We are entering in full last minute preparation mode these minutes: Pitti Fragranze is ante portas, and on Thursday we hit the train to Florence (hence the picture, although the train in the photo is the Bernina express train, seen 10 days ago).  In order to get into the Italian grove we went to the movies yesterday and watched “mine vaganti (click here for the trailer)” . Not the average Italian family, though. But it was good entertainment and distraction from boxing and packing.

The next two days see us making more stock , and getting ready for the days after Pitti. Then, we will engage into soap making mode, as I got an order for my X-mas soap that -my efforts paid- ends up as X-mas for a Zurich pharmacy. I consider it a test ground for my capacity in soap scenting and pouring (how many can we possibly make in a day?), and I hope it will turn into a cool marketing return for the brand, and a nice X-mas gift of the pharmacy for its top clients.

They have a lot of clients.

We need to get 100 kg soap and do so today.

A little video I made during the photo shooting with Vero from Vero Profumo and me, for Wallpaper with the photographer Tarik Hayward from Koerner Union.

And no: We did not fly to Brazil….the location is the botanical garden in Zurich.

Enjoy!

Uff. It is Friday, this week’s big shipment is ready in front of the house for pick-up by Schenker, and I can worry about other things, such as my hair or creation of new perfumes. I decided that Friday afternoon will be my “creative day”, translating into at least 4 hours working on fragrances.

Otherwise, if not scheduling it like that: No chance. Too much going on….But first things first: Newsletter final texts, pictures for the shop. I will hit the essential oils in the afternoon before hitting downtown.

Today’s creative challenge: Ambreine. I get mine from Biolandes in France. It is a natural substance, isolated in a few steps from Cistus ladaniferus, to be precise: solvent extraction of  the concrète. It is not easy to work with, as it is -in all its beauty- very quickly dominating an entire composition. I want to use it in a mix where I just need its dry woody incense effect, without the ambergris part. And it has a harsh side.  Let us see how we can soften it. I guess I will bring in some green contrast. We will see.

I feel, perfumery is very much about light and darkness, about contrasts, about effects…I need to think a bit more on contrasts in perfumery.

And with this I wish you a great weekend, and here is your reading recommendation for it:
Open Letters Monthly, on “difficult pleasure”, featuring among other things Lonestar Memories. Enjoy!

(picture of today: A cut out from a larger photo taken last weekend, stones and water in sunlight)

I am not used to posing for a photos in Wallpaper, hence I picked a location that compensates with flowers and colors and shapes. I proposed the Botanical Garden, where I might hide behind gigantic sunflowers or orchids, shy as always. In case of me shining through  and showing up behind the flowers, I get a haircut today. My hair looks about like the dead branches of the Swiss Alpine Fir tree seen over the weekend, and admittedly needs some trimming.

Just a bit, also for Pitti. I do not like to sit at the hair dresser, and see what is left of former beauty.

I guess for a photo in Wallpaper I will get over it.

This is the official PR for the new Tauer launches, on Now Smell This. Click here for Robin’s post.

And here my contribution to this PR fact (click on image for larger version).

the first morning hour is usually mine. The earlier the more it is mine, and the better: in the morning I write the posts of the day and come up with weird thoughts. And get used to the idea that another day waits with e-mails, although I spenTd an evening answering so many of them.

It is an endless flow of communication that has something very comforting.

It is in the morning that I use photoshop and draw its and bits. This morning, I was putting the sketch of yesterday into a more readable form.

Sketch of the eau d'épices structure.

The sketch looks like that.

This is -if you want- the shape of the perfume, in some detail, showing some of the complexity. I will need to add two or three components, though.

If you want, you may scan from top to bottom to get a pyramid kind of description. But the sketch misses the light, the color. And -as a commenter lately rightfully said- the sum is more than the individual ingredients….  Tricky…(here is the link to the same picture in higher resolution)

But at least it gives you an impression of COMPLEXITY and how I think, if I do.

back from a splendid hiking weekend that featured it all: sun, muscle pain, jogging in the morning and watching the sun rise and the cows steam on the pasture at 2200 meters above sea level, snow in the morning, falling from a grey sky yesterday.

