Entretien avec Alberto Morillas, maître parfumeur chez Firmenich et créateur d’Essence:

Hello, Mr Morillas !

Today, your nose is as famous as the one of Cyrano of Bergerac. I am wondering how does one become a perfumer like you ? A lot of passion and perseverance is required to become a perfumer, as well as a great deal of training. When did you decide that you will become a perfume creator ? Was it one of your dreams as a child ? When I discovered that there was a creator behind each fragrance, I read an article in Vogue magazine where Jean-Paul Guerlain explained how to create a fragrance; it was then that I decided that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

You have an amazing record of perfumes created for “grands couturiers” like Calvin Klein, Armani, Versace, Kenzo and now Narciso Rodriguez. I am wondering how you work with so many different designers to end up creating perfumes that always become famous.

How does it work ? Do they contact you with a very precise idea of the scent they want or you help them finding out ? Each designer has his own style, each brand has a soul, I try to translate the core of these brands into my fragrances, sometimes when I am contacted to work on a new fragrance I already have a clear idea in my mind of what envision for the brand and how I would like to translate this into a specific fragrance that I feel fits the moment and the brand; other times my clients have an idea and we work together to develop it into a fragrance, either way, we need to agree and work in harmony!

What are the main stages of the creation of a perfume ? Finding a theme, translating the theme into an olfactive idea, developing the idea into a finished fragrance, clearly there are many other steps that may be less ‘poetic’ but that are essential to launching a top quality fragrance.

Mr Rodriguez said in a very good article about Essence « la idea era coger la sensualidad que tiene el almizcle y hacer algo a partir de él que pudiera capturar la emoción de la luz del sol sobre la piel. » How do you transform an emotion into a perfume ? Are you the Wizard of Nose or something like this? I have always thought that scents created emotions and memories and you are the one behind who creates scents from emotions and memories. It sounds so incredible… Transforming an emotion into a perfume is the essence of the perfumer’s role, this is what we do, expressing emotion through fragrance is like expressing poetry through words or an image through a palette of colours; our palette is made of raw materials, both natural essential oils and absolutes, as well as the most sophisticated of synthetic raw materials - essential to adding unexpected nuances, lift and trail, to modern day fragrances, I work at Firmenich a leader in the creation of new synthetic olfactive molecules.

I have always thought that scents created emotions and memories and you are the one behind who creates scents from emotions and memories. It sounds so incredible…

Was it difficult to create this perfume according to Mr Rodriguez desires ? How long did it take ? Not at all, it was a pleasure, Mr. Rodriguez is a true professional, he has an innate sense of beauty and is a connoisseur of scent, so we were able to exchange ideas and build this fragrance together.  We also share a particular affinity to musky notes, this is the principle characteristic of Essence.

How would you define Essence in a few words ? Essence is timeless and ageless, it is both intense and ethereal.  Olfactively it combines the fresh persistence of rose, the powderiness of Iris and a musk body this is the soul of the Narciso Rodriguez olfactive signature.

I have tried Essence too and I have to admit it is easy to make it “ones” (sorry for my English.). It is not a story in itself like some other perfumes are. I feel Essence does write the story with the woman who wears it. I like this feeling very much every morning now. Do you think it could suit every skin type and deliver the same emotion in the end? One says that fragrance smells different on each person’s skin, this is somewhat true in that different types of skin accentuate different parts of the fragrance rather than actually changing the fragrance:  Does fragrance deliver the same emotion to everyone? I would say no, simply because fragrance is very personal and subjective, the scents that one likes or doesn’t like are determined by your background, your culture, your surroundings, what you are used to eating, as well as what is olfactively acceptable or not acceptable within your community.

In the past, perfume has been a way of masking body scents, even a lack of personal hygiene. In the novel titled “the Perfume”, it was also a way of hiding people souls. Do you think 21th century ideal perfume is one that reveals true personnality or do you think women (and men) still like to hide behind a perfume ? Today scent is about pure pleasure,  scent is about putting forward who you are, it is your personal signature, sometimes it reflects your mood; there are individuals who pick one scent for life and others who like to change frequently depending on the current fashion or their mood or the season.

Mr Morillas, thank you for your time.

(Traduction française à venir, mes petits chaussons...)