The job of a perfumer, also known as nose, is one of the most fascinating for its mix between art and science.
Part of its charms is that it works with the sense of smell, a mysterious and fascinating sense. And as a result, they create perfumes that are part of the important moments of our lives and reminds us of the people we love. Fragrances allow us to say more than words.
But is the perfumer born?
As every other job, being a perfumer is something you learn. You can have a good sense of smell or sensibility for smells but learning how to differentiate ingredients, notes and families is not easy. The nose must be trained. There are different ways to name the job: nose, perfumer, composer of perfumes, creator of fragrances, but no matter how you name it there’s always a hard work behind it.
It’s not about having a unique gift or specific physical features, to be a perfumer it’s important to be creative and practice olfactive memory.
As part of the training to become a perfumer is important to study chemical, know the ingredients and raw materials as well as the different natural and synthetic compositions. Perfumers must expand their olfactive memory learning different notes and families to be able to distinguish them easily. The same as a sommelier with wine, a perfumer must be able to differentiate the main ingredients of a fragrance.
Between art and alchemy, science and creativity, the perfumer is a dream creator.
Besides these learnings, a perfumer must be creative to be able to translate emotions and words into smelling compositions. To be able to engage final consumers is important to work on their olfactive memory, empathy and emotion.
After this, there’s an important teamwork with the marketing department to create a new fragrance. Besides what inspired the perfumer, most brands work studying perfumery and consumer trends for a specific market or target. And most importantly, they must take into consideration the opinion and needs from the consumer.
Not all perfumers do the same, as in every job there are different roles that contribute to a fragrance creation. Some focus on raw materials, others in the technical side of how to deconstruct formulas to expand the knowledge of the market, others adapt existing formulas to develop new ranges of products and others are part of the brands identity and communication.
The job of a perfumer is as fascinating and the world of perfumery.