A WondAroma Podcast

Happy New Year!

Episode 10 of the WondAroma podcast features the Pell Wall perfumer Chris Bartlett talking to Christine Daley of Perfumer Supply House about:

• how Pell Wall came about
• the process of composing a fragrance and 
• a handful of interesting ingredients including Geosmin, Green Tea Givco, Skatole, Theaspirane and Zenolide.

The audio quality starts off rather poor but gets markedly better from about 14 minutes in and continues to improve throughout.

Here are some other links to things we talk about that you might find handy:

http://www.bsp.org.uk/- The British Society of Perfumers

http://www.perfumers.org/ - American Society of Perfumers

http://www.amazon.com/The-Perfect-Scent-Perfume-Industry/dp/0312425775 - Chandler Burr's book about Jean Claude Ellena (perfumer at Hermes)

Pell Wall: Best Discovery of 2014

Pretty in Pink by Pell Wall

As 2014 races to the finish line, I’m pleased to report that Pell Wall has featured as the Best Discovery of 2014 on the much respected Perfume Shrine blog by Elena Vosnaki, who has also just published a fantastic review of Pretty in Pink on the Fragrantica website: not only does she like the perfume, but she writes about it in the most entertaining possible way.

Beaver from Zoologist
Composed by Chris Bartlett

Speaking of Best Discoveries, ÇaFleureBon Editor in Chief Michelyn Camen has voted Zoologist Perfumes (featuring Beaver, created by the Pell Wall Perfumer) as her best discovery of 2014 in their Best of Scent 2014 Awards. And Speaking of Zoologist Perfumes, you can also read an interview of Chris Bartlett on their blog and a review by Steve Johnson of Beaver, also on ÇaFleureBon  in which we are reported to have achieved the impossible (an animalic scent he can wear without cringing).

Better still Beaver was awarded a Best Scent of 2014 award on the very last day of the year!

So, all-in-all not a bad end to 2014.  

My sincere thanks go to the reviewers and publishers responsible for these and my best wishes to everyone reading for a wonderful New Year and a happy and prosperous 2015.

Zoologist Perfumes, Beaver

It’s common knowledge in the industry, but not so common elsewhere, that perfumes are frequently composed by perfumers who are not associated with the company that markets them.  Commonly those perfumers work for one of the big ingredients houses, perhaps under the guidance of a designer from the brand for which the perfume is being made, perhaps not.

Beaver from Zoologist Perfumes

I do this kind of work too, and it’s a significant aspect of the business of Pell Wall perfumes.  What’s rather unusual is for the house commissioning the work to publicise the perfumer behind it, but that’s exactly what Zoologist Perfumes of Canada have decided to do and I’m very proud to be associated with their brand.  The brief was a great one to work on, expressed as a single page mood board, it gave enough room for creativity yet made their intentions perfectly clear.

You can read a great review of Beaver, the fragrance I produced for Zoologist, on the Cafleurbon website where they are also running a competition for samples.

Furthermore you can read an interview with me, where I talk about the work as well as more generally on the Zoologist Perfumes Blog.

I can add, without any trace of bias, as it’s an aspect I had no hand in, that the bottles labels and packaging for this line are truly gorgeous.

Better still Beaver was awarded a Best Scent of 2014 award on the very last day of the year!

Pell Wall featured in Management Today

Chris Bartlett - Perfumer at Pell Wall

Pell Wall’s perfumer Chris Bartlett is featured in an article in Management Today: not an organ of the press most usually associated with perfumery and all the more worth readying for that.  Apparently we’re like punk rockers . . .

Pell Wall the Maverick

Pell Wall features with other independent perfumers in the September issue of one of London’s regional upmarket-lifestyle magazines Absolutely South East in an article by Lawrence Roullier White on Rebel Perfumers an association I’m rather pleased with: thanks Lawrence!

How To Make Perfume

The spread at the beginning of the article
as it appeared in print on 3rd August 2014

If you want to make perfume yourself and are looking for help to get you started, this is the place. Here are links to methods, sources of ingredients, recommended equipment and advice: everything I wished I could find when I started out myself!

On the 3rd of August the Independent on Sunday ran an article, which featured on the front page of the magazine, on the theme of how difficult it is to get started in perfumery whether you intend it as a hobby or, as I did, want to make a living at it.  I was interviewed for that article along with several other independent and amateur perfumers.

The article is by Rhodri Marsden and the accompanying photography by Dan Burn-Forti.  Dan has kindly supplied me with pictures from the photo-shoot we did for the piece and I’m featuring some of the ones that were not used in the article in this post.

I don’t propose to repeat any of what was said in the article here - it stands on it’s own - what I do want to do is to provide here some links and tips that may be helpful to those starting out or struggling with some of the problems the article highlights.

