Artisans and Perfumers
What is inside a perfume? And how is a quality perfume created?
A perfume creator, known as a “nose”, is said to work with around 3,000–3,500 substances, and choosing among them calls for knowledge, intuition and creativity – above all, that special flair for scent that gives the “nose” its name.
The composition of a perfume usually begins with the choice of a basic theme, which becomes its dominant character. It is the emotional key that captures the senses and wins over the memory of those who choose it and make it their own. The raw materials used in perfumery are divided into families – more precisely, 18 well-defined families – which are then arranged in what is known as the “olfactory pyramid”, ordering the components by how long they last and by their dominant note.
Today, the groups that bring together elements with a similar origin or olfactory character are called sub-families: the countless raw materials, both natural and synthetic, that make up a fragrance have all been assigned to one of them.
