by: Miguel Matos
Bertrand Duchaufour is a reference for me. As a big fan of his work, I see him as a very talented artist, someone who is iconic and consistently great in everything he does. So when I knew I was destined to interview him (in the Esxence expo in Milan) about the creation of his new fragrance for The Different Company, I miss Violet, I was thrilled and happy ... but also worried. What do you ask someone who has been interviewed countless times and how do you still act cool? The problem was when I sat with him at the table and I started to feel starstruck ... It wasn't a big issue after all, since he is such an intelligent and kind person. For the first minutes I just wished I could say something more clever, but as a journalist I am trained to cut the crap out of an article, so here it is, edited and perfected, a conversation we had while smelling materials and also the finished product of I miss Violet.
Miguel Matos: What was in your mind when you were starting the project for I miss Violet?
Bertrand Duchaufour: The idea was to work with a material that we already know very well and do it in a different way, something completely different, a new creation, a new piece of art. I always want to do things in an artistic way.
Miguel Matos: And this is a constant in your work, discovering new facets in well-known materials. That's what you did in L'Artisan Parfumeur ...
Bertrand Duchaufour: Well, not always, but for example, Nuit de Tubéreuse: it has nothing to do with the Fracas accord. Sometimes even supposed conoisseurs don't recognize the tuberose that's in there. The same happens with Pichola, the new fragrance I did for Neela Vermeere. For The Different Company I chose to work with a different kind of leather in I miss Violet.
Miguel Matos: I recognize some accords that are familiar with another of your creations, Ann Gérard Cuir de Nacre.
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes, there is some similar accord to Cuir de Nacre inside this fragrance. It's just a glimpse because I miss Violet is fresher and greener. There is a powdery aspect because of the violet flower, mimosa and osmanthus. I also worked with the violet leaf, with peach/apricot accords and a suede effect.
Miguel Matos: It's like a vintage suede purse full of vintage makeup and cosmetics...
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes, but it is made in a very modern way because it's watery, due to the presence of cucumber.
Miguel Matos: But it still has a vintage feel to it, in my opinion.
Bertrand Duchaufour: It's an homage to Mitsuoko and Aprés L'Ondée. It's not exactly a chypre, it's mainly because of the leathery effect.
Miguel Matos: I keep smelling it and analyzing it. Sorry, Bertrand but I can't help it. To me it's very feminine, and I like it that way. It's also kind of addictive ...
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes, I agree. I understand what you say. Powder in fragrances is something very addictive and kind of old-fashioned. Something that reminds us of grandmothers, the leather bags of our mothers, it has to do with memories. That's why this is an homage to Mitsouko and Aprés L'Ondée, because they also have huge powdery effects. Memory is so important in fragrance and the central note in this one is memory.
Miguel Matos: Tell me about the process of creating I miss Violet.
Bertrand Duchaufour: Everything was done through vegetal leather. I wanted to represent it with the natural compounds which are osmanthus, cassie, violet leaf and mimosa. This has nothing to do with spicy smoky leather. This is an accord that is very much present in the top notes. Normally we know leather as a very heavy, smoky, dark, ambery, animalic base note. This one is different and far more sophisticated.
Miguel Matos: So you created this different leather accord specifically for this fragrance?
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes, and it is unusual also because of the cucumber and melon. If you smell it again, it's earthy because of the violet leaf. And there is this phenolic note. Remember the leather satchel you used to go to school when you were a little boy? That's this smell. And there is a smoky part like when you scratch a match.
Miguel Matos: Did you have a specific smell that you wanted to compose or was it experimental?
Bertrand Duchaufour: I wanted to compose leather through both the violet leaf and the violet flower.
Miguel Matos: What is your working process like? Do you conceptualize a lot before you start mixing materials?
Bertrand Duchaufour: I can conceptualize and I write on a white sheet of paper up to 40 different products with the proportions. Then I smell my first try and try to develop the formula by rebalancing materials.
Miguel Matos: Did it ever happen that you create a mental formula and it results perfect at the first try?
Bertrand Duchaufour: Sometimes I despair, but usually I can do an accord quite quickly. Not a huge one, I don't want to sound pretentious, but a good one. Sometimes it's very surprising. Sometimes I fail completely and after tries and tries I give up. But sometimes there is a surprise and it's very interesting to play with it. Things can happen just by chance. It can be the key to do something new and artistic. The moment when you say “Oh I didn't expect that!”. It's exciting! If you imagine your concept and just follow the way you imagined it, it's maybe the worst way for moving and changing mentalities. Surprises are a provocation on yourself and that's why they are interesting.
Miguel Matos: In I miss Violet, did the results match what you imagined the fragrance to be?
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes.
Miguel Matos: If this wasn't your creation and you smelled it for the first time, how would you describe it?
Bertrand Duchaufour: I would appreciate it because it is fun, interesting, elegant and rich. It's not 100% innovative just because I wanted to do something easier to wear and it's very easy to play with aldehyde C14, the peachy accord and suede. So it's not 100% original or provocative, but it's good, it's interesting and it has a part of innovation, also because of the new leather accord I created. I wanted something hugely based on violet leaf and osmanthus and it actually is.
Miguel Matos: To me it feels a bit nostalgic, in the best way possible.
Bertrand Duchaufour: Yes, it may be. But it was not on purpose.
Miguel Matos: Are you already developing more work for The Different Company?
Bertrand Duchaufour: We are working on a new project but it's not very specific yet.
I also had the opportunity to talk to Luc Gabriel, President and CEO of The Different Company. He completed Bertrand's speech and explained further the new fragrance and the context of I miss Violet, in his line and within the niche fragrance market.
Miguel Matos: How did you approach Bertrand in order to create this fragrance? Did you have a specific idea?
Luc Gabriel: The thing is, whenever you want to create a fragrance, you need to follow a fine line between what you want, the coherence within the line itself and the brand's concept on one hand. On the other hand, what the fragrance designer can achieve and the way he achieves it. They all have their ways of working, expressing and interacting with fragrance. So, specifically for this one we had a discussion. He have been working on this leather fragrance for three years and three years ago leather was nowhere. And now it's everywhere. So we started talking about a new way of making leather, because The Different Company is always about having an angle, with a very qualitative signature. We were working on all sorts of different leathers. Going back and forth I sort of narrowed it down to this vegetal violet leather. The way we work with Bertrand is strange, we work a lot, then let it dry for three months. We come back to it afterwards and then repeat the process. It's a very very different way of working from Christine Nagel or Emilie Copperman.
Miguel Matos: Bertrand is specifically working on the Collection Excessive. It perfectly fits his character and his features as a perfumer. He can go to any complexity level he wants and it's never over the top, don't you agree?
Luc Gabriel: It's never over the top for him, you can take him further up! So he perfectly fits the bill, when it comes to this specific line. In this case we started off more around the olfactory family and then we changed it into what I miss Violet is today. It's very complex. It dates back but it's modern at the same time.
Miguel Matos: Violet is always a reference for vintage fans like me and I would like to see a comeback of powdery fragrances as a trend.
Photos by Eugeniya Chudakova & Elena Knezhevich
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário
COMENTE O QUE VOCÊ ACHOU DA NOSSA MATÉRIA!