Part of the ingredients store
at Pell Wall by Dan Burn-Forti

So, first up if you’re looking for ingredients and don’t have the budget or space for an array such as we have at Pell Wall, where can you go to get supplies in smaller amounts?

• Pell Wall sell one of the largest ranges of perfumery materials available online in quantities from 10ml / 10g upwards, and can also offer a comprehensive range of starter kits.
• De Hekserij in the Netherlands have a good range and now also an English language website which makes ordering much easier for those of us who don’t speak Dutch
• Perfumer’s Supply House in the USA have a growing range including some very unusual ingredients
• Perfumer’s Apprentice in the USA have a large range including most of the basics you’ll need.

Chris in the Lab at Pell Wall
 by Dan Burn-Forti

All the above are reliable suppliers I’m comfortable recommending.  Those in Europe should keep in mind that ordering from the US will mean you’ll need to pay both VAT and Duty on import - exactly how that works depends on the courier the supplier uses - talk to them first so you know what to expect - however the reverse case isn’t so bad as the US does not charge duty on import for most perfumery materials.  Shipping is also a significant factor when ordering from abroad, so I recommend looking at suppliers as close to your own location as possible first.

For help with learning the art itself I’m going to point to other more detailed posts offering help:

• Blending and dilution methods
• How to measure ingredients and what sort of scales to buy
• The equipment you’ll need to get started and where to find it
• which ingredients to buy to get started
• Natural ingredients: what the terms for various types of extraction mean
• The IFRA regulations
• The EU labelling declaration requirements
• Some of the books I recommend to learn about the art

More ingredients than you can shake a stick
(or a smelling strip) at by Dan Burn-Forti

Places you can go to get some training or practice in the UK include:

• My own workshops in London or Shropshire - advertised on this blog as they come up
• The Cotswold Perfumery where perfumer John Stephen runs regular courses and, once you’ve attended one, will also sell you ingredients and equipment.
• Karen Gilbert runs courses online and in London covering making perfume and skincare

Some detailed posts about particular ingredients:

• Ambergris
• Ambergris substitutes
• Artemisia species
• Bitter Almond Oil
• Lily of the Valley materials
• Musks
• Quinolenes
• Sandalwood
• Styrax and Storax species

If all that didn’t answer your questions, you’ll need somewhere else to turn: I’m adding things to this blog all the time, so do please keep a watch here.  I’m also one of many people, including some other fully qualified perfumers, who answer questions, collaborate with one another and generally exchange information about this fascinating art and science in two main forums:

• The Basenotes Fragrance DIY Forum
• The Yahoo Perfumemaking Group

Join up on either or both and add your voice to the conversation.

Chris and Jungle (one of the Pell Wall Pack) in one of the
ingredients stores at Pell Wall by Dan Burn-Forti

Finally, let me just add that if you’re looking for specific advice or assistance with any perfumery problem and, for whatever reason, you don’t want to post about it on those public forums I’m willing to help - for a small fee - check the consultation section of the website for details.

Happy perfume making!

Interview with an Indie Perfumer

The Perfumer’s Organ at Pell Wall

The charming Clare Wood interviewed me at my London hotel a few weeks ago.  We talked about aroma chemicals, natural perfumery materials, the art and science of perfumery, other perfumers I admire and what to do if you’re looking to get started in the business.

You can read the full interview on Basenotes.

Pell Wall Perfume on ITV This Morning Show

Two fragrances from Pell Wall’s 1953 range, a couple of pieces of ambergris that I keep for demonstration purposes, some synthetic ambergris and some of my ambergris tinctures are featured on this section of the ITV This Morning show from Friday 2nd May.

The whole segment is a bit bonkers, featuring as it does a whole range of things made using poo, but it’s nice to see 1953 Eau de Toilette and 1953 Pour Homme featured (even if they didn’t get the spelling right!)

You need to fast forward to 6 minutes into the show if you want to skip the other products: Perfume is on last.



The bottle of part-made tincture they have a sniff at by the way was extracted from a larger batch that is being made from a piece found by artist and guest-house owner Jac Volbeda on a beach in the Western Isles of Scotland last year that has been tincturing since January: I’ll be blogging in detail about this when it’s finished.

Pretty in Pink Review

Just a little blog post today to say a big

Thank You

to The Perfumed Dandy for his charming review of Pretty in Pink, published today as the first of his Festival of Roses series of reviews.  Roses are one of the most fascinating of all flowers - thought to be the oldest decorative plant in cultivation - thousands of varieties exist and Rose Otto shares near legendary status as a perfume ingredient with Ambergris.

Rose oil is also one of the most complex ingredients used in perfumery with some 700 different aroma chemicals that have been identified as contributing to it's wonderful scent.

