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Perfume Creation
Shawn Taylor
Perfume creation is a process best described as an art in which the creator attempts to accurately describe social motion and attitude. The perfumer begins with an idea for a personality type or dominant aspect which (s)he wishes to highlight, and attempts to model it with the smells available. Perfumery is still an art of mostly educated guesswork based on experience. The basic mission of a perfumer is to use smells to evoke mental imagery which creates an attitude concurrent with desired traits and/or social prowess. This is why perfumery is such a lucrative
enterprise, namely, it is a way to create what should be out of someone who is not, or at least make them feel that they are a new creation.
In the paper The Art of Perfumery, I have described many of the items which are taken into consideration when preparing a fragrance. At the base level, the perfumer must consider the relations within the actual fragrance, to include chemistry, balance, and depiction of reality. Beyond this level, he must consider the aspects of personality to make the fragrance appealing and marketable based on a first impression. This is done most effectively by combining the elements of predominant personality types and seasons to create the effect of a union of person and nature. Finally, the perfumer must make the fragrance socially compelling. For this to come about effectively, he must create his fragrance to be current with social trends, which makes the fragrance stunning, and also it must capture an era, which allows the fragrance to last and become a classic. These components allow the fragrance to make both money and a name.
To coincide with this study, I have created a sculpture titled "Pyramid," which illustrates how I perceive a great fragrance. The structure is a 3-sided pyramid with displays on each side and three tongues protruding from underneath to form a base. The form represents a method of perfume deconstruction by layers in which a light top dissipates first leaving progressively larger and heavier layers. There is also a sense of a progression towards a darker and more sinister aspect on the way down. The three sides reflect the elements of a perfume. There is a natural daytime scene with trees, mountains, and a generally dry atmosphere, a swampy nighttime scene with a more gnarled tree, slowly moving water, an alligator, and twinkling stars, and a "power" side with a relatively large vortex and bolt of lightning to start (or finish) the swirl. These aspects comprise the body of the perfume, and are held up by the basal tongues. A human tongue lies between the day and night scenes, an animal tongue between the day and power scenes, and a reptile tongue between the night and power scenes. These describe the legs which provide the basis for a perfume, and to a degree represent the unperceived elements of a perfume which give it its character.