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There is a ship on its way. Actually, it might also be an airplane, but ship sounds better here.

I found the ship in the picture below  on google’s satelite map of the city’s harbor near downtown, where my products will soon be on the shelves. Now, this is a shop I look very much forward to be present.

The ship is a container ship and my fragrances did not have to travel a long way from the harbour to the shop.

The ship is probably on its way out again,  passing through the straight de Juan de Fuca, maybe some children playing on Point Roberts have seen it.

Find out where you will soon find Tauer Perfumes, tell me your guess in the comments field and you might be the lucky winner who wins a fragrance of his or her choice.

I will pick one winner after I am back from Rome on Tuesday next week, 31 March.

Good luck!

Ok. I have to admit it: It is my first little video and I am not that good at it, yet. But I am getting there….My impression start with a sniffing stewardess, a round tour in the perfume exhibition, followed by a shop visit, a crowded evening cocktail at the intercontinental and then we fly home with the sniffing airline….

Enjoy.

(I recommend watching the mpeg 4. It loads slowly but has the better quality then the integrated flash movie below.

If you do not see the movie, then you do not have the flash plugin. You can get it here: www.adobe.com)

Mpeg4 (quicktime) format: here is the link to the file (opens a new window)

Before coming to today’s highlight in papermag: A thought or two after the sniffapalooza event in Düsseldorf.

Niche.like N-I-C-H-E
That was a big topic, among visitors, exhibiting brands and folks like Vero and me. And the US was another big topic. Some brands have seen sales crashing to non existance in the US. At least they told me so, which is amazingly frank. One guy said something like “last year we shipped containers of this stuff. This year its single boxes.” Russia as market: gone for some brands, too.

Not that I would worry. No reason. For…. I am niche. Well, actually: I am nicher than niche. Ulli and Vero and me we were trying to come up with a new word replacing niche as the term describing us and our fragrances. Hippie, punk. Maybe punche would be a cool name. Or artisanal. Or nicher, like N-I-C-H-E-R

you know: The guys and girls who can not afford xyz (add your favorite marketing tool here) . Like big, big , huge posters, great exhibits. Unfortunately, I could not attend the podiums discussion, but we all agreed on the fact that niche nowadays is defined by marketing aspects much more than by the fragrance, and its niche quality. Hence: Artisanal fits better for what we do.
And guess what: With these thoughts in mind, I open the mail box this morning and find a mail from Jonathan, telling me that his post is online since about two weeks on papermag. Which is cool, for I find papermag cool, and his post is very cool, too.

Well, maybe niche is about being cool, too. kind of a cool hippie punk artisanal thing.

Thus, here’s your reading for today (and thank you for reading this post!)

Word up!: Smell Ya… read the entire article here on the papermag blog.

So I am back home. Full of wonderful impressions. Pictures in my mind. Scents in my nose. Voices in my ear.

The flight back was as smooth as can be and the house is still standing in Switzerland, packed with empty boxes that need to be filled with fragrant bottles. The days that follow will be rather tight. I need to stock up. But first I would like to swim a little bit in memories…..after three wonderful days among friends, perfume lovers, business partners, there is this little pain in the chest of saying bye bye.

I include a few pictures, and would like to say thank you to all the women and men in the background and foreground who made all of this possible. Thank you.

German Sniffa friends

  finally…we met!
the wonderful James Heeley!

part of the perfume show

  Talking perfumes is serious business

At the perfumery Schnitzler. Charming!

Quick greetings from Düsseldorf, after two truly exciting sniffa days.

WOW!

The last two days were full with wonderful, inspiring discussions, with the most charming perfumers like Uli Lang, and James Heeley who are true masters of scents, and so many perfume lovers, with chats, drinks and of course! with perfumes! Many of them totally unknown to me…
I will talk about these experiences in some more details in the coming days. Now, Vero and me are heading on again, leaving the hotel, for the Mahlkasten, for a last sniffing session and definitely for some more hugs.

I wish you a lovely, sunny weekend.

Tomorrow, rather early, I hit the road/rail/air to get to Düsseldorf, with little baggages, just a few minis and samples for boring hotel hours …Like the 10, 15 and 20% dilutions of “Mandarines ambrées” ; the name being just a running title, the final name follows later. I want a sexier name like xxx (add the sexiest name here)

Actually, I am curious to see what dilution is best there. I hope for perfume strength…and naming this baby will be another dedicated post for sure!
And the job until tomorrow: Desperate trials to keep up with what came in the last few days…. theres seems to be a pattern: Whenever I leave for a day or two, the mailbox takes a deep breath and fills with e-mails, orders and happy news.

