A perfumer is a trained professional who creates fragrances for
household products, toiletries, cosmetics, and fine fragrances for men
and women. A perfumer mixes hundreds of different ingredients to
make one perfume. A fragrance in its most basic form is a molecular
composition of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur. An average
fragrance has 60 to 100 ingredients, more complex aromas can have as many
as 300. A perfumer’s skill is his ability to manipulate these elements
into a pleasing and marketable scent.
Perfumers start their studies at about the age of 18 to 20 years
old. The training process to become a perfumer is intense and rigorous
and takes many years. It can take five, ten, fifteen years of long,
hard work, to understand how to put a fragrance together. They first
have to learn the hundreds of natural and synthetic materials in drills,
similar to a child learning their multiplication tables on flash cards.
These natural and synthetic materials are the basic components for all
fragrances. A student in training must learn how to differentiate
between multiple aromas through their sense of smell and label them appropriately.
One must be able to create both simple and complex fragrances by combining
and balancing these raw materials in creative and unique ways. The
competition for a perfumer trainee is fierce and only about 50 of 600 students
are accepted by perfume schools.
One educational institution is the ISIPCA ,(Institut Superieur
International du Parfum, de la Cosmetique et de l’Aromatique Alimentaire)
a world renowned government- sponsored school found in Versailles.
Another, is the Givaudan Roure school in Argenteuil, France.
This school, which was founded in 1947, provides in-house training for
the companies’ own perfumers.
Many factors contribute to a successful career in perfumery.
A perfume that becomes a popular and well-known fragrance would naturally
lead to great monetary rewards. One particular perfumer, Jean Kerleo,
said that he gets the most pleasure in what he does out of “the creation
and the fact of being able to touch and select my raw materials.”
There also is a sense of excitement in mixing and balancing the materials
that allows ones creativity free reign.
As with all careers, there are many problems associated with
this field. Perfumes are very expensive to create as the raw materials
are costly and hundreds of mixtures are made sometimes without developing
a single new fragrance. Many times a perfumer’s career ends without
ever having developed a successful popular perfume. As with many
factions of the world of style, a perfume that is developed can be out
of step with the popular trends of that time. The very feminine aromas
of the past were replaced by “musky” scents and then “fruity” feel good
aromas. The present market offers a wide variety of choices, with
popularity being determined by the lifestyles of the consumers and the
major marketing strategies of the perfume companies. Also, a poorly
labeled, titled, or bottled perfume can fail to become successful because
of these seemingly unimportant
factors.
Jobs are available in this field, but becoming a perfumer is
difficult with much education required and a discriminating sense
of smell being needed. The American Society of Perfumers, Inc. (ASP)
is an example of a non-profit organization whose main goal is to foster
and encourage the art and science of perfumery in the United States.
Suppliers sell their oils to clients by the pound. Mass
marketed fragrances sell for only about $30.00 a pound, while higher and
prestigious scents sell for $60.00 to $80.00 a pound. A few popular
scents sell for even more, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
A perfumer’s salary is based upon their success in creating and selling
a fragrance.
The fraternity of perfumers is an elite one, with there being
only about 400 perfumers in the world. Half of these people work
in the United States, making the ration of perfumers to population about
one to a million in this country. Women represent only about 20%
of the perfumers working in the field today but they are increasingly being
seen going into this career.
A perfumer’s job is to please the client. Fragrances have
long been associated with desirability, femininity, masculinity, and romance.
People want to feel good about themselves and will pay the price to portray
an image that fits their life style and expectations of their ego.
It is a booming business with no foreseeable decline in the near future.
....
.
.
.
Works Cited
1. http:www.Perfumers.org/about_asp.html
2. Newman, Cathy. Perfume. National Geographic Society,
1998
