Read Online The Diary of a Nose by Jean-Claude Ellena - Free Book Online
Authors: Jean-Claude Ellena
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nose, and, although my curiosity may still be fierce and acute, I long ago stopped feeling infatuated with a new discovery. I envy the emotion an enthusiast experiences when he smells a perfume for the first time, using words of love that I wish I could come up with again.
I do not expect technical comments from an evaluation, nor for the perfume to be positioned in terms of the market; I mostly hope for observations. I wait for people to appropriate the perfume, to experience it, judge it and get the feel of it without thinking about the aims of the project, and to describe it as a perfume lover would – one who responds to his actual experience and describes his pleasure or displeasure.
Cabris, Friday 30 April 2010
Féminin H
My drafts for a perfume on the theme of pears have been waiting on the table for two months now. I smell the last trial and rediscover the smell I so liked. I ask my assistant for a ‘fresh’ solution of the concentrate that she keeps in a cupboard, away from the light. When the sample is diluted it has a hard, harsh smell. It will need to spend a long period of maturation steeped in alcohol to achieve the rounded notes of pears.
What it says is appetizing, crisp, seductive but a little cold. So I modify the pear accord to give it a juicier feel, and I highlight the perfume’s sensuality by intensifying the little trill of chypre. I choose one of the trials and ask for a half-liter to be put aside to mature.
The painter Cézanne said to Pissaro: ‘With just an apple, I want to amaze all of Paris.’ There is a bit of that ambition in what I am doing: I want to surprise and amaze with an everyday smell.
Cabris, Saturday 1 May 2010
Perfection
I am with Jane, an American whose heart belongs in part to France, and we are talking about perfection.
‘Can you achieve perfection in your work?’
‘I think so, although I constantly question it.’
‘How would you describe perfection?’
‘I can’t give you a definition. What I can say is that Christian culture sets up perfection as a goal to aim for, while at the same time introducing a notion of struggle and unattainability into this aspiration, because, to Christians, God alone can embody and represent true perfection.’
‘I find that disturbing.’
‘In the West, Christian culture clearly permeates views, and influences the way people see and judge things. In Chinese or Japanese culture, perfection exists, it is also a goal to aim for, but the aspiration isn’t unattainable and isn’t tainted by a sense of guilt. Buildings, paintings, sculptures and pieces of pottery are recognized as “national treasures” when they represent perfection. People, particularly artists and craftsmen with unusual skills, can also be described as “living national treasures.” France may also describe works exhibited in its museums as “national treasures,” but the term refers only to their value.’
Cabris, Friday 7 May 2010
‘Craftsman and Artist’
Hermès is an establishment whose heart beats to the rhythm of its ‘podiums.’ Twice a year, in January and July, all the creative departments present their spring-summer and autumn-winter collections to a gathering of its own chairmen, directors, designers, craftsmen and artists, and to the world as a whole. July is nearly here, and I am being asked to write the text for next year’s catalogue on the theme of ‘Craftsman and Artist.’
Craftsman, artist: I have never managed to settle for one or other of these definitions for myself. I feel like a craftsman when I am completely wrapped up in making a perfume; I feel like an artist when I imagine the perfume I need to make. In fact, I constantly juggle with the two standpoints. If perfume is first and foremost a creation of the mind, it cannot actually be created without the mastery of true skill.
When I am creating fragrances for the Cologne collection, I am very much the craftsman: the raw material gives the perfume its meaning,
I do not expect technical comments from an evaluation, nor for the perfume to be positioned in terms of the market; I mostly hope for observations. I wait for people to appropriate the perfume, to experience it, judge it and get the feel of it without thinking about the aims of the project, and to describe it as a perfume lover would – one who responds to his actual experience and describes his pleasure or displeasure.
Cabris, Friday 30 April 2010
Féminin H
My drafts for a perfume on the theme of pears have been waiting on the table for two months now. I smell the last trial and rediscover the smell I so liked. I ask my assistant for a ‘fresh’ solution of the concentrate that she keeps in a cupboard, away from the light. When the sample is diluted it has a hard, harsh smell. It will need to spend a long period of maturation steeped in alcohol to achieve the rounded notes of pears.
What it says is appetizing, crisp, seductive but a little cold. So I modify the pear accord to give it a juicier feel, and I highlight the perfume’s sensuality by intensifying the little trill of chypre. I choose one of the trials and ask for a half-liter to be put aside to mature.
The painter Cézanne said to Pissaro: ‘With just an apple, I want to amaze all of Paris.’ There is a bit of that ambition in what I am doing: I want to surprise and amaze with an everyday smell.
Cabris, Saturday 1 May 2010
Perfection
I am with Jane, an American whose heart belongs in part to France, and we are talking about perfection.
‘Can you achieve perfection in your work?’
‘I think so, although I constantly question it.’
‘How would you describe perfection?’
‘I can’t give you a definition. What I can say is that Christian culture sets up perfection as a goal to aim for, while at the same time introducing a notion of struggle and unattainability into this aspiration, because, to Christians, God alone can embody and represent true perfection.’
‘I find that disturbing.’
‘In the West, Christian culture clearly permeates views, and influences the way people see and judge things. In Chinese or Japanese culture, perfection exists, it is also a goal to aim for, but the aspiration isn’t unattainable and isn’t tainted by a sense of guilt. Buildings, paintings, sculptures and pieces of pottery are recognized as “national treasures” when they represent perfection. People, particularly artists and craftsmen with unusual skills, can also be described as “living national treasures.” France may also describe works exhibited in its museums as “national treasures,” but the term refers only to their value.’
Cabris, Friday 7 May 2010
‘Craftsman and Artist’
Hermès is an establishment whose heart beats to the rhythm of its ‘podiums.’ Twice a year, in January and July, all the creative departments present their spring-summer and autumn-winter collections to a gathering of its own chairmen, directors, designers, craftsmen and artists, and to the world as a whole. July is nearly here, and I am being asked to write the text for next year’s catalogue on the theme of ‘Craftsman and Artist.’
Craftsman, artist: I have never managed to settle for one or other of these definitions for myself. I feel like a craftsman when I am completely wrapped up in making a perfume; I feel like an artist when I imagine the perfume I need to make. In fact, I constantly juggle with the two standpoints. If perfume is first and foremost a creation of the mind, it cannot actually be created without the mastery of true skill.
When I am creating fragrances for the Cologne collection, I am very much the craftsman: the raw material gives the perfume its meaning,
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