So , yes: Technically I should be in the factory since about an hour. I should be down there (10 minutes with the bike, downhill) and fill bottles, continuing there where I stopped yesterday: air du désert marocain. Air du desert followed Incense rosé, that I filled the other day, lots of bottles. Today’s picture shows you a dozen of them. And then, I should be putting labels on them and put them into a box and put them in the shelf before packing them later. Then, I should move on and do the same with Incense extrême.
Practically, I am still here, in front  of the computer, having tweaked an experiment formula  in my ever-growing excel list of perfume formulas.  And I think I will start putting this experimental formula into one of my 30 ml brown glass bottles. I was thinking a long time about this particular formula, and how to change it to the better. So I am a bit impatient to see how it might turn out. It is about time that I get somewhere there: I am working on it since more than 12 months.

The list, by the way, is an excel list and I mentioned this to a journalist in Bucharest, too. And yes, there was some disappointment in her face. I guess writing my formula into a dark brown old leather enclosed booklet with rusty iron buckles might do the trick. But then, excel is really very helpful. It counts for me, and makes it easier to end up with a formula that is based on 1000 units. These 1000 units are 12500 mgr=12.5 gram.  the 12.5 gramm are there for historic reasons, when I was still working with milliliters. These days, everything happens in grams and milligrams, as volumes are not additive. This means, that 1 liter of water and 1 liter of ethanol does not give you 2 liters of a mixture. Funny, he?

So, yes: milligrams. Trying to find harmony there, in excel, and expressing what I feel it should be like. The take is on tuberose again, trying to come up with a bright sensual  tuberose shining under the moon.

Regular readers of this blog know what I am talking about: Sotto la luna. Flowers under the moon. My take on them. Sotto la luna will, like the HOMAGES, be a line within the line of tauer. And I will talk more about it. Tuberose will be the third scent that I have in mind to go in there. Sotto la luna will be a little bit like my private collection. My flowers, the way I love them. And as it is a bit my intimate private thing, I will do some things differently there.

But first things first: factory.

Today, we got a DRAW, but it is restricted to winners with an US delivery address, and to perfume loving fans with a facebook account. Sorry about that. Let’s consider it a test…

And I have a very special, limited OFFER for my perfume loving friends with an US shipment address:

OFFER:
FREE Tuberose soap with any full bottle order: Order any full bottle of any scent from my line in my online shop and get a free “perfume in a soap: majestic Tuberose”, shipped to you at no extra cost, no questions asked. The offer is limited to the first 20 full bottle orders on my online shop. Once, this offer expires, I will announce it here on my blog and on my facebook site. The perfume in a soap comes as  a 100 gram bar, is hand made and wrapped by me in Switzerland. It is not available anywhere else and is an experience of its own, with a tuberose perfume (featuring natural rose and jasmine) created by me, in a total concentration of 3%; it is a luxurious experience.

DRAW:
The draw is straightforward:
- SHARE the post that you will find on my facebook site where I present the special soap offer (LIKE does not count).

- Make sure that you have an US delivery address in case you win, as I will only ship to a winner with an US shipment address.

- Et voilà: you are in and have a chance to win a full bottle of  my AIR DU DESERT MAROCAIN, boxed and ready to ship to you. I will pick one winner in the next couple of days from all the SHARES.

Fine print and conditions:

There is no need to buy anything to participate in the draw. Winners will be selected on a pure random basis and we will contact the winner by email or by sending a facebook message, and announce that we picked a winner publicly, without providing any information about the winner. The draw is open to anybody with a shipment address in the US. Winners will be selected from all facebook users who shared the post independent of their friend status.

Thank you for sharing! 

Today we get another shipment out, from my super mini factory consisting of two rooms, downhill of where I write these lines. It is kind of an average medium sized shipment, 8 boxes, with some 24 perfumes each, but as we have enough palettes narrowing the room for storage, I put it all together on a palette. One of the logistics wonders when transporting things with trucks: It does not really matter -within certain limits- how heavy or bit your shipment is. And thus, a single parcel 60x40x40 and a palette is (almost) the same price.

And now, as I hope to get this shipment out of sight today, I need to head down to the mini factory early in the morning. Here in Switzerland people get to work early. Like sometimes really early. And truck drivers seem to love to drive early in the morning when there is no heavy  traffic in town, yet. But sometimes they like to drive in the afternoon. Bottom line: You never know when they are coming by.  And thus, we are ready down there. I get some help today, and together we will fill some bottles: Incense rosé today. And boxing a few air du désert marocain.

