Fragrant greetings on this Friday, January 6, from Zurich. This Friday sees me writing a few commercial invoices for boxes that go into airplanes and fly over the seas and mountains over the weekend. It sees me on the phone, talking to retailers interested in my brand, and talking to suppliers who supply too slow, and this Friday sees me continuing trying to lay out a few facts and figures in Excel. And lay out the consequences: All fact based. Only cruel brutal number facts. No Andy in wonderland hopping around allowed.

I give you one example. We did these wonderful fragrant cards, printed, with relief, and soaked in the scent of Carillon pour un ange, individually wrapped in a little transparent bag, sealed. We used them to give these during the launch of the Carillon pour un ange, a little gift for clients, so they could take the scent with them home. And many orders, especially sample sets, leaving my house do so with one of these cards, with a hand written note on the transparent bag. (Sometimes, when giving free samples with perfume orders, I write on the back of the sample hanger directly.)

Anyhow: We put a good pile of money onto the table to get these scented cards done. We did thousands. We still have a few hundred and then they will be gone. I get a lot of mails, where perfume lovers tell me what they received and that they like this and that or did not like this and that. Not one word on these cards, though. I am not sure they were even used in the shops. And I saw on youtube once a video, one of these cool unpacking videos that I find thrilling like a crime story,  especially when they unpack my products, and I am sure the guy doing the unpacking did not even realize that the cards are scented…

Thus, fact based and without Andy hopping in wonderland: These cards were wonderful, a great design, a perfect encapsulation of the scent, but a failure. A complete failure. Too expensive, not understood, not used, never asked for by retailers. A simple printed card, printed in 10’000 pieces, for 1/20th of the scented card’s price would have done the job. Better. Because they would be understood. And appreciated.

This is what I do these days: I comb through my universe of bottles and caps and labels and cards and all the tools that we built. Many of which have worked wonders for my venture. Analyzing where I stand. Based on this Excel I will move on.  And the pendulum will swing back and forward at the same time.

Ah, and yes! I will start smelling my beloved apricot all natural oil in some seriousness, and maybe even do a little mix, thinking apricot, patchouli, rose. Ah… roses! In Excel, too.

I got a sneak preview sent to me by Aron who takes pictures of the Tableau de Parfums flacon, of Miriam to be precise, and we discussed how to proceed. Love what he did so far. I will get three pictures done: Front, back and side. The goal: Bring in light inside the flacon, let the perfume color gleam a bit through the white enamel like print on the flacon, let the medallion shine in the back, and bring out all the details such as the silver chord running around the flacon’s head.

After yesterday’s preview, I am confident that Aron will manage. Although it is not an easy flacon to take pictures of: The labels and the white print on the front “eat” a lot of light and you need to be clever to bring in the sun into the fragrance.

Pictures are important. Perfumes are judged by flacons and pictures of flacons and packaging. And I always say that perfumes are actually judged and bought by the eye. The nose is just confirming. Sometimes at least. Nosy stuff is eye stuff, too. Thus, I get these pictures done. Later, I will use them for some sort of press and communications work. To be frank: I think that Brian Pera, the Memphis based movie maker and myself, are doing something unique. And I want to make sure that perfume lovers, film lovers, art lovers understand and know.  I want them to know, that this project exists. Thus, I need to keep on talking, and make sure I get the pictures out so that others talk about it, too. It is so difficult to be heard in a world that has become very loud. Anyhow.

I want the pictures to mirror the nostalgic side of the fragrance and the modern twist that you find in both, the flacon and the fragrance.

Actually, Mals used the term “nostalgic” yesterday in the comment on Miriam. Mals is a lucky winner of the Now Smell This draw a while ago, and used the term nostaligic to describe the scent. Nostalgic  is a nice word. “Sugestive to something in the past”, says Thesaurus. I guess that fits perfectly.

The something here is the scent and the past is the time when folks still got the real thing.

The picture of today to the left shows you a hand (mine) with 16 snippets of a 250 gr/m2 paper, from Fischer, called TATAMI natural, with 1.3x volume, coated, with a touch of an ebony color. I cut them to test how thick a pile of 16 cards made from this paper gets. I got samples of various papers, helping to decide which paper to use for the print of the novelette that is accompanying the Miriam fragrance (50 ml size). The novelette is written by Brian Pera and is a lovely 16 double side pages short story, date book like, opening various doors to the world of Miriam. I wanted the paper to fit the world that we are building with the flacon and the rest of the packaging. Thus, I wanted it to be thick, unshiny, slightly coated, and I want it in FSC quality, meaning: Produced in a sustainable manner.

