Givaudan has recently launched a series of videos about their perfumery school and the way fragrances are created. The first video is a fascinating glimpse inside one of the internal perfumery academies that produce creators who design your perfumes (International Flavors & Fragrances, Firmenich, Symrise and Mane also have their own training programs). Presented by perfumer Jean Guichard, the director of the Givaudan perfumery school, this brief video takes you into the lab and explains how students are taught.
You can also then watch Video 2: The Structure of Perfume and Video 3: Introducing Olfactive Families.
Thanks to Jessica for a link!
7 Comments
Barbara: Thanks for posting it! I read that Jean Guichard created my beloved Asja by Fendi. He seems like such a nice person too. January 22, 2013 at 8:12am
Victoria: He is a very good perfumer, and from what I hear from his former students, a wonderful teacher. January 22, 2013 at 9:56am
Daisy: Absolutely fascinating! Sigh. If I had it to do all over again, I would have loved to have gone to perfumery school. January 24, 2013 at 7:39pm
Victoria: You would have been great, but then again, you’ve studied in a related field of food! January 24, 2013 at 10:32pm
Andy: So interesting to get a glimpse of what it’s like in perfumery school! It seems like it would be such an interesting challenge to learn and study and be able to recall the scents of so many natural and synthetic raw materials. It might have been glamorized a bit in the videos, but I love that their labs seem to be filled with big windows and natural light. I like to think I’d make a good perfumery student (wouldn’t we all!) but in reality, I wonder if I really would, given that I am allergy prone and easily get headaches if I smell too many things for too long. I have a cold right now, and can’t smell anything very well, which makes me wonder what a perfumer or perfumery student does in such a situation! January 24, 2013 at 9:43pm
Victoria: That’s an interesting question, Andy! I’m really very much like you, and I get a stuffed nose easily. You learn to smell around your handicaps, and although some finetuning work is not possible when you can’t smell properly, creating scents is more about the imagination than the nose. After all, that’s how Jean Carles could create his legendary Ma Griffe, even though by the time he worked on it, he lost much of his sense of smell. January 24, 2013 at 10:35pm
Andy: What an interesting perspective, and I suppose a very accurate one as well—that the creation of scents has the most to do with a great ability to imagine and conceptualize in scent. Even though the end product might be what everyone smells, it makes sense to me that a great end product cannot happen without a great idea. And the part about Jean Carles and Ma Griffe is fascinating—I didn’t know that! January 24, 2013 at 11:43pm