And while we do so, I will probably think about a couple of things. Like X-mas, summer holidays, and the rose samples that I got: Rose essential oil from Afghanistan, rosa damascena, bio (organic) quality, one reduced in methyleugenol, one the non treated quality, both absolutely stunning. Like: really good. I like the idea of farmers planting roses in Afghanistan instead of poppy and right now I am considering getting some. Availability is rather limited. Thus, I am thinking “for X-mas”, to create an X-mas special scent, maybe skipping the vanilla ideas for X-mas. Or maybe doing a vanilla rose combo. Although, I would probably find a better name than vanilla rose combo.

Finally, today’s picture, being totally unrelated: Jasmine flower, blooming outside, taken with my phone’s camera yesterday in bright sunlight, and treated with photoshop this morning at 6.30, in order to be pretend to be at least a tiny winy little bit creative these days. I like the dramatization of a simple picture by rendering it black and white and adding contrast. Seriously: Never trust any picture.

Funny enough: Shocked by really cool temperatures over the weekend, this flower lost its scent. Almost entirely.

It will be in 4 month sharp that I will be at Pitti Fragranze 2013, on a stand organized by and  together with my distributor Profumimport. I mention this here, and will continue doing so a couple of times, as I learned that there are rumors spread in Italy that I won’t attend this year’s Pitti Fragranze show. I personally think that rumors are actually worse than lies. The internet is filled up with both. Unfortunately, the internet of rumors still misses the flush button.

So there we go: Of course, I will attend Pitti Fragranze, and I am very much looking forward to watching the sunset over one  of the bridges over the Arno again, and in order to do so, I reserved the hotel already.

Thus, my Italian distribution partner, profumimport, and me started discussing how to present my products this year. You know: What picture. What installations. What scents to focus on. I think this is very important, the longer the more, as we communicate core values through images and the way we present ourselves at this fair.

This year, yes, this year, I would really like to make a point, when presenting my scents and myself. I discussed this also a lot in Bucharest with perfume lovers and and whoever was interested recently. And I got the question a lot from journalists, in Bucharest and other places.  People and perfume lovers and journalists and retailers trying to save their shops against the constant erosion by Marionaud and Sephora et al. and brand owners get the longer the more confused about what is happening in perfumery, also there, where niche actually started, in Italy

Roberto Drago, founder and creative mind behind Laboratorio Olfattivo, who is very knowledged and who is in this fragrance universe since many, many years, brought it up to the point: We see the end of the Italian niche market coming. What we experience is the beginning of a new secession,  and we have yet to find out how we are actually going to name it and how are working our way into and through it. Niche 2.0 was the term he used. I hope it will be an artistic renaissance.

Things got very confusing. The messages sent to the market got so messed up that even retailers and consumers often do not know anymore what small scale, artistic, artisanal, passionate actually means. And yet, when I talk to perfume lovers, it really matters to them: So many perfume lovers got tired of seeing everything everywhere being praised as the very special and unique scented experience.

Thus, when asked by the journalists, what makes artistic perfumery special, and how to find it, I recommended: Ask who created the scent (I am not talking about who supervised it), and then ask who actually produced it, where,  and where it got packed. And then ask yourself where you might find it, and what the consequences in terms of numbers are. And wonder if and where you see ads and what kind of ads. This way, you end up with a coordinate system that might guide you if you search artistic perfumes.

So I am preparing slowly but surely for Pitti Fragranze. Trying to answer visually and subliminally the above questions, hoping that the message gets across.

Welcome back from Bucharest where I spent two days, talking to some of the most passionate, curious, warm and charming perfume lovers during Alexandra’s event, organized for the 5 year anniversary of Créateurs d’émotions, THE artisanal niche perfumery in Bucharest really.

The event was just great. There was an installation, where you could explore a particular scent (Lonestar Memories in my case) listen to a poem and music selected to go with the scent, in all privacy on one side, but sort of exposed on the other side. From the party, you were hidden, from the street, people could watch you through the glass windows. And you know what: This is what perfumes are all about. It is about a private, very personal act of enjoying scents, and it is about making a public statement that everybody on the street will get when passing by you.

Here is a picture of a perfume lover enjoying Lonestar, taken from the street.

smelling and listening, and enjoying Lonestar Memories

The event was very, very well visited, and you would not believe how much I enjoyed being there. Here a few more impressions…..