The novelette goes into print today, hoping that I finish the layout of it in the next few hours. It will be one of many entry points into the world of this fragrance. Or the fragrance is the entry point into the world of Woman’s picture, the movies. Like the pentachords are a hand pointing to a new direction, the Tableau de Parfums are pointing into another direction and open up a new world for me. This is part of the fascination being a createur de parfums. One man, many parties. Or a touch more serious: Creativity comes always with change. When you meet a creator doing the same things again and again then chances are good that creativity is gone. Of course, not every party is for everybody. In this context: see Nathan Branch’s post on the upcoming Pentachords.

Another snippet of today: Having prepared and shipped a couple of large orders for retailers (uff!), I will squeeze my time lemon today in order to work a little bit on a couple of ideas. I still have not figured out whether I like the main line of the third fragrance in the Tableau de Parfums series. It is scheduled for September and it tortures me.

Other snippets of this week: I get quite often, on a regular basis, queries for free samples. I never answer them. But I read them, as they are snippets of what humanity offers and they are usually very nice and some are even a sort of standard query: Very eloquent and like a professional PR. In a sense more professional than a lot of PR news that I get because I run this blog.  Thus,  from “cancer in the family and we need a scent of hope, please send”,  to a simple “I cannot afford them” I get everything from everywhere. Yesterday, I got another one. It started with “Dear Madam” . And it ended with an address, without country information. Mission not accomplished.

Some new born bloggers do the same, too; asking for free samples to “expose my brand to their ever growing network of readers”. When I visited one of these bloggers asking for freebies the other day, I found only one post there, on Chanel Bleu.

On a sad note: My external hard disk was broken. I sent it off, hoping for warranty replacement. Actually, the disk was ok, but the USB connection just fell of. I plugged and unplugged this thing about 20 times, as I used the hard disk to store my backups. Thus, not really quality stuff. But the disk worked. It was a 2 Terabyte disk, holding the daily incremental backups of my digital life of about 2 weeks and was always close to full. Now, I got a 3 Terabyte disk and continue backing up my life there. I also back up snippets of my digital (business) life online, using a pay solution. What used to be books and paper and more paper is now bits and bytes and disks. In this sense, the novelette, printed on 16 cards, is actually quite retro. I never thought about it from this perspective.

I wish you a happy Friday.

Today’s picture shows you a detail from the Tableau de Parfums packaging: The top cover of the box wherein we will pack the 50 ml flacon and the shiny paper label that goes around it, where it says “MIRIAM” with an art déco rose. The top cover comes with a linen paper  texture. The lower part of the box is a shiny white. A contrast that I and Brian wanted to create.

The linen cover is very fine and definitely gives a vintage feel to the assembly.

By the way: The photo does not show you the silver chord going around the packaging, holding everything together. The Miriam paper label that goes all around the box holds it together, too and seals the packaging. The same label seals the sample packaging and the purse spray packaging. My goal was to have as little different labels for the different packagings as possible, and yet not save on the presentation of the perfume.

Today, I will work on the last its and bits there. I am layouting a story, the pages of a novelette, that will go inside the 50 ml perfume packaging, on a complimentary basis.

With this I wish you a lovely weekend. Here, we will dig a little bit into work. And I am looking forward to it.

Enjoy!

If you have not done so, now is the time to catch the chance to win a Tauer scented soap:  “LIKE” woman’s picture on facebook. Brian Pera hosts a give away with 30 scented soaps that I have sent him, called “MANDARINES AMBRÉE”, made for the occasion. You cannot get them anywhere. The only thing you have to do to enter the draw: Like Woman’s picture on facebook. Here is the link http://www.facebook.com/womanspicture .

