Home, later in the evening after -I do not know how many- mails- I got sort of tired and fell into TV induced stasis, watching for about 30 minutes the AHH BRA sales show on Mediashop.tv. Quite an amazing accomplishment this Ahh Bra! Only finest European fibers were used to make it, one size fits all and  yesterday, if ordering two, I could get two for free. And don’t forget the colors: Lots of choice and only the finest color pigments used to make the colors last and shine for years to come. The Ahh Bra is made of from one piece of fabric, and feels very comfortable and is made from entirely non transparent material that feels very comfortable.

I think I learnt something again, yesterday. Actually I was reminded of a few things. Thus, this morning, when drinking the first coffee, after having screened the mailbox and after having surmounted that early morning fear of the social media, I checked facebook.  Eearly in the morning, before Lounge-Radio.com induced tranquility, the social media can be tricky. It is like coming home from a trip and opening the letter box. I get a lot of messages, which is nice, but early in the morning, you know…

Thus, I learned a lesson and opened facebook and realized that my background picture is the same since years, it is a sketch of a human eye,  and not product related or related to my craft or related to what makes me and my creations special. And my profile pictures is me from the eighties: missing the focus on today. Thus,  as much as I like my eye sketch and myself in the eighties: Time to implement the ahh bra lesson number 1: Focus. Facebook profile picture and background picture changed.

Tomorrow, we’ll work on lesson two: Core values.

Gschpaessig can be many things, like facebook posts. Actually, the longer the more, gschpaessig fits well on many, many facebook posts.

Gschpaessig is also adequate for the world of fragrances, the industry behind it, and the tectonic shifts that we see these days, if we dare looking closely. Most have been said here before: So I won’t rabble and babble about the state of things there.  In politics, gschpaessig is quite adequate these days, too. Gschpaessigfits perfectly in our time; it  describes pretty well the odd, very green lights on the stock markets and the money flood from reserve banks pumped into all kind of markets. There, I am convinced, we witness a dangerous (but maybe alternative less?)  dance around a bonfire that is nourished by the savings of those who still believe in money.

Gschpaessig, indeed.  So gschaessig, that I am considering getting invested mid-term again in put options. Which, on the other hand, the W.-factor finds gschaessig.

How can you make money by investing into the hope of markets falling? Gschaessig, and probably ethically difficult to justify.

Gschpaessig was also the reaction of the same W.-factor, to my latest take of Tuberose that I want to add to the upcoming line Sotto la luna. My guinea pig is always very honest and I am happy about that.  I wanted to give the ” tuberosa sotta la luna ”  a bit more depth and darkness. The previous trial was very much ok, but not quite as close to perfection as I wish it to be. So I tried a few things (including overdosing a base ingredient which sometimes does the trick), that did not work out, and I will go, after 3 trials that brought me into weird territory far away from any flower, back to the version 16 and try to add depth and darkness there.

Sotto la luna: The first scent or two or three will find their way in some way into my line towards the end of this year or early next year. Depending on my resources. Maybe  I will start rather exclusively. So there is still some time, and the next trial will see me adjusting the chord that I created for the tuberose. It is a partial base (a chord) that covers part of the spiciness and  some floral aspects, but little of the lactonic part of the flower (except for Jasmine abs.). I decided to go a bit higher with the spicy part there, broaden the floral powder and dark  intensity by introducing more ingredients, and I decided to basically leave the base untouched.

Not that there is any hurry, though. Right now, I need to start working on some information to be printed onto paper, for Pitti. Let’s call it a little brochure; where I need and want to explain what and where and why and all of it accompanied by some illustrations and pictures, like the one on the side going with today’s post: Deadline end June, to allow for the translation.

I should work on the text. Seriously. Sort of now. But I so far I only come up with pictures for this little side project. Gschpaessig.

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.

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! 

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.