If you're thinking of giving roses for Valentine's Day this year, consider a lovely rose perfume: an equally romantic and far more lasting gift than those scentless florists roses in plastic tubes, pretty as they undoubtedly are.

Pell Wall in Vogue

The December issue of Vogue features Pell Wall’s Gin & Lime in their Vapour Trail section, which is part of the ‘All I Want For Christmas’ feature towards the end of the magazine.

Vapour Trail - Vogue December 2013

Vogue Dec 2013

Gin & Lime by Pell Wall

Perfumery Talks at Shropshire Lavender

For a great day out this weekend 13th - 14th July, come along to the Shropshire Lavender Farm where I'll be giving talks at 12.30 and 14.30 on perfume, what it is, how it's made and what's really in it.

There will be ingredients and blends for you to smell to illustrate the talk and an opportunity to ask questions.  Book via the Shropshire Lavender Events page.

The farm is open all weekend and features lavender in every guise including cakes to die for!

Pell Wall are mell for perfume
at the Shropshire Lavender Farm 

The event was featured in the Shropshire Star last Saturday - very nice article marred only by getting the name of the business wrong: it's Pell Wall not Pell Mell Perfumes, though Pell Mell isn't far from the truth here sometimes ;-)

King of Perfume

A fun Twitter marketing scheme by Aqua Design Group caught my attention yesterday: the general idea is each week the twitter community are given 12 hours to self nominate for "King of" or "Queen of" their industry - those selected are announced as winners at the end of the period.  As it happened when I spotted it I was just in the process of preparing for the launch of two new fragrances in the 1953 range by Pell Wall , which are based on coronation oil.  That evidently struck a chord and I won!  So now I'm officially:

The above badge is an original design by Aqua for the purpose too: how cool is that?  So if you think you're King of your business, look up #KingOf on Twitter and join in.

Violets on Mothering Sunday

A Posy of Violets on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday has been celebrated here in Britain for a very long time.  Here I'm exploring some of the history of the Day and it's links with scented flowers.

The terms Mother’s Day and Mothering Sunday are used more-or-less interchangeably, but historically they are different events.  The modern Mother’s Day was ‘invented’ in the United States by Julia Ward Howe who wrote The Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 and Ann Jarvis and her daughter Anna who, in the early years of the 20th Century first founded work-groups and later started a campaign for an official US holiday.  President WoodrowWilson signed that into US law in 1914, establishing the holiday and fixing the date as the 2nd Sunday in May.  Many other countries, often replacing or incorporating existing traditions, have taken up this form and date since.

Wild Violets for Mother's Day
painting by artist Paul Wolber

Here in Britain, the much older tradition of Mothering Sunday retains its status as a movable feast, celebrated on the 4^th Sunday of Lent.  Thought to go back to the 16^th Century practice of returning to one’s mother church – usually the nearest Cathedral – on this day, dispersed families were thus enabled to be united.  This in turn is thought to derive from an earlier Roman festival honouring the mother goddess Cybele which was held in mid-March.

In the Church of England, during the Mothering Sunday service in many churches it became usual for children to give small posies of flowers to their mothers and violets in particular often featured in these: the practice was common in the 50s and still happens in some churches today.

Violets

Violets – the scented kind – Viola odorata – have a special place in perfumery.  The scent of violet flowers is sometimes described as ‘flirty’ because it seems to come and go – a feature of the ionones from which the scent is mainly composed.  It has been valued in perfumery for at least 400 years but the scent has always been difficult to capture.  Around the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century – just about when Mother’s Day was being established in the United States – violet perfumes were all the rage.  At this time something very special was available – violet flower absolute – made by solvent extraction from violet flowers and distilled down to the essential principle of the scent of violets.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Even then it was very rare, very expensive and exclusively used in the very best perfumes. We think that the last time violet flower absolute was extracted was around 1902: after that the increasing cost of labour made it uneconomic.  Estimates of what it would cost to produce today vary from $10,000 to $500,000 a kilo – not even the biggest perfume houses can afford that.  Today when you smell violet in a perfume it will be made with a clever combination of synthetic ionones and other chemicals present in the natural scent, recreated and combined by skilled perfumers at a fraction of the cost of extraction.  Perhaps surprisingly, that is true of many flower scents.

Oddly enough though, the little violet has the last word: even today perfumers the world over use one of a tiny number of natural green notes: violet leaf absolute with just a touch of the violet flower hidden within it, it is a lovely material.  You’ll see this romantically described in the scent notes of a perfume as crushed violet leaves – so next time you see that in a description, you’ll know what it means.

Flower Essences

Jacinth by Pell Wall

A posy of violets isn’t something you’ll see in many florists any longer and you certainly shouldn’t pick wild ones, but you could give the perfume equivalent of the posy of spring flowers as a gift this Mother’s Day. If you want real, natural essences they are few: the only spring flower still routinely extracted is narcissus – a fabulously beautiful, complex material made from Narcissus poeticus – unfortunately it has two disadvantages, first that it has a fabulous price to match it’s beauty and second that, however lovely, it does not smell at all like putting your nose to a narcissus flower: a challenge to the perfumer.

