San Francisco based perfumer Yosh Han sent me this wonderful Q & A with natural perfumer Tanja Bochnig of April Aromatics. Enjoy a long insiders’ talk! By the way, my SOTD is Unter den Linden by April Aromatics. Gorgeous.

A perfumer, aromatherapist, yoga instructor and former model, Tanja Bochnig is the “creatrix of April Aromatics.” Her passion is to create natural perfumes using precious essences, extracts and absolutes from nature, 100% natural, organic whenever possible. After having spent 20 years in NY, she moved back to Berlin to raise her daughter and launch her exquisite collection of botanical perfumes.

Yosh:  I was so happy to meet you in Düsseldorf. When I first learned of your products, I just knew that we would hit it off. I love meeting kindred spirits in the perfume world and I love it more when there is a deeper connection with the energy work. I really appreciate your two collections: the natural perfumery collection and Aroma Yoga. What was your inspiration to create separate collections? Do you need to be a yogi(ni) to use the Aroma Yoga collection or can the fragrances be used outside the yoga studio.

Tanja: I feel that we work similarly in the perfume realm and with the essences. I want to express my gratitude to you again, for so generously and kindly connecting people in the world of aromas and for giving us an insight with your writings about other perfumers. It is so nice to know that there are so many likeminded people out there in the world of perfumery.

The two collections of April Aromatics came from my love to these two worlds: yoga and perfumery, which are very connected. My aromatherapy background gave me the understanding of how the oils work on a therapeutic level, physically, emotionally and spiritually and so perfectly fit with the teachings of yoga. When we practice the asanas in yoga, we become very open with all our senses and combining our practice with inhaling and applying the aromas of the essential oils, enhances the whole experience of yoga. I have witnessed beautiful moments with students in class, where a much deeper healing could take place, due to the use of the oils during breathwork, asanas and meditation.

Essential oils have an affinity with certain chakras, which they benefit. For instance the lower chakras, which relate to the physical body and are strongly connected to the earth energy, can be stimulated and energized by oils vibrating on the red color rays and are found close to the surface of the earth. When an essential oil is distilled it contains magnetic rays reflected from nature. Using the associated oils on the chakra areas along the spine, can help balance the chakra to which the oils is linked. The messages that the plants color and aroma carry relate to lessons we have to learn in order for our soul to grow.

One does not have to be an avid yoga practitioner to use the chakra oils. It is actually very simple. They can be used morning or night after showering. One can use one chakra scent or all of them at once, depending on the state of the mood each day. I use them intuitively. Actually I relate everything to the chakras and it becomes a fun ritual of each day. I do have a lot of healing practitioners using the oils and sprays on their clients with the energy work.

Where the chakra line is purely for a therapeutic use, my natural perfume collection is for the love of the scents. Creating perfumes that smell heavenly, with the attribute of being 100% natural, making you feel good at the same time.

Permalink zu diesem Thema

The deed is done. The tenth and last perfume of the L’Oeuvre Noire By Kilian, Sweet Redemption – The End, is standing in front of me. I love neroli and this is why I think it is – next to Beyond Love – the most beautiful scent of the whole collection. There is no better mood enhancer than neroli and therefore it fits perfectly to grey autumn days. The End is wonderfully soft and remarkable at the same time. Its longevity is brilliant! Last night I put it on, just a little bit, today my office smells of this wonderful sweetness. The orange blossom blends perfectly with the balsamic notes, especially with my favorite ingredient opoponax. If the end is so sweet, one must not have fear. But I would like to let the master himself tell us about his final oeuvre…

With Sweet Redemption – The End you have completed your first perfume collection. How do you feel?
I feel great! A little bit nostalgic of course, but this perfume is the right closure for L’Oeuvre Noire. Now I have to surprise everyone with a collection that has to be different yet keeping the spirit of the brand. I have gone through so many names and designs already – some days it feels like an impossible mission!

For this scent you have been inspired by the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and the lyrics of Jim Morrison. What is the common theme, how did you explain the plot of this perfume to Calice Becker?
I told Calice that this scent had to sum up in a way the entire collection! I told her I wanted to express, literally, the “Redemption” facet of the name. This is why we used the balsamic notes, these notes that exist since for thousands of years, notes that human beings used to burn as an offering to the Gods, incense, myrrh, opoponax, benzoin, but with a sweetness to it. I reminded her of the book Faust written by Goethe and the fact that the devil ALWAYS lures with sugar, never with stingers! And this why we used the vanilla.

The collection describes all the steps in a relationship, from the beginning until the end. Why did you choose a rather light formula for the finale, why is the end a Sweet Redemption?
I don’t think it is a light formula. I think it is a formula where we actually have used essential oils with a lot of character (such as incense and myrrh), essential oils that are rarely used today (such as opoponax), but we managed to intertwine them in an orange blossom accord that allows this comfort that you describe as “light formula”.

What will be the next step? An epilogue?
Not an Epilogue!!! Rather a return to the origins of temptation!