Brian Pera announced this draw on Evelyn Avenue, under “latest”, by the way, and always worth checking. There, you find more on Tableau de Parfums, Woman’s picture and what it is that Brian and me have cooking together these days. I got the last packaging zero series part on which I need to give the ok before it goes into production: The envelop for the 7 ml purse spray. This is the last piece and it is simple, like an envelope, to keep costs down, but protective, and will be in line with the sample envelop, and distinguish itself from the packed 50 ml flacon. And now I have to wait until all labels and envelops and boxes come in. As soon as they do I will publish pictures, as I cannot wait to share.

Initially, I wanted to pack the purse spray in a box, too. But I figured, that the purse spray does not need an expensive, vintage inspired box, like we get it done for the 50 ml flacon: With linen texture, printed card board inlays and all that. I rather try to offer it for a cent or two less.

Yesterday, on the way to the movies, my book keeper and me discussed on the stock we have these days and the expenses that we face the next weeks. For this year, my investments are sort of over. My stock grew heavily and the new brand Tableau de Parfums is all paid for from my savings. Building this brand is expensive, but important: Tableau de Parfums is different to Tauer Perfumes, in its aesthetics, in its fragrant language, in its source of inspiration. I cannot wait to share the first perfume, Miriam, early October in Los Angeles, at Luckyscent, who supported it all.

Today’s picture to the left shows you black and white take of stones on a beach at the state park “El Capitan” in Southern California. Made by nature. Smoothed by the sea and a lively contrast to the beach’s sand. Nature often works on a large timescale. We human beings tend to think in days, weeks, or years years while the ocean waves work for centuries on smoothly polishing the coast. As species, we craft objects since a few hundred thousand years. And we do so the longer the faster.

Thus, I want to share a little design detail with you on the upcoming PENTACHORDS flacons. Some of you might have realized it already: The label and the top cover are different to the rest of the line. The top cover is made from wood as all the other tops I use. But this time, we get it colored in white for all Pentachords, and print PENTACHORDS onto it. On both side, which is sort of expensive. On the top of the top there is a printed, silver pentagon.
The label that you see in the picture above is no sticker but more like a paper ribbon, folded around the flacon’s neck like a shirt (actually, there are two openings in the paper ribbon where the neck goes through. ) The whole ribbon is held in place with the scrimped on pump and by a little sticker on the backside. Each Pentachord comes with a colored ribbon. Not that simple to put on.

In a sense, a design proof of handmade.

Initially, I thought that the ribbon should not cover the TAUER sign on the flacon. But I feel now that this makes it just a bit more interesting. Maybe design is not only about showing and presenting things but also about hiding and pointing to things by just setting hints.

I think it fits well with the idea of fragrances that are centered around a reductionist approach, focusing our attention to a very minimal set of molecular structures.

A while ago I got myself an Adobe Illustrator to work with and to come up with labels and various designs later. It is rather expensive, especially here in Switzerland, where everything is more expensive, compared to buying it in the US. Thus, I am looking very much forward to buying some sneakers and my favorite jeans in the US when visiting LA end May. Companies like Adobe will run into troubles sooner or later with a business model that does not fit an internet driven global market place. There is no way how you can justify asking significantly more for a download product here or there. The same is true for fragrances to some extend. Thus, the isolation of markets and regions becomes the longer the more difficult. And hence the most effective and productive market places set the standard. I guess this is the reason why the largest online retailer for low volume fragrances sits in the US (luckyscent.com).

The internet is the place with the largest diversity of low volume and artisanal fragrances.

Anyhow. So I got the Illustrator and using Adobe’s online videos I am getting used to working with the software which is fun. Actually, it is a lot of fun. It reminds me in my earlier days when I started this perfume venture. Since then, let’s say 6 years ago, the number of  internet users has more than doubled. And the number of rude  and impolite users seems to have grown disproportionate. Many got a tool that allows them to express themselves in a way that thew would never dare in the real world. Facebook sure does not slow them down.

I guess the only way to face this low level talking is by setting a higher level.

Thus, I got my Illustrator and will use it in the next months and years to come up with labels and boxes for new ideas. Ideas that will help me to talk through fragrances to perfume lovers who are interested in exploring new fragrant worlds. to be continued….

We will hit summer like temperatures again this week. This is nice, as it brings me back into T-shirt-all-day territory. On the other hand, the first tulips came, saw the sun and left a day or two later. For some of the delicate spring flowers these temperatures are already too much.

