It was a cold night, but many perfume lovers showed-up to learn more about two courses that Pratt and Cinquieme Sens are offering starting in February: The Technique and Language of Perfumery, and The Fragrance Sales Program. Sniffapalooza’s ever-gracious Karen Dubin introduced both Laetitia Longuefosse from Cinquieme Sens, and Raymond Matts, a Fragrance Designer with over 25 years experience in the industry; he will be leading the six-session certificate courses. Mr. Matts has created many fine fragrances, and as a Fragrance Designer he has been an ally to perfumers pushing them in different creative directions and sometimes reminding them to remember the eye of the consumer. He has also created scented brand identity for cars, hotels, and told us that he is currently working on his own line of fragrances.

The Technique and Language course will take a look at the history of fragrance, from ancient times to current trends, and chart a few famous perfumers too. It will also cover how we smell, remembering that when we smell we are actually smelling with our brain, our nose merely acts as a kind of channel that the molecules pass through, intrinsically linking smell to memory. This will help us with learning the language of describing fragrance that has more to do with emotions and associations and less to do with guessing single notes. If we close our eyes, and are silent we will find that accords, raw materials, and perfume compositions are highly complex, full of color and texture. Mr. Matts reminded us that fragrance is a journey. Another highlight will take a look behind the scenes at the suppliers of natural and raw materials around the world, and even take a brief look at legislation involved with regulation of raw materials.

Modeling the course, we paused to smell raw materials and fragrances; it was fascinating to hear Mr. Matts describe specific olfactive moments. His stories illustrated how much he sees the world so precisely though his nose. As we smelled a Linden accord, we heard him talk about being in Central Park just before June when the Linden Trees are in full bloom. Each time he encounters the Linden he smells a different aspect of the tree, heady floral, next green and astringent, and on and on, all of these layers are added to the accord on the blotter. We smelled Jasmine Absolute and then Hedione, a synthetic that contains the lighter characteristics of Jasmine. When Matts smells Hedione he feels the flower’s petal, as I smell the blotter I understand what he means. As we smell Birch, he tells us that some raw materials might smell ugly, yet the perfumer knows how to manipulate these materials to create dimension, structure and bring balance to a formula. Smelling raw materials and fragrance always reminds me to stay responsive to the world we live in. Mr. Matts would like us to push this idea so that we visualize fragrance as “liquid emotions.”

Thank you to Karen and Sniffapalooza for organizing another fun and educational event.

–Valerie Vitale, Contributing Editor