For L’Oeuvre Noire you have been working with two female perfumers – Calice Becker and Sidonie Lancesseur. If you ever choose a male perfumer, who could this be? Whose work do you admire?
So many… Alberto Morillas, Jacques Cavallier, Pierre Bourdon…

You told journalist Michelyn Camen a secret: you drive alone in Paris for hours, after midnight. What makes these hours so special for you?
I just love the city of Paris and at night, you have no traffic so you almost have it for yourself! Almost a selfish guilty pleasure!

Night, darkness and the color black seem to be a recurrent theme in your work. Do you have a dark soul?
I don’t think so. For me it’s about the sexiness attached to the darkness, the elegance attached to the black and the fact that at night all boundaries fell! Everything becomes so much more exciting!

What would a secret visitor hear if he observed you working? (i.e. soliloquies, music, which kind of music)
Oh no… he would witness silence in my office and energy when around my team!

What’s the name of your alter ego?
You tell me!

(maybe Vicomte de Valmont, Liaisons Dangereuses, editor’s note)

Last thought before you fall asleep at the end of the day?
When I fall asleep, usually late, I have no more thoughts about work… as I only turn off the light after people in my NY office have ended their day. But once the light is off, I just think about my partner who lives in NYC…

www.bykilian.com

I found this short interview with Fabrice Penot, co-founder of the New York based niche brand Le Labo, on the internet…click here

AnOther Magazine published this interview today.

Olfactorialist forensically explores the world of perfumery with an unprecedented scrutiny. A relatively new blog online since March 2010, it’s written by Berlin-based editor Lena Brombacher, whose interest in sophisticated perfumery transcends fashion and major brands by giving honest and in-depth insights into to some of the best niche fragrances on the market. We spoke to Lena about her about her favourite smells.

What inspired you to start the blog?
I have been in love with perfume ever since I can remember. I was searching the internet for an inspiring blog but everything was so cheesy or simply too much information so I decided to create my own website, in a magazine style, sleek and pure. And I decided to concentrate on niche perfumery, on the ‘crown jewels’ so to speak. The name Olfactorialist is a play on words, ‘olfactory a-list’. The name is a little complicated but I loved it from the moment it came to my head.

What kind of perfumes are blog-worthy, and which aren’t?
There is so much mediocrity on the market. A lot of big brands try to sell their product as the ‘most amazing stuff ever’. Of course I try everything on the perfume market but I don’t write about the mainstream. Niche perfumers are free to create whatever they want – even if it’s a perfume about tiger balm, or about revolution – with blood, sweat and tears. I cherry-pick the really great ones and I write about new releases and classics. I want to inspire. What I don’t like is to talk something down because smell is highly subjective. So for the moment I am concentrating on the things I love. But after a phone conversation with the perfume critic of The New York Times, Chandler Burr, I am also thinking about writing about things I don’t like.

Have you had any formal training about the manufacture of perfumes or is it all from your own research?
I have a hypersensitive nose; I smell everything – perfume, flowers, food, people, apartments, streets, cities… I smell if a person is already in the office when I enter the staircase or I smell fire before anyone else does. I store all these smells in my brain and I can smell them without having them under my nose, just from my memory. I have a huge perfume archive in my brain and of course hundreds of fragrances in my office and I always consider the whole product line and the perfumer behind each scent. So you get a really good overview of the whole market. I never had any formal training but I train my nose every day smelling everything I can. My grandmother had a wonderful garden with all the flowers, fruits and vegetables you can imagine and in my childhood I spent a lot of time outside. To engage yourself in nature, food and travelling is the best way to train your nose.

Permalink zu diesem Thema

I met James Heeley in Berlin. The British designer lives and works in Paris and talks with passion and a French accent about his perfumes. His creations are based on memories, images and impressions – from places, smells or simply raw materials. The scents are sophisticated, sometimes eccentric but never intrusive. They are clear and balanced to perfection. His philosophy: a perfume is made for the person who is wearing it and those who are close to this person. Everything else would be an invasion of privacy.

First of all you are a designer, the design of the packages, vials, brochures and scent strips is wonderful – one can feel your love for detail. When did you decide to create perfumes? Was there a pivotal moment?

I came to scent through flowers. My first job as a designer was working with Christian Tortu, a well known florist and artistic director in here in Paris. I was just amazed the first time I walked into his flower store. There was a fantastic smell, but not only because of the flowers but because of a candle that he was doing with Annik Goutal. I suddenly realized that there was a whole creative process behind scent. A scent isn’t just a scent. It doesn’t appear from nowhere, it fascinated me.

I realised that as a designer I could also do the graphic design and the packaging. I could turn the packaging into something that was not just a box but something that could be reused as a vase. It is rare now in today’s world to make a product from A to Z and to master it. I mean to master what goes into the bottle and to design the packaging. I saw it as a complete exercise. So that’s really how it started.

Permalink zu diesem Thema