Humanity has typically struggled to protect its data. Some accomplishments stay true mysteries as we speak as a result of Man has been unable to guard data over the ages. The hassle to maintain, keep and share data have to be a important mission as a result of, in any other case, how are you aware the place to go when you don’t know the place you come from? Of all human creations, perfumes are sometimes thought of probably the most fragile. That is how the Osmothèque, the primary worldwide fragrance conservatory in Versailles, is its valiant protector. LuxuryActivist had the chance to contact Ms Anne-Cécile Pouant, Deputy Director at The Osmothèque She performed the sport of our unique interview which allowed us to be taught extra in regards to the wonderful work finished by such a prestigious establishment.
LuxuryActivist (LA): Pricey Anne-Cécile, it’s typically stated that our relationship with scents and perfumes is normally one thing very private. What are your first olfactory recollections, and what triggered your vocation to this trade? Anne-Cécile Pouant (ACP): The extra I work on this world of fragrance, and primarily since I’ve been on the Worldwide Conservatory of Perfumes, the extra I see the significance that smells and fragrances have in our lives and in our recollections. Olfactory reminiscence is a strong automobile for time journey. Essentially the most distant olfactory reminiscence, which works again to childhood, could be very clear to me: it’s a combination of ronéotype (this ancestor of the photocopier, utilized in faculties within the 70s which reproduced the texts in purple color) and Mercryl Laurylé, that disinfectant so helpful for skinned knees in playgrounds. Certainly, the college drugs cupboard was above the photocopy gadget in a small cramped room. One should consider that I used to go to that place typically as its reminiscence is so intense. I used to be in kindergarten. So it goes again fairly a great distance prior to now… and but, it is rather a lot alive. And as we speak, I nonetheless love these smells of pharmacy and ink!
Though I’ve at all times been delicate to scents and appreciated perfumes from a really younger age, I feel what attracted me to perfumes was extra the picture this universe emanates: the magnificent ads, the home windows of conventional perfumeries with the enormous bottles, the sophistication exuded by the individuals who labored there, the spectacular make-up shows, and the powdery or chypre path of the ladies who got here out of them. This universe, which appeared aside, fascinated me and attracted me so I’d keep on the exit of the one perfumery retailer within the metropolis the place I lived to seize some glitters.
Photograph: Anne-Cécile Pouant / L’Osmothèque
LA: How would you sum up your skilled profession, particularly your beginnings? I really feel like all roads result in Rome concerning the fragrance trade. What was your path? ACP: My skilled orientation in direction of fragrance was initially made by means of luxurious, with a specialization oriented in direction of communication. I’ve devoted just a few particular coaching modules to this and analysis papers on the worth of luxurious manufacturers. One model haunted me amongst all these I studied: CHANEL. I studied it rather a lot, dissected, scrutinized and analyzed it. It nonetheless fascinates me as a lot as we speak because it embodies the perfection of brand name picture administration. Then, I entered luxurious and, extra notably, fragrance by means of an sudden door, design: after finding out at Sciences Po and a primary expertise in Tahiti with the most important producer of black pearls, I had the prospect to be recruited by a inventive company specializing in design and packaging for fragrance manufacturers.
After the start of my second daughter, I created my company to advise and help shoppers within the creation of their model identification and the deployment of their communication, providing a variety of companies to magnificence institutes and spas in addition to to natural manufacturers which appeared to me on the time to be the much less essential manufacturers of the sector.
I had the chance to hitch the Osmothèque in 2015 to breathe new life into it. This distinctive establishment, created 25 years earlier on an initiative of perfumer Jean Kerléo and a gaggle of passionate perfumers from the S.F.P. (French Society of Perfumers), was not sufficiently seen, didn’t occupy the place that an establishment representing the olfactory heritage of world perfumery ought to have.
Photograph: Anne-Cécile Pouant / L’Osmothèque
LA: Your profession path has led you to fulfill and collaborate with famend companions in addition to dream manufacturers. What do you retain from these collaborations earlier than becoming a member of the Osmothèque? ACP: From my coaching, as I informed you, I studied CHANEL, and I’m lucky to have as we speak as Vice-President of the Osmothèque, one among their eminent in-house perfumers: Christopher SHELDRAKE. Right now, CHANEL is one among our primary sponsor contributors, with the discretion and class that characterizes the French luxurious home.