Thus, I leave you here and will be back next week with more. Enjoy the warmth of the spring sun!

  something to play in Düsseldorf….

At least we got some sunshine the last few days and the first whiffs of spring cheer our mind and soul. It isn’t exactly Southern California, but hey: We are moving into the right direction. But whenever I read Southern California I get this urge. You know: California dreaming. And I read a lot of Southern California lately.

One these lines I would like to follow for a second. Dear Tom recommended on Perfume Smelling Things  the “Une rose chyprée” in perfume concentration. Right you are, Tom! Now pssst! don’t tell the W.-factor who had to go through the “mandarines ambréees” experimental fragrance in perfume concentration.

“oh WOW. This is a powerful tonic.  ” he said, before falling into Morpheus’ gentle hands. I will -provided I find a minute time on Thursday, make a few dilutions with the final version of this powerful tonic consisting of mandarines, orange flower, ambergris and the cleanest clean thing.

Now: The rose chyprée that sits in the cellar and matures, will become a 17.5 % dilution. Eau de parfum.

Bringing it later on a perfume concentration: Yep. Sounds like a perfect idea to me. Especially now, that I got my hands on the PERFECT vanilla extract (C02, dreamstuff)…

But before all this action and last day preparations for Düsseldorf (Viva la Sniffa,….. Baby, I am flying in! yes, can’t wait to finally meet Sniffa friends), and the week that follows, I have to wipe away my tears for I paid my first part of this year’s taxes and social security. sneeef. I just pray that my money will not end up somewhere at AIG, UBS or (add your favorite bank here) xxx , buying an interim CEO his champagne. Oh my. Paying taxes really hurts these days.

Yesterday was a normal day, in a somewhat normal life. After the office job: making samples, a little parcel for the US, answering mails. going to bed. There were 5 minutes of drama and living at the edge when I got the order confirmation for the card board boxes. The quoted size was different to what I wanted, and when I called the company again they first said ” no, sorry, but this is the size going with the number that you wanted. ”

The guy was rather convinced.

So I asked to double check, please, because it just did not make sense to me. Finally, he realized the mistake….order number xxx/14 versus xxx/41. Uff. I already saw myself welcoming 2000 boxes in the wrong size. And extending my range of fragrances by another bottle size.

Four more days until Friday, when I will produce a lot of carbon dioxide and fly to Dusseldorf. It is about 350 miles from Zurich and initially I aimed at taking the train. But when I got the information on the cheapest fare, I turned pale, got my bank account squeaking like a pig having to go to the slaughter house, and did what is ecologically a disaster, but economically the best way to get to Dusseldorf: I ordered my air plane ticket. It is less than half the price of the train. Somehow, it still feels wrong. But then: I love the Zurich airport duty free-. On a more general level: As long as the incentives of living ecologically sound and economically reasonable are not in line, there’s trouble ahead for planet earth.
Thus, I get to see the Alps from above, and will fly over Germany on Friday, to meet some folks and friends over there.

This morning, I got the confirmation that the bottles for the rose chyprée in 15 ml size will ship next week. Now we hope nothing goes wrong there…
And I got the confirmation 5 min ago  that I can get the little cardboard box (foldable, white). Halleluja! This developed into a true thriller. I evaluated this box about 2 months ago. And I wanted to order 1000 pieces yesterday and got the information: Sorry, we don’t have this box anymore.

“Aehm… beg your pardon” I go. “You simply can’t… ”

But: They did not sell enough. No replacement product there. And the entire packaging fitted to this particular format from my side.

After weeping and begging and more weeping they established for me the contact to the printing company doing the cardboard boxes. And yes, they still have the tool and make this little box now for me, specially for me. uffff.

Thus, in about 3 weeks I shall get them.

The last pieces missing: The sticker label going onto the bottle. (see picture) I will have to order this one in the coming days, printed on special plastic, resistant to ethanol. I think I go for the simple solution: transparent on black, just a name and an eau de parfume label, both being transparent on black background. Thus, we have the sample card, the packaging paper, the ribbon, the box and soon the bottle with the sticker.

And now: Happy mixing…sending you all fragrant greetings for a happy weekend. Enjoy!

Picture: Rose chyprée 15 ml bottle, little cardboard white box, ribbon and packaging paper.

  Picture: the packed bottle