One option is a posy of mixed flowers – in my own range I have Jacinth – a sparkling mix of roses, orange flower, ylang and lily and that precious narcissus absolute is in it too. 

Deep Purple by Pell Wall

Alternatively there’s the Spring Flowers Collection of light transparent and cheerfully springlike fragrances in which you will find notes of violets, narcissus, and hyacinth plus of course, crushed violet leaves . . . 

Deep Purple is a true violet scent that might make a perfect alternative to the traditional posy of violets on Mothering Sunday.

A version of this article was first published in the March 2012 edition of the Shropshire Magazine.

Penning Perfumes, Birmingham

I wrote previously about the Penning Perfumes project but now the moment of revelation is fast approaching!

The fragrance I created in response to a poem will be officially released for the first time at the Penning Perfumes event on the evening of Wednesday 6th February 2013 at Le Truc in Birmingham's Ladywell Walk.

I will be there, so will the poet Claire Trévien and we'll be talking about the experience - Claire will be experiencing the fragrance designed from her poem for the first time and giving her reactions live (gulp!) and I'll be talking about how I got from one to the other.  Everyone will get to smell the new creation and if it turns out you love it I'll even have a few bottles for sale.  If you don't already have one you can buy tickets now for this and future events.  Speaking of future events I see that my friend and mentor John Stephen will be creating a perfume live on stage on 21st Feb in Oxford - brave man!

I'm looking forward to a fascinating evening in Birmingham.  Ahead of the event I was asked some questions about the experience - these appear on the Penning Perfumes tumblr page, but I'm also repeating them below.

It looks as if I'm working on something in this picture - but what?

1. As a perfumer, is poetry something you’ve used to stimulate new fragrance ideas before?

There have been a lot of different sources of inspiration and different kinds of brief, but this is the first time I’ve had a poem to work from. More usual for me would be a cocktail, plant or individual scent note, sometimes just a name. Or there could be a more prosaic, conventional kind of perfume brief. This has been a great experience and has made me look back at the poetry I wrote in my youth (I don’t write much any more) to see if there might be a fragrance hiding in there somewhere …

2. What has been your experience of turning a poem into a scent for Penning Perfumes - anything you weren’t expecting, or that was easier/more difficult than you expected?

I suppose the thing that was most unexpected was how easy it was - I don’t mean to say that the perfume came together first go - no such luck! But I expected to struggle to find a match between poetic phrases and imagery and scent notes, but in fact I found they came together very quickly and within an hour or so of first reading the poem I knew roughly the direction I wanted to take the fragrance. I did cheat a bit by exchanging emails with the poet though and that caused a couple of course corrections and added dimensions to the work that I’d not seen before. One of the things that fascinated me was that the poem was itself inspired by a performance of music - so three forms of artistic expression are layered in my perfume only one of which is mine.

3. Which is the one commercially available perfume that you’d love to see turned into a poem and why?

I’d love to see Terre d’Hermes turned into a poem partly because it’s one of my favourite scents and designed by a perfumer I admire very much but also because it’s such an abstract, minimalist creation I’d love to see how it might manifest in verse.

Penning Perfumes

Today I've been working on my contribution to the latest Penning Perfumes project: a splendid idea pioneered by Odette Toilette and Claire Trévien to combine two art forms.  Poets are given perfumes from which to take inspiration and Perfumers are given poems.

The poem I'm responding to is by Claire Trévien herself and I've spent some time today in correspondence with her to better understand the work I'm responding to.  It's called Listening to Charles Ives, which is enough to tell you that the poem takes some of it's inspiration from music - so my perfume will be a third generation derivation of art in a third different medium: I hope I can live up to the earlier works!

Violets on Mother’s Day

This is the third in my series of articles for the Shropshire Magazine on matters perfume, this time featuring an exploration of some of the traditions of Mothering Sunday and the special place of violets in perfumery.

You can see a pdf scan of the article as it appeared in the magazine, under the title Heaven Scent for Mum or a plain pdf file of the unedited article, which is what appears here.

Valentine’s, Roses and Chocolate - the scent of romance

Here is the second in my series of articles for the Shropshire Magazine, this time looking at the history of Valentine’s Day and it’s association with gifts and incorporating a little foray into gourmand perfumes.

Article on the merits of synthetic vs natural ingredients

Article: Synthetic or Natural?

Here you can read a slightly longer version of an article published in the December 2011 edition of the Shropshire Magazine exploring the changing use of natural and synthetic materials in perfume and their relative merits, which you can also read in plain pdf.