In my profession in an company, I’ve certainly had the prospect to work with the inventive groups of main homes and to accompany them within the very good developments of recent perfumes: Cartier, Dior, Guerlain, Mauboussin, Bulgari, Asprey… but additionally on worldwide initiatives: Boticario and Natura in Brazil, Hera and Amore Pacific in Korea, or complete creations of ideas resembling The Totally different Firm. Working with a designer like Thierry de Baschmakoff, I retain the significance of the coherence of an idea and its variation, the worth of indicators and codes inherited from historical past, and huge sources of inspiration for future creations.
LA: The Osmotheque is an establishment distinctive on the earth and of valuable utility. What image did you could have of the Osmothèque earlier than working there? ACP: I had the chance to go to it after I was working in design for perfumery. I had not grasped its essence and its distinctive character, maybe attributable to an unclear identification (hosted on the campus of a faculty, with out a storefront), somewhat outdated and a reputation not very specific: Osmothèque (osme: scent / theke: classification). A library of scents. And for me, who labored in branding, the absence of bottles, ornament and scripting made me miss out on the treasures contained on this one-of-a-kind assortment.
Photograph: Anne-Cécile Pouant / L’Osmothèque
LA: What drives you as we speak to maintain such a tremendous establishment going? ACP: Being within the first line as we speak to do justice and shine the legacy of the founders by making the Osmothèque a significant cultural establishment within the preservation of the olfactory heritage of fragrance. It’s a problem as it’s not but apparent for everybody! The concept of the founders was actually sensible: they had been actually pioneers, conscious that the heritage of fragrance is valuable however by definition evanescent and due to this fact intrinsically doomed to vanish (a fragrance that you may now not scent…is a fragrance that ends by dying). To protect them, we should due to this fact proceed to have the ability to scent them and due to this fact, protect them in optimum circumstances, have the ability to redo them repeatedly: which turns into a problem if we should not have preserved formulation and elements which can be consistently evolving and specific know-how. Certainly, fragrance has not at all times been made in accordance with the requirements we all know.
A CONSERVATORY OF PERFUMES IS THEREFORE ALSO A CONSERVATORY OF EMOTIONS. THIS GIVES A HUMAN DIMENSION TO OUR MISSION WHICH PARTICULARLY MOVES ME.
Anne-Cécile Pouant, Deputy Director at L’Osmothèque
It’s a actual problem to protect this assortment, testimony to a singular relationship that has existed for 1000’s of years, to a really particular relationship of man with scents and fragrance: communication with the gods, adornment of the highly effective, anti-miasma protect, drugs, weapon of mass seduction, final accent of the picture that one needs to convey, or delicate aspect of well-being. Fragrance accompanies the lifetime of males, their reminiscence, and their feelings … From one other viewpoint, we protect works which, for a few of them, have a significant affect on the historical past of this artwork of perfumery. As such, doing the whole lot we do to protect its olfactory dimension means contributing to the writing of its historical past and making it lasting. By preserving this heritage, we’re a automobile for future generations.
LA: With greater than 5,000 perfumes, a few of which have disappeared from the market, how do you outline the entry of a fragrance into your Osmothèque? ACP: The entries within the assortment are finished primarily in 3 methods. To start with, the manufacturers entrust us with their creations (in accordance with agreements that we have now put in place with them). It thus enriches the “up to date” collections of the Conservatory. New manufacturers are solicited or seem spontaneously to counterpoint the gathering. We’re very open as a result of nobody can predict the lifespan of those homes and their creations. No matter their future, future treasures could also be amongst them. We even have agreements with the large composition homes that ship us their wins of the yr.
Photograph: L’Osmothèque
Then, for perfumes which have disappeared and have been recognized by us as “premium”, that’s to say, that they have to completely be current within the collections, a number of choices: if we have now the method deposited on the Osmothèque with the authorization of redo for our strict actions (no industrial exploitation behind and assure of the secrecy of the formulation) in addition to all of the uncooked supplies and bases permitting them to be redone, they’re “reweighed” on the idea of the unique method by our “cellar group”. After we don’t have the method, we work in collaboration with the manufacturers or homes that personal them as a way to have it redone by them. We generally make our distinctive collections of uncommon and extinct supplies out there to them.
