My secret garden in London photo by Kershen Teo@

When I bought a house in London it was the first time, I had a garden to work in and I was very interested to make something special there. Gardening drew me into smelling natural things. It was crushed leaves and flowers that inspired me to go into natural perfumery, bringing all that is healing and uplifting in nature into fragrances.

I approach making a good perfume much as I developed my garden. My starting point was the path. With space limited, I made one that wound sinuously across it. I chose white crushed granite for this, edged with bronze to keep things neat. In place of flat lawn I created broad curving borders with tall planting, so my path would be a journey offering surprise and discovery at every turn. As a natural perfumer I am on the same quest for structure and beauty arising from juxtapositions that offer a coherent yet ever-changing thread, engaging and original. Often as I work towards a completing a fragrance I turn to painting, visualizing the interaction of materials in terms of color, form and pattern. As a trained designer, this discipline is a kind of second nature by now. It helps me check that I’ve really found the optimum, really seen a logic in the materials and their interaction.

This graphing and visualizing practice is one I developed with several excellent well-known perfumes, Here are five I have studied which please me because, like the white path in my garden, they offer a journey from top note to base that is characterful, varied and structurally satisfying.

  art and painting by Kershen Teo@ inspired by L’Heure Bleue.

A star awaits its birth

Jacques Guerlain’s classic L’Heure Bleue is fabulously intriguing. I see a soft powdery felt-like tapestry in the style of Paul Klee. I am in awe of how the aniseed evokes the setting sun in the twilight hour, mingling with lovely florals that transit amazingly to a rich bed of sensual iris-amber accord. This evokes so tangibly the unwinding pause when work is over in the summer months, and feather-soft evenings stretch into nights as intense as they are short. Romantic and suave, my white path take-out is the inspired aniseed power: simple, subtly magical.

painting and art by Kershen Teo@ inspired by Bandit.

A trip to the wild side

Robert Piguet Bandit by Germaine Cellier is a true avant-garde classic. Its use of artemisia (herbaceous) and oakmoss (green, earthy) means top and base notes both here establish a green path. Artemisia scowls at a bunch of rich florals in the heart including neroli and carnation, emphasizing their tenderness, while the base adds animalic leather and civet. This dark sexy shocker reminds me of Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Tread carefully.

 

 art and painting by Kershen Teo@ inspired by Carnal Flower

Tuberose magic

Frederic Malle Carnal Flower by Dominique Ropion. I love this for the eucalyptus, the lactonic facets and the overripe sensuality of tuberose by way of indole. I see cooling camphor juxtaposing with the creamy floralcy of tuberose that makes this richly exciting. Eucalyptus in this indeed got me thinking that when you buy your lovely roses it’s often eucalyptus leaves that accompany them and give a fresh vibe-boost to the bouquet. To enhance the natural sensuality, the indole adds a touch of adventure like an insect drawn to the wicked potency of the scent, transforming into a diamond along the way.

 painting by Kershen Teo@ inspired by Hermessence Santal Massoia

Secret Pleasure

Hermessence Santal Massoia by Jean-Claude Elléna. I must confess I love the smell of massoia oil, woodiness and creamy coconut in one. I would gladly smell this all day. It’s evoked here using different lactones. The spirit of massoia is beautifully captured by pairing it with a very fine Sandalwood. I visualize an aura of sweet fruity notes, the olfactive equivalent of cracking into a prune-laced crème brûlée while reclining on a couch covered in white mink while looking up at a pearl-roped chandelier. Indulgence at a peak of luxe, and a lot fun.

painting by Kershen Teo@ inspired by Trudon, Revolution

Revel Rebel
Trudon, Revolution by Lynn Harris. It’s all amazingly intriguing but I especially love the use of Angelica root and Elemi, and smoky cade darkening the woody amber base. Angelica root oil has the ability to encompass a composition from top to base. The bitter earthiness and dry peppery notes at the top are tamed by citrus-tinged Elemi. As it contains tridecanolide and exaltolide, Angelica is one of the materials natural perfumers can use to create muskiness in the base. Subtly animalic with labdanum, Revolution is a kind of hommage to France’s history of precipitating Europe into modernity. The criss cross motif in this sketch, represents the danger and risk we face as humanity. A creation filled with courage, and for those in need of courage.

And that’s my hope as a perfumer: to bring surprise and pleasure through perfume – fulfilling or inciting dreams that defy language or clear depiction, yet move us and take us on voyages of olfactive discovery that enrich and empower our sense of the possible.

Kershen Teo, Guest Contributor