making ofTableau de Parfums

somewhere in the past

Today’ s picture shows you a little cut out of a larger picture. The larger picture was taken a few years ago (think 20 years) when traveling in Umbria, Italy. Back then I used to take a lot of black and white pictures with my SLR (single lense reflex) camera. Part of the larger picture you see on my facebook profile foto, provided facebook is up and running again. The whole picture is on my scanner right now.

I am not the guy who looks back that often, as I have much too many plans for the next days and months. What I like about this particular picture and the way it was taken is: Back then you had to wait. You took a photo and then you waited for weeks eventually, to see how it turned out. Now, it is seconds only. I love digital photography, but looking at some analog pictures I see that the waiting period and the complications of analog photography come with a bonus.

In sense, for the time being, creating perfumes is very an analog business still. It involves a lot of waiting, for minutes or hours until a nose has calmed down after mixing, for days or weeks until the mixture has matured, for years until you have thought enough about things. I am sure that in large industry this has changed already. When I started working on the soap that you can get in the kickstarter campaign for Only Child (click here to go and get it by pledging) I remembered what Guy Robert said in his book “Les Sens du Parfum”, a book recommended to anybody who wants to start making perfumes, that the real big numbers you make in the fragrance industry not by creating perfumes but by creating scents for soaps and cleaner et al.

We tend to forget this when talking perfumes and about the art of perfumery.

But, although soaps et al. are the big business: I would like to use this post to underline that I do not really plan to build a soap business. Rest assured. It might a soap or two one day, here or there, and you might see soaps for special occasions from time to time. I think my soaps are not made for big business anyhow. They involve a lot of hand work, and somewhat precious raw materials, the loretta soap offered in the kickstarter campaign features among other ingredients rose absolute and jasmine absolute.  And – not really surprising- I did a test without these naturals: The result is not the same.

Brian Pera will talk a bit more on his blog about the soap, I guess. And a few other goodies. Thus, stay tuned there. Thank you!