Kemi Blending Magic: Sergio Momo interview

by: Serguey Borisov

I was so sorry to have missed the possibility of making an interview with Sergio Momo about the Kemi Blending Magic collection the very first time it was presented, at Esxence 2015. The collection, consisting of four Eau de Parfums (Hayat, Kemi, Layla, Luna), two Parfums (Jabir, `ilm) and two Attars (Elixir, Tempest), as always, stood out with its rich design and Arabic connotations. As the owner of the Xerjoff brand was so busy with his many clients (business is business, it is always more important than talking to reporters),  I could not find the right time and decided to move the interview into the virtual space of the Internet.  We arranged the short email interview that follows.

Sergey Borisov: You have a great collection of brands under your umbrella: Xerjoff, Casamorati 1888, Join The Club, Shooting Stars, Oud Stars, etc. Some of them—Sospiro, Oud Stars, Mukhallats—fall into Oriental-style collections. And now you have presented the new Oriental collection, Kemi, at Esxence. What's the great reason for it? Why you did not include the new perfumes in one of the existing Oriental collections?

Sergio Momo: Kemi  is a different kind of approach. At a certain point of time we realized that we have accumulated experience that may allow us to come up with a new brand, backed by innovative blending techniques, and on top of that we had an important historic concept promoting the understanding of blends we worked on—it was alchemy.

Unlike Oud Stars from Xerjoff, this collection is not focused on oud-based perfumes; it is based instead on different blending concepts and olfactive directions, where compositions and combinations of ingredients are not necessarily similar to ones traditionally used with oud. Oud Stars is a collection entirely based on oud, its variety and quality, while not all of Kemi perfumes have oud in them! However, if oud is present, its proportion differs significantly from Oud Stars.

In Kemi we did not build upon an oud base, we created a collection of oriental perfumes with some oud inside. So, again, we are talking about two absolutely different approaches. Sospiro, in its turn, is a recreation of the classic system of producing perfumes, but with some oud inside. It is an experiment in creating western-style perfumes, sometimes adding oud to the different blends.

Sergey Borisov: The new collection appears in three forms of fragrances: Eau de Parfum, Parfum and Attar, and also every perfume in its own different volume only. What's the reason for this?

Sergio Momo: Well, I think that some blends have a better expression (in the creator’s vision) when they are parfumes, others when they are EDP, and so on. It depends on the desirable result, and it differs from blend to blend. And this is not a decision to be made afterwards, but it is made before the work starts and based on the initial idea of the creator. Traditionally, parfums are released in 20-30 ml; we decided to go to 50, which is already something new … At the moment, this is the way we have decided to split the Kemi collection.

Sergey Borisov: How is the historical connection between alchemy and perfumery expressed in the fragrances of the Kemi collection?

Sergio Momo: Our alchemy is expressed, in a certain way, in the distillation and blending process. I think that alchemy can be translated in that way. The philosophy behind alchemy is transforming something natural and simple into something extraordinary and noble by means of various manipulations, just like a flower when it comes to perfumery! Today, thanks to technologies and experience, ways of processing raw materials are much more advanced and sophisticated than they were many years ago, and by focusing on constant research and innovation of certain distillation techniques and processes, we are trying to set up a modern version of what alchemy used to be. From our viewpoint, the key here is experimentation.

Sergey Borisov: Some other brands at Esxence claimed that their perfumes contain a sort of “alchemical salt” that makes their perfumes more integral. Are there any signature “alchemic” accords in Kemi perfumes and attars? What's the special feature that separates Kemi from any other Orientals?

Sergio Momo: I have never heard of it and I think that we need no ”alchemic salt” to aid our blends. Our special feature is first of all the quality of raw materials, and equally important is the distillation technique and expertise. I would say that the special feature distinguishing Kemi from other orientals is exactly the same as what makes Xerjoff and Sospiro stand out from the range of other brands—it is the way we understand quality and implement this understanding in our products. This attitude paired with creativity is today what makes and in the future would make our products stand out.

As I was previously explaining, our ”alchemic” approach is well expressed when reading the olfactive pyramid—take a look at Kemi Eau de Parfum. We have oud in the head notes together with a cedar. You will hardly see this anywhere else! It may be surprising also that we used no flowers in Kemi EDP. The result is the rarest perfume composed entirely from different kinds of woods that were cultivated across the globe and gurjum balsam. No citrus, no flowers—I think this is something very interesting and also very challenging if one wants to follow the olfactive pyramid. The same peculiarity may be found also in other perfumes within the collection—like Lunawith Russian Leather in the heart notes or Layla which opens with nutmeg and clove. To sum up all the above, the alchemy of this collection was brought forward by the extensive research on blending woods, spices and oud, and this alchemy results in extraordinary combinations and original accords, which can hardly be encountered in perfumery.

Sergio Momo

Sergey Borisov: Was it created by one perfumer with your creative team, or did a team of perfumers work on it?

Sergio Momo: Kemi was created by the same team of artists who used to work on our previous brands.

Sergey Borisov: It has been some time since our last interview. Have you changed your vision on luxury in perfumes?

Sergio Momo: No, our vision and our philosophy towards luxury perfumery remains the same!