their writings to the master of ceremonies. All the poems were read by him, and those attending were asked to choose the poem that best evoked the perfume. The winner was whoever was selected the most often. The ceremony followed a slow, precise and coded ritual. Despite the discomfort of sitting cross-legged on a tatami for more than two hours, I found thatthis meshing of poetry and smells generated in me feelings of completeness and harmony – an experience shared by most of the participants.
The dream can take another form. I sometimes think I should go back to some of my perfumes and rewrite them. I do not mean starting with the same theme and creating a new perfume, which is something I have already done on the theme of tea, for example. But rather to have a similar approach to making a new translation of a book, staying as close as possible to the original perfume, but writing it with other words – smells – that might translate the idea I now have of the perfume.
The way in which we read and perceive a book is not exactly the same today as it was yesterday, and the same can be said of perfume. Chanel’s rewriting of
No. 5
with
Eau Première
was an interesting way of interpreting this idea. If I pursue a similar dream, though, I am not sure I will find any takers.
Spéracèdes, Monday 2 August 2010
Accords
(Combinations of several sounds heard together and creating a harmony.)
In the beginning was the image of a piano with its eighty-eight keys. If I press all the keys at the same time, it makes an unpleasant noise. Mixing eighty-eight unselected components is highly likely to produce exactly the same sort of olfactory ‘noise.’ Now, if I play just three keys at random on the piano, how many different possibilities are there on an eighty-eight-key keyboard? One hundred and nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, according to mathematical calculation. If I transfer that calculation to the number of possible accords from dipping three test blotters at random in a collection of primary scents, even a modest one, the possibilities are considerable.
I realize this is a simplistic image and that, if I chose the components, many accords could be avoided because I would anticipate those that would not be worth making. Even so, I think the metaphor is an amusing way of illustrating the need to formulate things with simplicity.
I do not know how many components there need to be before a formula is called ‘complex.’ I only know that this sort of formula is very likely to reuse known accords, which appeals to commercial perfumers.
I am, therefore, against complicated formulae, in which repetitions and accumulations give a muddled and unintelligible – thoughseductive – reading. I prefer simplicity; it alone allows for new readings of the same premise, but I consent to complexity when it affords subtlety. The perfume
Bois Farine
that I created for L’Artisan Parfumeur is a simple formula, comprising about ten components, yet it is complex because it uses a base that contains thiazoles and pyrazines, which are difficult and, in some cases, unstable chemical compounds, and can only be used in very diluted forms.
Spéracèdes, Friday 6 August 2010
Bees
‘What color stripe do you start with to draw a bee?’ When my grandson asked me this question I was at first surprised, then dazzled. Surprised because I had never thought to ask this myself, and dazzled because it was about a minor detail that was not, in fact, minor at all as it pertained to millions of bees. I told him I did not know and that he could color his picture however he liked. I regret that I could not give him an answer. His question denoted a concern to find the truth, an attentive eye and a curious mind. We could have looked for images of bees together on the internet and found an answer – there was bound to be one. Later in the day I opened my moleskin notebook and wrote down the question; it is an example of the child’s view that
The dream can take another form. I sometimes think I should go back to some of my perfumes and rewrite them. I do not mean starting with the same theme and creating a new perfume, which is something I have already done on the theme of tea, for example. But rather to have a similar approach to making a new translation of a book, staying as close as possible to the original perfume, but writing it with other words – smells – that might translate the idea I now have of the perfume.
The way in which we read and perceive a book is not exactly the same today as it was yesterday, and the same can be said of perfume. Chanel’s rewriting of
No. 5
with
Eau Première
was an interesting way of interpreting this idea. If I pursue a similar dream, though, I am not sure I will find any takers.
Spéracèdes, Monday 2 August 2010
Accords
(Combinations of several sounds heard together and creating a harmony.)
In the beginning was the image of a piano with its eighty-eight keys. If I press all the keys at the same time, it makes an unpleasant noise. Mixing eighty-eight unselected components is highly likely to produce exactly the same sort of olfactory ‘noise.’ Now, if I play just three keys at random on the piano, how many different possibilities are there on an eighty-eight-key keyboard? One hundred and nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-six, according to mathematical calculation. If I transfer that calculation to the number of possible accords from dipping three test blotters at random in a collection of primary scents, even a modest one, the possibilities are considerable.
I realize this is a simplistic image and that, if I chose the components, many accords could be avoided because I would anticipate those that would not be worth making. Even so, I think the metaphor is an amusing way of illustrating the need to formulate things with simplicity.
I do not know how many components there need to be before a formula is called ‘complex.’ I only know that this sort of formula is very likely to reuse known accords, which appeals to commercial perfumers.
I am, therefore, against complicated formulae, in which repetitions and accumulations give a muddled and unintelligible – thoughseductive – reading. I prefer simplicity; it alone allows for new readings of the same premise, but I consent to complexity when it affords subtlety. The perfume
Bois Farine
that I created for L’Artisan Parfumeur is a simple formula, comprising about ten components, yet it is complex because it uses a base that contains thiazoles and pyrazines, which are difficult and, in some cases, unstable chemical compounds, and can only be used in very diluted forms.
Spéracèdes, Friday 6 August 2010
Bees
‘What color stripe do you start with to draw a bee?’ When my grandson asked me this question I was at first surprised, then dazzled. Surprised because I had never thought to ask this myself, and dazzled because it was about a minor detail that was not, in fact, minor at all as it pertained to millions of bees. I told him I did not know and that he could color his picture however he liked. I regret that I could not give him an answer. His question denoted a concern to find the truth, an attentive eye and a curious mind. We could have looked for images of bees together on the internet and found an answer – there was bound to be one. Later in the day I opened my moleskin notebook and wrote down the question; it is an example of the child’s view that
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