HIEROGRAMIE

when the event started there was still room to take a picture…

And this is Alexandra, who organized it all!

Alexandra Paven

today’s picture, bear’s garlic growing around the foot of a fir tree, highlights to one of the weekend activities: Bear’s garlic pesto, made with fresh, naturally grown bear’s garlic, collected in the woods up on the hills nearby. We were a bit late this year, but after the heavy rains on Thursday and Friday I figured that now is the time. No or never.

Walking through the woods after the rain, with the sun warming the fresh May leaves, shining on brown earthy spots on the ground, is quite a scented venture. And approaching bear’s garlic patches adds a yummie twist to it. Mouthwatering sulfides, that go so well with the mushroom aroma of warmed earth.

So that was one of the highlights. Other highlights were EU related excels that I tried to fill with meaningful information. This, unfortunately, is to some extend impossible, as the whole EU cosmetics regulatory system is so out of touch with the real world.  But then, you have to give to Cesar what Cesar wants. So I did that, too.

While jogging, another activity on the weekend,  I started getting out of my EU worries mode, and got into X-mas planning mode. It’s the time of the year when I have to make first decisions about X-mas and whether I want to come up with something special, like a special scent, a special soap, gift sets, whatever. So I thought, it would be nice to do a scent for the occasion. But contrary to my all natural cologne “Cologne du Maghreb”, it would be great to get an X-mas special that is heavier, woodier, richer, like “vanilla” centered. And I figured that I need to address stock and budget stocking up, as soon as I am back from my trip to Romania which is scheduled for tomorrow: Celebrating 5 years of my business partner Createur d’émotions! Hurray! (click here to say hello on their facebook side…) And greetings and meeting friends and perfume lovers there, too and enjoying spring in Romania.

So, let’s Christmas sit on the side for a moment and enjoy spring: For my German speaking friends, there was a lovely review and article in the “Duftprobe, inside the Magazin of the Rhein-Neckar Zeitung” (click for the pdf) , this weekend, featuring Mitsouko, Chanel 19 and Carillon pour un ange. Just wow!

Enjoy!

so yes, I was in London the day before yesterday, for about 20 hours and today’s picture is kind of a proof. I am not totally sure, but I think it was in the Holborn station where I took it. Usually, when traveling somewhere for business reasons, I try to stay another day: It did not work out this time, as I have a touch too much going on and needed to get back. Next week sees me traveling east and I need to get some stuff done before.

Thus, there was no time to meet and greet really. A pity. But I managed to hop into Les Senteurs as I was around the corner anyhow: What a cool shop at Seymor’s place! So, yes, I mentioned it: A business trip, which translates into… meeting people and sniffing perfume and talking about why I do what I do the way I do it and asking questions about them why they want to do what they do the way they plan to do it. And while smelling and talking you try to find out whether you fit, and whether it makes sense.

As it is a great new thing, and as I promised not to talk about where and who: No details here about whom I have met for what particular reasons. But one thing I can tell you: I feel it was a great trip and I was not wrong with my gut feeling that the people that I wanted to meet are nice and interesting and interested in what I come up with. So, yes: that was a good trip!

Talking “gut feeling”. Strange as it is: but even when talking business, with numbers and margins and return on investment: The gut feeling is so important!

It is funny, but sometimes, even right after the first mail, I realize that a potential retail partner is a 100% “no-go.” It starts with not having done any homework before contacting me. And it usually ends with demanding free goodies a gogo. I have learned the last few years to trust my instinct and not to hesitate to say “no” asap. Like: After the first mail. Like no way! You know, it is a strange world out there….. a lot of retailer (perfumeries, going to be perfumeries, concept stores, fashion  boutiques) have realized that they need and want something special. But often, they are not really reflecting what it means to be special. And some think that, just because I am small, they can ask for free pieces of the cake that end up being half the cake actually.

So, yes, it is a strange world out there. But funny, too. And I am becoming the longer the more picky about with whom I work together and who actually gets my products. And I guess this makes sense, the longer the more. The examiner mentioned about 100 launches for April only, based on Fragrantica data. Wow! And yes, Noontide Petals was one of them, and presented on Examiner.com . Thus, there is actually good reasons that not only perfumers but also perfumeries become selective. Very selective indeed.