Some of you may have seen the picture on my facebook Tauer Perfumes site already. On the left you find it again: This is Sunday, 7.10 am, after 30 min jogging, a fantastic view over a little mountain lake, the surrounding mountains waking up and putting on some color to start their day.

Since yesterday I am back, made a few samples since then and mailed my e-mails.  And for the rest of the week we will be in production mode with  a focus on open orders from perfumeries.

Finally, I sketched a first view of the EAU D’ÉPICES, going from the four axes over to a web kind of view.
I will continue to work on it, as I feel this is important and fun, thinking about how these lines might all be interconnected. And I learned that you like it, too. Although I am not sure whether I am really spreading the important message.

Here is a line for your day: A perfume is a fragrant picture that each of us sees in a mirror made of memories.

Actually, I like this line. Hmmm… having said that: One word, before leaving this blog, on Tonka beans. Tonka beans are the fruits of a tropical tree, originally from South America. They used to be used for cooking (you can make great desserts) but due to their natural coumarin content some countries banned the fruits for cooking. Tonka beans are full of coumarin (about 50% of natural tonka beans extract (resinoid)  is this single molecule COUMARIN), there exist different tonka extracts, such as the resinoid (creamy woody foody spicy) or the absolute. I like to work with coumarin directly, and “bend” it into the form I like to have it by adding other compounds. Coumarin is one of those wonder molecules that you find in about 50% of all perfumes out there. Like the natural extract, coumarin is quite affordable.

One great advantage of using coumarin: You do not have to worry about the waxes of the resinoid that are very annoying when doing larger batches >1 liter, as these waxes tend to agglomerate and precipitate and give you all sorts of troubles in dilution.

And now: back to production mode … hmm: Here’s a shorter version:

“Perfume is a fragrant picture that we watch in a mirror made of memories.”

Hurray! We shipped what we needed to ship this week and the last boxes are out of the house and out of the way. It felt like a maze the last few days, boxes piled up everywhere and flacons and paper and…cozy factor=zero.

I will do some clean up, minimal though, because we (W.-factor and me) continue next week there where I stop today. after the clean up,  I will do some hopping in the woods to deserve my restaurant diner with lots of fries and then…

…then it’s the weekend!

And this weekend is a hiking weekend, with friends, like every year, arranged since eternities, we will stay in the Bernina Hospiz (no 5 stars hotels anymore since I live from perfumery…) and we will do some serious hiking! And enjoy the last summer flowers up there.

I wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to continue discussing EAU D’ÉPICES next week.

Today’s picture: Malva sylvestris seen last weekend around the corner of our house.

If you want to snuggle and cuddle and huggle 2 Tera bites bytes, you are either crazy or you got a this freecom harddisk that comes in this protective  black rubber skin, that is so …. hmmm…. soft and feels like the skin I would give an android to make it more human. Snuggling coefficient = 100.

I got it yesterday, 2 TB. How many bites bytes I actually have on this device you see in the picture. This means: A lot of space for photos and videos. Although I am sure: I will fill it up faster than I think. One of the paradoxes in life: The more space you have the more rubbish you collect. True for real and e-life.

And, as I got a bit slowed down sometimes: I got my PC another 4GB RAM. Yep. Feels much better now. Another rule for life: Always good to have a good memory.

Helps you to keep track on the rubbish you collect. True for real and e-life.

YEEHA!

We got another coverage. In Gay Times, GT, an online and print magazine, that “supplies every gay man with the information he needs” (copy from the GT website ; click her to visit and consider registering for their twitter feed.) Unfortunately, you will not find me online there, but  I allowed myself to put a little teaser online with today’s post…. see the picture of today…Enjoy!

And we have another feature: Nathan finished the Tauer artisan series with his third article. Besides the fact that I like to read about me (…) I find his series (do not miss Mandy Aftel’s coverage there) important and worth following. Here is one sentence and a reason why you might want to visit his site:
“But it’s not like a perfumer ever stops creating, and much like the “publish or perish” mantra in the world of academia, it can be “launch or perish” in the world of the DIY perfumer. Yet continuous inspiration and creation (the hallmarks of a vibrant artist) can sometimes lead to a……”

Thanks for visiting Nathan Branch’s blog, clicking here.

And while you do your reading, I will do my packing of the pallet and some other stuff…