes were first used in perfumery in the 1920s in Chanel No. 5, perfumes have become much more abstract and are full of ingredients that cannot be found in nature. Other than in art, where everything started with figurative paintings and cubism and more abstract ways of painting came much later, in perfumery abstract scents like Jicky and Chanel No 5 marked the beginning of modern perfumery. Today, consumers wish to “recognize” scents, they want “figurative” perfumes which remind them of something familiar. Nature gives us an endless number of well-known role models for perfumes, and food influences are once again becoming more important in creating fragrances. One way or another, abstract fragrances are always a challenge, because consumers have not “learned” them and have a hard time categorizing and recognizing them. People are generally afraid of the new and unfamiliar …
Perfumes follow the spirit of their time, and fragrance and fashion are closely interlinked. Does fashion inspire your creations?
Only to a certain extent. Perfumes today are often fashion “accessories” that are just tagged on to a collection or the current trend. This wasn’t always the case – just think of the major houses such as Chanel, Houbigant or Yardley, where designers created perfumes that were just as good and important as the fashions they were famous for. The quick turnaround in the fashion industry has made the life cycles of perfumes shorter as well. Nowadays we have summer and winter “collections”, lighter and heavier versions of a scent. The spirit of the time – that inspires me, yes, but fashion? Not so much.
In your opinion, what would a contemporary perfume then need to smell of to go with the conditions in which we live and work today?
It has to match the spirit of the time. As a perfumer, you have to be able to follow the developments in society and be open for everything that the moment expresses: If cars are becoming more angular, more chiseled-looking, more masculine, then fragrances should do the same. Something like Alliage was typical for the green movement from 1968 onward, while Charlie embodied the sentiment of an entire generation of women. Nowadays health, wellness and anti-aging are the most popular “values”, but so are authenticity and a subtle lightness – and these things can be translated well into fragrances.
Let’s talk about globalization. Are global standards of beauty or universal fragrances a possibility in today’s world?
Clever marketing and sales strategists would like to think so. But I am a perfumer – I don’t even think about things like that. One fragrance for everyone throughout the entire world? Never! As a creative spirit, you are automatically against globalization, standardization, uniformity. When you get right down to it, everyone really ought to have their own personalized perfume.
What role do you think future perfumes will have to play: will they need to be a timeless classic or always something ultra-new?
Around 400 new fragrances are launched every year worldwide, but only a few of them survive in the long run. To have a dynamic perfume market, and to offer a real selection that fulfills consumer preferences, we need both: On the one hand, the well-established, timeless brands with a strong name, an attractive packaging, a convincing ad campaign and, of course, a creative fragrance that´s easy to remember – again, Chanel No 5 is a good example. On the other hand, the “hip” though perhaps transitory fragrances. You can compare perfumery and music: There´s the Top 10, and some songs may only belong to this list for one day or month. In a time where Hip Hop is the trend, you won´t be very successful with waltz. But whereas 99% of all songs will no longer be heard or played two centuries later, Beethovens 5th symphony is. To come back to your question: There is room on the market for both, and both are justified.
Suppose you are in the company of an internationally renowned trend researcher like Li Edelkoort. Besides talking about the newest trends to come, what sort of things would you want her to tell you?
First I would tell her that I have never slavishly followed a trend. But to remain a successful perfumer, I would ask her to look into her crystal ball and tell me exactly what I should do to create a commercially successful fragrance. But be forewarned, my dear Ms. Edelkoort, I want SPECIFIC answers! Don’t try to tell me things like, “White is going to be a big color along with red, and black and blue are still as popular as ever.” See, that’s exactly what trend researchers do: they don’t commit to anything. And finally I would tell her that I’d like to earn the money she does with her predictions …
Perfumers are people who revel in their senses and in enjoyment. What gives you the greatest sensory pleasure?
My greatest pleasure is when something appeals to and satisfies all of my senses. I am a multisensory person. I love music, love to eat and drink well, love beautiful fabrics and textures, and of course I love scents more than anything else. I think if I had to do without any of my senses, I could probably give up the ability to see most easily – although, wait, what am I saying? I love seeing beautiful landscapes, beautiful people and especially beautiful women!
Where do you personally find inspiration? How do you recharge your creative batteries?
Everywhere, all the time. It's like they say: inspiration feeds inspiration. It’s like a muscle that has to be kept strong. I can’t go through life anymore without allowing myself to be constantly inspired. Just walking around can be enough – being open, letting yourself encounter different things, people and moods.
How would you complete this sentence? “Making a perfume is like …
… making a baby.” I like spending time in the company of someone else and need a partner in the creative process – and I wouldn’t mind if it were someone attractive – who is on the same page as I am. I enjoy it, and it inspires me to work within a team; it’s a matter of trust, intensity, life, intuition. If the two of us have poured love into the perfume we have created together, we will give birth to something wonderful. It’s a lot like love: doing it alone goes against human nature. And “taking matters into your own hands” is not a real alternative, if you know what I mean. And every perfume is a part of me somehow – it’s my “baby.”