Perfume in the News
The popular press has published several interesting articles about perfume in the past few weeks. London Times writer Vicci Bentley discusses the natural vs. synthetic issue of perfumery in last Sunday’s article, “Natural Selection.”
“Modern perfumery couldn’t exist without synthetic molecules,” says the perfumer Roja Dove.
“Synthetically enhanced scents are loud and tenacious; natural oils keep themselves to themselves,” (natural perfumer Mandy) Aftel says.
As always, there is plenty to say on both sides of this lively debate.
Also in the news, Time magazine (May 3, 2007) features an informative article about perfume titled, “The Smell of Competition,” by Jeremy Caplan. In the article, Jean-Pierre Subrenat, chairman of the World Perfumery Congress and former head of the American Society of Perfumers, had this to say about master perfumers:
The best scent specialists are so savvy that they can identify the most prominent three ‘notes’ in any commercial product with a smell, and can often guess who designed it.
It sounds like “Name that Tune” except with scent!
This issue has a related article describing how perfume gets made. It includes a terrific picture of the “smell camera” used to detect and absorb the molecules surrounding a plant to record its scent. You can see it here.
Both of the Time magazine articles can be read online here.
