An armony between design and beauty

Yesterday I was with a friend of mine in search of a car. Nothing to do with perfumery… but do you know that the commercial success or cost of a car depends on car’s colour too? The car-seller we spoke to explained that it is a bargain when the car is white because thus it is generally paid quite a half. In fact it seems as if a car is white, nobody wants it. People are willing to pay twice the price for the black version. Something you entrust your life to, is less valuable, if the colour is wrong.

OR

The thought was automatic. Even in commercial perfumery things tend to work in the same way: marketing creates products you choose with your eyes. It’s with eyes that we look at commercials with famous testimonials, the packaging seduces us with shapes and colours carefully studied to hit our sight, it’s with the eyes that we tread the name on the bottle, see the colour of the juice and all the other details.

In today’s scents, the right look is all. The winning look used to sell items in spring-summer may differ a lot from the one that will help selling the same item during winter, the same year. People choose with their eyes something they will smell all day long. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but it’s simply so.

Scents enter into us through our nose, their aromatic molecules stimulate our nervous system without electric media. Simply touching it. They gets in with every breath. And speak to our soul, to the collective imaginary and to our instincts very close, from inside of us, sitting on our olfactory receptors, a few centimeters inside our heads. Generally, when people think of a scent, they think in terms of images, but fragrance made for the eye are boring in the long term: it’s not the sight, the correct means to experience them!

OR

Some time ago I was wondering why today’s fragrances (commercial ones), are often so badly fixed, evanescent, lacking “roundness” and body, compared to the wonders of the past and to the artistic ones. Among different considerations, I also thought that fixers, particularly animal ones, are characterized by a very dark colour and even diluted tend to darken the juice inside the bottle. Well, a brown perfume is hardly sold, today. Out of the artistic perfumery, a place populated by people still believing in the nose as the only way to get in touch with fragrances, transparency and colours are determining factors for the purchase and success of a fragrance. Yellow, pale pink, pale green or light blue are allowed, but are rarely used and should be lightweight and above all, completely transparent.  

But would you refuse caviar because of its colour?

Hi!

The idea of making reference to “1984″ by Orwell, “Brazil” by Gilliam or “Brave New World” by Huxley (as in Wobbling Solutions about “the large group for the single” class) as  literary examples of descriptions of the negative effects of the “industrial recipe”, gives me the idea of finding something similar for perfumes industry.

Well, as perfume industry is today in the form of industrial recipe into the “large group for the single” class (without considering the so-called and distinct “niche perfumery”), I think that a kind of similar dystopian scenery can be presented specifically to perfumery industry if it continues  stressing supremacy of mass, packaging or digital fragrances rather than inner value of the perfume…

In this case the reference is to Stefano Lalli, a young sociologist and economist that in his “The theft and commodification of youth” says “Help: they have stolen the senses…”

If he had been right, we have witnessed a tragic historic event: the unexpected loss of our perception in the world. It’s obvious we are facing with an unpleasant utopia, inner-contradictory. Perhaps, if it’s true that our senses are partly being commoditized and sometimes atrophied, on the other side, we cannot deny forms of senses’ excessive emphasis: such the current celebration of the body and the increasingly production of multisensory objects (books with strawberry, scented CDs).

Perhaps the only real problem is a kind of dislocation of senses that become unreliable (as Lalli says).

Certainly this growing anesthesia of the five senses affects a small part of the world , that is to say the rich West. In fact in the huge metropolis, in particular Western ones, new forms of communication penalize our sensory channels. That makes necessary to implement a defense strategy similar to that adopted in the East: striving to create a bareer to protect odors and sounds against commodization.

That is to say that we have to open the channels for getting what can shake our soul and make us mad with desires and pains, tenderness or anger (Filippo La Porta).

In this sense literature reveals a gigantic nose like the protagonist of the novel of Rushdie “Midnight’s Children”: smells, scents and smells again are what India tells its travellers ( like Pasolini that, through smells in India, drew a delicate and poetic portrait of this slice of the world).

Then, another smell in literatures: it’s the smell of warm bread that announces the death of her mother in one of the three story of ell and love by Susanna  Tamaro (Rispondimi).