Lastly, for very previous perfumes (earlier than the synthesis revolution on the finish of the nineteenth century), the work is extra complicated. It’s not a lot the method that makes issues sophisticated (they’re generally “public” in previous creations. It’s extra their decoding and their needed interpretation that make issues sophisticated: Discovering all of the unknown supplies, estimating proportions which can be typically sketchy and making compromises and interpretations. For this reason the Osmothèque is extra cautious and circumspect about these very previous perfumes that are extra topic to warning.
Confronted with the passion of varied actors about these historic reconstructions, the Osmothèque intends to be a beacon of reference with its confirmed methodology and the data gathered over greater than 30 years. It focuses above all on disseminating a exact nomenclature, which may very well be authoritative and grow to be an “official” nomenclature. This venture is supported by its Scientific Committee.
Photograph: LÔsmothèquePhotograph: L’Osmothèque
LA- Of all of the Osmothèque’s actions, which makes you the proudest? ACP: The Osmothèque operates round these primary missions: the preservation and growth of its collections, transmission (these are all of the cultural mediations we do for all audiences), and analysis. Two missions make me notably proud: to have contributed with nice tenacity to seek out the hint of a significant fragrance as a way to have it reintegrate into the gathering. That is the Trèfle Incarnat from Maison L.T Piver, an amazing French heritage home. Right now, I’m on different tracks which can be about to return to completion… My “In Search of Misplaced Perfumes” adventures proceed! I’m additionally very proud to work within the normal curiosity (in accordance with our standing as a non-profit Affiliation Legislation 1901) and to welcome younger folks, typically from the third yr internship, as a way to enable them to set foot on this seemingly fairly closed world of fragrance. I attempt at my stage to open doorways and put a foot within the stirrup for individuals who should not have pre-existing networks or a well-known surname to make their job simpler. What delight for me to see them then transfer ahead of their skilled venture
However I might additionally speak to you about organising the “J’ADOPTE UN PARFUM” sponsorship marketing campaign that I imagined with my group to compensate for the dearth of economic assets linked to the closure of the Osmothèque throughout confinement. It’s a marketing campaign that invitations patrons to affiliate their title with a fragrance that they symbolically undertake. We share on our networks a brief textual content that they write to us and which explains their attachment to this fragrance. The testimonials are very touching and typically related to the reminiscence of a cherished one. It is a very good venture of which I’m notably proud!
LA: May you please inform us an essential reality or an anecdote that has marked you since your arrival on the Osmothèque? ACP: One reality has notably marked me since my arrival on the Osmothèque: the day I discovered myself in jail, the primary time for me! The truth is, I intervened with Isabelle Chazot (administrator and president of our scientific committee) for a cultural mediation on the Orient and perfumes on the ladies’s jail in Versailles. A timeless second for all (inmates and staff) the place you notice the energy of the ability of evocation (and escape!) of perfumes in a closed universe. This expertise satisfied me that fragrance may very well be a common language, and that it might contribute to creating bridges and opening up marvellous horizons by avoiding on borders, and cultural, generational or bodily variations.
LA: How do you take into account the fragrance trade as we speak? We see so many launches and in the end so few chosen ones who stand the take a look at of time. ACP: I take a really relaxed take a look at it: we don’t know the place to show; the very best creations stay alongside the worst. And the launches are so quite a few that I hand over on the thought of mastering the whole lot. So after I occur to return throughout “treasures”, I get excited and say it loud and clear! Go and uncover a Milky Dragon from Isabelle Larignon, or a Cri de la Lumière from Parfum d’Empire… you will notice that one might be amazed by the present creation!
I even have the acute privilege of with the ability to dive into the marvels and masterpieces that represent the heritage of fragrance and likewise to take refuge there when the present cacophony is just too robust. Put your nostril again on a Fruit Défendu from 1914 at Paul Poiret, an Emeraude from François Coty whose centenary we have now simply celebrated, or more moderen like an authentic from Mystère de Rochas from 1978 or a Coriandre from Jean Couturier from 1973: these perfumes that may very well be known as “classic” maintain up so nicely even as we speak! It’s a magnificent perfumery fashion that made folks of my era love fragrance.
