Nicolas de Barry is one of the most esteemed perfumers in the world. Created a unique fragrance based on his perception of the island of Madeira. The scent, the isle of Madeira. Embark on this fragrant journal of the pearl of the Atlantic.
Creating a perfume is like cooking, you must have good ingredients, and then you need to move them in a nice way to be able to cook them. The raw materials of perfume are essential oils that nature arises after transformation. Flowers like jasmine, rose, tuberose, then weeds, herbs such as rosemary, mint, lavender and even trees and leaves. Everything that exists in nature and has smell is transformed into essential oil, mainly through distillation. It is like making liquor except that instead of alcohol we produce essential oil with smell.
A perfumer does not boil the ingredients; he buys the ingredients ready and has a perfumer organ, a table with several shelves filled with bottles of essential oils. Your job is to create a composition, called fragrance. The scent is a blend of essences which we call a note, is a reference to a composition, so that there is harmony and chords, as in music.
The olfactory pyramid serves to explain the process of creation. A scent must respect three levels, the fond, the base notes are stronger they stay on the skin. Are the most profound. As woods, animal notes that nowadays we no longer use. To the isle of Madeira I used an ingredient that contains a historical feature, is the amber whale. On the island there was whaling. Nowadays there is no whale hunting, but one of the traditional ingredients of the perfume is amber. It is produced by created the whale cab, is a stone that develops in the belly of the animal and is then expelled into the sea. The largest ball found in the modern era was precisely on the island of Madeira, weighed 400 pounds. It is an exceptional product known for thousands of years by perfumer.
The first floor is the Coeur, the heart, are the most important notes that will characterize the scent, if it is a floral scent, for example. In the first exercise, one of the features of the island of nature in general, are its flowers, so the dominant note could only be floral, so I used several, roses and jasmine.
At the top, tête, the head, are the lighter notes, which give a fragrance its cooler side and may be the most important in terms of marketing, I put the regional tangerine, on the island this is a very tasty fruit, small and fragrant, can be found it in the markets in January. I wanted to put a bouquet that does not mix well with this result, but it was something symbolic, is a product that is used in perfumery and named the island's capital, Funchal, fennel. In a scent there are ingredients that do not match. We return to compare this process with the kitchen, we all know that we do not mix fish with meat or fish with sweet ingredients, in a fragrance is the same, we have to value the notes if I use fennel for a perfume, not add salsa.
It is a very handmade process. I have an idea for a perfume, so I can progress quickly, as sometimes I can never get what I want. How does it work? I build my pyramid and then step by step as an experience. Start by the floral note, if the balance does not look good, I will leave this mixture and find other way. Drop by drop, so that the scent progresses. To the point of thinking that's it, or not get somewhere and have to abandon the idea. At the end I write a formula the will be the beginning of the manufacturing process, is then mix of essences with alcohol which is left to mature.
If we want an eau de cologne, she'll have more alcohol, a little water and less fragrant ingredients, must be light, 5% smelling materials to 95% alcohol and water. If we want an eau de parfum that will be extremely strong, 15% concentrate to 85% alcohol. The perfume called extract is even stronger. But today there is not much clientele for this type of product. The Chanel 5 can be found in extract, but is an exception in this case, has a 50% raw matter for 50% of alcohol.
To be a good professional perfumery is necessary to have two characteristics, creativity and training. I'm like any artist, actor, or musician, I need to have an olfactory talent and then there's work. I work the same way that someone wants to be a painter before I have to learn how to paint. You must train and find your own way to work. A perfumer has to used the olfactory memory is the most important. It is a communication tool in your brain that allows you to store all that panoply of odors and smells, and then do an analysis and make a decision. As a professional like anyone's nose after a certain time the perception low, tires. After two hours always stop working and rest it. I leave the studio and do something else.
The art of perfume is not the absolute creativity. We were trapped to the raw materials. I will again compare to cooking, the chefs with Michelin stars, each one is unique, but after all, one of the most famous Joël Robuchon, his most emblematic dish is mashed potatoes, you can bet that is the best in the world, but it is still mashed potatoes. He did not invent the tuber, works with it. The same goes for perfumer among us there are always experts in certain types of perfumes, I have a colleague who devotes most to men's fragrances, and I am more recognized by most sensual aromas, more easterly, very rich and strong. I'm not very good on lighter fragrances, or soft. You cannot create a unique fragrance, it is necessary to see that this is a story with more than 3000 years, with tradition either in the East or in the West, so we can imagine that creating something new is difficult.