The Sixties celebrate the triumph pf the hippy culture which was born in San Francisco and focuses on the myth of nature, the refusal if constraints, equality of the sexes. The demonstrations against the Vietnam ar in May 1968, spread among young and old. We discover India, its gurus and its aromas. Sandalwood, musk and patchouli essences are more in vogue, fashion spreads and sticks of incense perfume the rooms. The haute couture  is moving parallel ti this wave of mode…anti-fashion. With names such as Yves Saint-Laurent, Daniel Hetcher, Paco Rabanne, Cacharel, ready-to-wear luxury was  born. An example is Dior Eau Sauvage, created by Edmond Roudnitska: at once discreet and persistent, it marks the advent of  perfumery in masculine and opens the way to eaux fraiches female, masculine and androgynous.

From the 70s to the 80s

The 70s represent a period of real openess abroad, especially in the USA. The new marketing techniques reflect this movement: the purpose is no longer to produce and sell, but to analyze the market and consumer behaviour to meet their expectations. So, to maximize profitability. The most important objectives become successful media and sales figures. Even for the smell. Among various contrasting lifestyles, several trends exist. In Europe as in the USA conceptual scents are born. These appeal to women, from time to time, sophisticated, provocative, romantic and natural. The Italian designers will start manufacturing perfumes: Gucci in 1974, Trussardi in 1976, Nino Cerruti in 1979 and Krizia in 1980. Even the French  perfumery goes international, composing its perfumes on USmodels and doubling its concentrations(for example the Opium Perfume launched by Yves Saint-Laurent).

During the French revolution, the passion for perfumery takes a second place. Then, with the Direttorio and Napoleonic Empire, what is considered beautiful and luxurious is important again. Including perfumes. It’s especially with the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte and the inordinate passion for perfumes of his wife Josephine, the sector is experiencing a real upward period. Historians say that the emperor could not stay too long in his wife’s room, filled with aromas of civet, amber and musk to the point that the air was stifling. For his part, Napoleon doesn’t entertain as much passion for perfume, except for the cologne, perfumed water based on bergamot, lavanza, rosemary, lemon and orange. The Emperor is the first to understand the qualities of this invigorating formula, to the point of wanting  to sprinkle from head to foot, every day, and consume up to sixty vials per month. Its Official Suppliers is Jean Marie Farine, formerly personal nose of Marie Antoinette and various courts of Europe. Gian Paolo Feminis, his uncle, invented the formula of Eau de Cologne. At the end of the seventeeth century, he had known the formula of the Queen Hungary Water, the first alcohol-based perfume that the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria Novella in Florence were preparing for Catherine de Medici. From the recipe Feminis took his water, the first to boast a toning effect on the body and spirit. At first, Feminis named his water Mirabilis.

But when, in 1729, he obtained the permission for his formula by the faculty of Cologne, he renamed the fragrance in honour to the city. Then the soldiers of various armies of Europe brought this scent from Cologne to their countries. Cologne subsequently became the most beloved by the Emperor Napoleon.

Early in the nineteenth century, researches began to explore the possibilities of using nature as inspiration for isolating molecules interesting from an olfactory point of view. But it’s only around in 1860 that perume makes a significant leap forward, hand in hand with the triumph of the bourgeoisie and the birth of … good flavor. Then perfume trade flourishes and perfumery is configured as an art. During the same period, first synthetic products of high quality appear: they are the result of researches conducted in the laboratories of the chemical in Europe and in the United States. The world of perfume, initially accused of coarsening, is revalued soon. After all their scents, so constructed and surprising, give hints and unpredictable abstract compositions. The low costs accellerate the dissemination of their combination with natural born unpublished notes, soon entered into new, interesting jus. Among others, Houbigant Fougère Royale (1882), which contains coumarin, and Guerlain Jicky(1889), where lavender is turn to vanillin. Dates from the late nineteenth century, the classification of olfactory essences in eighteen groups- families and subfamilies future- at the hands of the perfumer Eugene Rimmel London. The aim is to facilitate the classification of odors.

From Persia to Arabia, a story of seduction, including incense and oils.

This the story of that is called “the perfume”, from the Latin “for fumum”, i.e. “through the smoke”: the bond between man and smell is among the oldest. The use fragrances originates on the day of discovery of wood and resin that burning, give off a pleasant smell. The when of perfume, then, is so far in the mists of time, but it finds itself  with historical certainty, on the areas of ancient religions where, in cases of ritual sacrifices, people burnt fragrant substances to cover the smell of blood.