LA: For a really very long time, the authorized side of the mental safety of perfumes has been a fragile topic. Does the Osmothèque have an official place on the topic? How one can defend the heritage of the fragrance trade as we speak? ACP: When it was created, the Osmothèque endeavoured to acquire the help of manufacturers or rights holders to be entrusted with secret formulation and extremely delicate components. As you already know, you can’t defend a fragrance method in any other case, and that is nonetheless legitimate as we speak. We have now arrange on the conservatory a really supervised protocol which ensures depositors the strict confidentiality of the formulation entrusted to us. From Osmotheque’s viewpoint, it appears essential to us to not overlook, as our president Thomas Fontaine repeatedly reminds us: “The problems for us are above all cultural; because the Conservatory of Perfumes, we defend fragrance from this angle”.
Photograph: L’Osmothèque
LA: What query would you dream of being requested in regards to the Osmothèque and what can be its reply? ACP: I’d dream that an amazing patron asks me: how a lot help do it’s worthwhile to perform your initiatives within the subsequent three years? And I’d dream of answering him: the whole lot is ok, the entire occupation is behind us to help its heritage, and the general public authorities subsidize us generously! It’s sadly solely a dream… so I’ll reply him that he can help us as we speak whereas ready for this dream to return true!
LA: Do you could have any new upcoming initiatives that you may inform us about right here? ACP: We’re finishing up an formidable web site venture to supply a extra appropriate setting for our collections and our actions, which have developed considerably lately. We wish to present an actual place of tradition round fragrance. We wish to supply our audiences an experiential place highlighting the treasures of our collections. On the similar time suggest a office for our groups, a spot of analysis and documentation, a laboratory for our re-formulation or our historic work and a spot of conservation for our collections of perfumes and uncooked supplies. It should have the ability to enable our varied audiences to (re) uncover the large olfactory heritage that’s fragrance.
LA: Are you able to inform us one thing about your self that few folks know that will be attention-grabbing to know? ACP: As a part of my work, I’ve the posh of being nearer to historic perfumes and magical elixirs that nobody can take pleasure in anymore. These “sleeping beauties” are at nighttime, in opaque bottles sheltered from the ravages of time, in the back of these temperature-controlled cupboards. Smelling them takes you distant, elsewhere, to a different time… Typically, within the distinctive setting of the Osmothèque cellar, I open one among these vials and discover myself transported to a different space-time. It’s Baudelairean: “Typically you discover an previous bottle, from which springs alive a soul that returns”.
I thus keep in mind an “nearly actual dialog” with Paul Poiret making an attempt to unravel the thriller of the well-known “Fruit Défendu” created in 1914 for his Rosine perfumes. One other time, I additionally discovered myself impromptu and imaginary on board the Orient Categorical on the way in which to Istanbul or Venice and met Sergey Diaghilev and his Russian ballets there, and even I received to know Marlène Dietrich just about by probability from a volute of Tabac Blond escaping from a bottle of uncooked materials. I fleetingly met Jean Patou on the deck of the primary class of the Normandie. What an opportunity to have the ability to strategy so intently by means of fragrance these characters and these bygone instances…intimate and secret moments.
LA: What can we want you for the longer term? ACP: Right now I’ve the prospect to have a one-of-a-kind job and the privilege of being accountable for preserving one of many jewels of our cultural heritage. I meet probably the most lovely works that perfumery has produced, in addition to the best creators. I make extraordinary human encounters. My every day life is stuffed with initiatives. I prefer to take this bridge between the world of fragrance and the cultural world. One step after the opposite, however past the battle, a hyperlink between these worlds.
As for the Osmothèque, it’s 30 years previous. It’s time for this establishment intently linked to French heritage, acknowledged internationally, to unite the help of public authorities round its actions. It’s also time for it to be strongly supported by the fragrance trade and for it to supply actual monetary help. Thus, the Conservatory will have the ability to carry even increased and for the advantage of all the colors of this extraordinary embassy of fragrance!
In conclusion, Anne-Cécile Pouant is a passionate girl with a uncommon emotional intelligence. We might hearken to her for hours as the eagerness flowed by means of her phrases. The Osmotheque is a uncommon place, even distinctive and its Deputy Director is the proper captain of such prestigious boat that may hopefully be round for good a long time of navigation. The Osmothèque is 30 years previous, and we’re all desperate to know the marvels that may nonetheless be found and preserved for human pleasure and data.
L’Osmothèque – Conservatoire Worldwide des Parfums 36 rue du Parc de Clagny 78000 Versailles Tel: +33 (0)1 39 55 46 99 https://www.osmotheque.fr
José Amorim Data sourced by the writer for luxuryactivist.com. All content material is copyrighted with no copy rights out there. Pictures are for illustration functions solely.