I guess this is true for the violet flowers, too. You see them everywhere these days. They are about as delicate as they are fragrant, very fragrant. But, helas!, only for a short while, before the nose will get tired due to the ionones and you do not smell a lot anymore.

Actually, these ionones in pure form are some of my favorite molecules to play with. Like Irisone beta that you find naturally in violet flowers. My absolute favorite when it comes to ionones: Irone alpha. (6-methyl alpha ionone)

This is violet and orris root heaven.With a bit of silvery wood and a hint of raspberry.

Unfortunately, for a price tag that is also quite remarkable: It is about Rose absolute divided by two. At least the quality that I am using. Now, what can you do with Irone alpha? – I think about everything. At least a pretty good PENTACHORDⓇ. And with this we sort of finish the non stop linden blossom talk of the last weeks and move forward to new exciting stories unfolding….

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EDITED:  March 09 17.30 Swiss time. THE DRAW IS CLOSED. Thank you to all who participated.

The winners, picked with random.org truly in a random way, are:

Olivia A.

Aster

Monica

Congratuluations again

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Believe it or not: We started working on the design and packaging for the Collectibles in  autumn. Some stuff we ordered in November. Now it is soon spring and as always: Everything gets in with delays. Accidents here, technical troubles there: I am getting used to it. In theory, I should be able to pour and label and box the flacons now, or no: Last week.

It will – in reality – be in about 2 weeks. For you this means that you have to wait a bit longer for the Linden blossom theme. But wait, here’s a treat:

I got the manual stamping things that I will use to stamp information onto the sample papers. Today’s picture shows you my first trials using them; as you may easily see: I need some practice there. The same stamps I will use to bring information onto the packaging. Kind of cool, as it allows me to easily change information from batch to batch (you remember: Collectibles are subject to change from time to time).

In order to celebrate my first happy stamping of the sample flyers, I will make a little draw: Be the very first to smell the COLLECTIBLE fragrance: ZETA-a linden blossom theme!

I will pick 3 happy winners using random.org in a  day or two. Just leave a comment below and you enter the draw and your chances are good to win a 1.5 ml sample in a spray atomizer. Once I picked the winners and close the draw, I will announce it here. The draw is international, independent of where you live. And, just in case you do not know what to write in your comment, here’s a question for you: “what means linden blossom to you”?

Your privacy is important to me: You have my word that I will not make any use of your private data except for contacting you after this draw, nor forward them or sell them to any third party.

Today’s picture on the left is a shot made with the i-phone somewhere in the vast Moscow Metro ( for a quick overview of its history: click here to visit the Metro Website in English). A lamp that shines its post Soviet light onto stone walls that seem to be built for eternity. The political system, the party and all that came with it was not built for eternity, but the metro in Moscow made me remember these days. There are pictures on the walls with parachutes and more brave pictures in socialist realism style.

And there is this very  art deco style that you find everywhere that I like so much. This is really wow. I love art deco. But as I stayed basically only 30 hours in Moscow, doing a training and visiting LE FORM boutiques, really chic and hip concept stores, Andrey (my business partner) and myself rushed through the underground system too fast to really appreciate all its beauty. Like the St. Petersburg metro the lines are really deep, deep down and the metro fulfilled also a function as shelter.

My pentagonal flacon is in a sense also  a little bit art deco, or makes a reference to art deco. Design becomes the longer the more important in my life. And guess whom I visited in Switzerland the day after my arrival: Yep. I visited my designer friend from the Designers Club, showed him the sample of the pentachords® flacon (the same pentagonal flacon, but a clear glass, with the faintest hint of turquoise). We had an issue with the color and I wanted to show him the flacon color that I needed to decide.

I will talk more about the pentachords in a few days. First, I need to talk a bit more on the Carillon pour un ange. I am sometimes forgetting that scents and flacons that are a thing of the past for me are all new for my perfume loving friends. Thus, this morning, when waking up, I realized that I need to to a PR sheet for the Carillon pour un ange.

And I think I have an idea how to do it. It should reach some points of sales physically together with a sample to show the shop owners what Carillon pour un ange is all about. And this PR sheet should reach some blogs electronically, to spread the news about the 30 ml flacon coming soon in May to the shops.

Thus, chances are good you will encounter it.

The first batch of 30 ml flacons however will go to Russia, with joy, this week.