… that’s a German proverb, meaning “everything begins anew in spring”. And indeed, this is pretty much true: There is new energy, new hope, new vigor and vibrancy in the air, everywhere almost. And indeed, we will soon be entering May, spring’s highlight, in my opinion. I will start my May in London, meeting potential business partners, not from the UK, and discussing philosophy and values and perfumes, while enjoying a cup of tea.

My anew things coming with May: I am reaching out to a few potential partners for my fragrances. Although I do  it very carefully, having made my experiences in the past… but that’s worth another post.

Another anew thing, mentioned last Friday: The cap, being produced in May and introduced somewhat later. Today’s picture shows you one of the first caps, zero series, that came out of the machine. It is made from Bakelite, one of the first “plastic” materials made by mankind, with a retro touch, highly solvent resistant, and with a cool feel to it. Bakelite: a powder that is pushed together really hard, under high temperature: It takes about 2 minutes for one cap. I ultimately decided to go for Bakelite, after having it on my mind for about two years because the wooden caps were not recognized as being of high value. Strange as it may sound: A lot of clients did not really realize that the wooden caps were made from wood. Thus, why bother doing expensive, tricky to manufacture wooden caps, if you can get the same in Bakelite. The price is comparable, though, but contrary to the wood, they come with a much more reliable and reproducible interface to the flacon. Thus, they should sit there well.

Although, to be honest, except for super expensive magnetic solutions, there will always be some caps that stick a bit less, or more, due to variances in the glass, the pump, the cap, and due to wear. Although, here again, the Bakelite is very tough and does not really wear out.

Anyhow… time to optimize my caps mid term. You see this in all brands: The cap is often the “weakest link” in the whole presentation.

My caps will be very black, with a tauer  logo relief on top, and will be brushed and polished by hand, in Switzerland. Amazing.

And while we still have wooden caps: Enjoy them… they might soon become collectibles.

Today, I am visiting a new supplier in Zurich, called Silac, and I should be witnessing sort of the birth of a new piece going onto my flacon. Exciting! The zero series parts will -once tested – be approved by me in the coming days and then hopp! we will start producing new cover tops for my flacon. The production will take some time, as it is a customized top, and as it comes branded, which means: another Tauer logo.

I will take my camera with me and hope to be able to shoot a few pictures, possibly when the thing comes out of the machine. I imagine the machine to be impressive, but am quite clueless, honestly.  I will share my impressions and pictures soon.

so… we will see! Today’s picture shows you me, or better: My shadow, on top of Griffith Park, overlooking Los Angeles. I always go there, jogging up Canyon Drive, all the way to the top and back again. It is a great spot and provides 360° overview. To the very right you can see Downtown LA. I picked today’s picture, as it illustrates sort of the big, very big, spreading out megapolis of Los Angeles. I feel it is quite appropriate to say that there is no market as competitive as the US market. For sure more competitive then the little Swiss homeland market where things move differently. And also quite differently competitive than the European market. Although, I would have a hard time pinpointing where the differences actually lie.

And with this, the post closes: The new top cover will help me to stay competitive, in this super competitive market of perfumes and fragrant things, where the scents are actually only one part of the calculation, where more and more brands and fragrances are entering the arena and want to graze on pastures that may be green but still are limited.

I feel I have used today’s post title a couple of time in the past: “back from LA”! But I cannot remember coming back right into such a spring explosion like this year. Tulips, hyacinths, green grass, mint leaves pushing through, and inside the house a gardenia bringing up new sprouts and creamy flowers. Just wow!

Actually, the post’s title could also be ” back from JT”, as I spent most of my time there, in Joshua Tree national park. Think “camping, making coffee in the morning, after a night in the high 40-ies, jogging, preparing breakfast, eggs and stuff, hiking JT, taking some pictures,  picnicking, getting ready for sunset, and cooking food in the evening. I made sure to always have my  vegetables with my steak: Mashed potatoes, vegetable stew, grilled paprika.

This year, they did not get of rain in JT, and hence the bloom was modest.

Back in Zurich, there is a lush green and blooming plants everywhere. And work, which is fine, too. Today, I organized a parcel pick-up in the factory, and thus, I need to run down there in a minute and will leave this post here. My goal was to say “I am back anyhow”. And maybe I should add “with a couple of ideas”?  JT does wonders there.

Here’s the thing: Ideas grow slowly, and need calm moments to pop and bloom, like desert creatures waiting for rain.

And here is another sketch of a typical JT boulder ( I publish it in larger resolution on my facebook site). Enjoy!

Joshua Tree boulders, seen and sketched in April 2013