PERSIA, CRADLE OF NOSE

The first to consciously use the perfume probably are the Medes, ancestors of the Persians, people-as narrated Pliny- of magicians and scientists. For them the perfume satisfies a need of hygiene and preventing epidemics and diseases. The perfume also has a metaphysical and religious significance: the smoke from wood and resin placed on the fire contributes to put humans and their gods  into communication with its upward motion.

EGYPT, SACRED AND PROFANE

In Egypt, more than 5000 years ago, the priests burnt flavors in honor of Ra, the Sun God. Above all, the scent has the duty to act, as human aspirations, through the afterlife. Emblematic of the embalming ritual: the death of Pharaoh, his body is deprived of the bowel, clean with pine oil, filled with woods such as myrrh, cassia and cedar and wrapped in bandages soaked in aromatic oils. During the time, the sacral connotation adds a profane one: perfume becomes part of daily routine cosmetic nobles,courtiers and officials. Among the sixty ingredients of kyphy, the most famous Egyptian fragrance,there are jasmine, rose, coriander, myrrh, the nard, incense… While women are satisfied with castor oil scented, those better off showing a real adoration for cinnamon, rose and jasmine. The men are no exception: after heavy ablutions, they have their body sprinkled by slaves with scented lotions and ointments.

It is the birth of a first, rudimentary fragrance industry, no doubt helped by the naval expedition of the Queen Hatshepsut to the mythical land of Punt (modern Horn of Africa), where historians say, there were myrrh, frankincense and opoponax.

By the Egyptians, the secrets of perfume manufacturing go to Hebrew slaves that, once free and come into possession of some formulas, entered the trade of aromatic products.

ANCIENT GREECE

The ancient Greeks learns the pleasure of perfume from the Asian people and soon they become good consumers. In particular, they use large amounts of oil roses, nard, marjoram, bitter almond… In Athen, the rage susinum (made of rose, myrrh, cinnamon and saffron) and crucinum are spread. In Greece, more importantly, they begin to alternate the use of spces and resins to that of flowers. Women, in particular, make a more generous and habitual use of perfume. After the bath, every part of the body is massaged with special ointments. Face is given a palm oil scented, arms an ointment of mint, leg of ivy and hair a pomade of marjoram. In Greece the custom spread to perfume the house, the banquets, the wines themselves. Used are the essence of cinnamon, sandalwood, pepper and cloves, introducted by Alexander tghe great returning from his expedition. Although retained of a divine aura, over time the smell is increaingly associated to the joy of life, pleasures, to a hedonistic vision of everyday life. For this reason, some philophers began to regard it with suspicion. The perfume is rthe cause of illutions, as Socrates wrote.

IN IMPERIAL ROME

In contact with the Egyptians and the Greeks, the Roman soldiers gradually approached to perfume, until they almost sprinkled their body with fragrant ointments every moment of public and private life. This habit also originated from the need to cover unpleasant body odors, because of poor personal hygiene. In Rome, then, the habit of scent to enhance the pleasure of good food spread. The Banquet thus became a real fusion of taste and smell. And it’s always the Roman hegemony over the years that we dwell, for the first time, that smells can have influence on mood. Just think of the flags perfumed army departing for war, which served to inspire courage in the heart of soldiers.

THE ARAB INFLUENCE

After the dissolution of  the Roman Empire, the art of perfumery knows a dark area in Europe, also discouraged by the emergence of Christianity and its austere morals. On the contrary Middle East and Asia civilizations flourish open to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, including, of course, the art of perfumery. In addition Arabs, daring navigators, have a monopoly in the sale of herbs and spices. It is the Persian physician Avicenna to draw the method of distillation to get water from the petals of roses, especially cabbages, in the tenth century. With a simple still, he gets a fluid  in which the pure essence of the flowers is mixed with water. A non-alcoholic solution, therefore, since the Koran forbade any use of alcohol. You will need to wait until 1370 to get the formula of the first scent of alcohol with “the queen of Hungary water“, a kind of spirit in which there were distilled rosemary, verbena and rose-water.

From the Middle East the Crusaders brought spices and perfumes of harems, as well as the first, lovely spray with which to sprinkle clothes, accessories and home environments.