Sunday, April 14, 2013

Read more: Romancing reality - Style - New Straits Times

THE world of fragrance has always been veiled with a sweetly-scented romance that takes us to flower fields, herb plantations and worldwide explorations to find that special scent.
It takes us into ancient perfume laboratories where perfumers mix painstakingly distilled oils to find that magic potion.

Unfortunately, that perfumed fairytale isn’t always as sweet-smelling as marketers would like us to believe.
Creating a perfume is getting more difficult and it is impossible to concoct a totally virginal scent because every plant, herb and flower has been used.

“The difference is just in the composition — what you use less or more of,” says Christopher Chong, creative director of House Of Amouage.
“If I give you a virginal scent, it would smell awful, like... burnt plastic. And who wants to wear that? Perfume houses are expected to roll out fragrances for profit, but they cannot come up with anything entirely original so they tweak here and there,” he says.

Amouage is a high-end perfume company from Oman that’s currently based in London. Chong was in Kuala Lumpur for the opening of its standalone store here, the first in Asia.

CHALLENGING TIME
To make matters worse for the industry, climate change and depletion of natural resources have taken its toll. Erratic weather means manufacturers can no longer be guaranteed of the seasonal yield.

“Last year, when we made Honour, there were shortages of jasmine and rose. India is no longer able to produce sandalwood for the industry and the best ones come from there. Sandalwood trees grow slowly and they have been over-harvested,” says Chong.

“The best agarwood (or gaharu) comes from Indonesia and the depletion of the tree pushes the prices up to the point that it can cost even more than gold. The best frankincense comes from Oman which is also facing supply issues.

“Crops are just like vegetables. With climate change, the yield and quality changes as well and that affects the scent.”
Among the companies supplying ingredients to the industry is Treatt Plc. In an article titled Global Outlook — Controlling the Uncontrollable (published in 2005 on the Treatt website), the chief executive officer of its American subsidiary, Daemmon Reeve, wrote that production may disappear from some established areas and migrate to other regions.

“(This leads) to changes in the product’s profile and the introduction of new materials or sourcing from countries that previously had no essential oil industry.”

A LITTLE HELP
To address environmental concerns, man-made scents came into the picture.
Chong says that even Grasse, the bastion of plants for perfumes, undertakes synthetic explorations to manage over-harvesting and to counter crop shortages.
“Everyone uses man-made ingredients in their perfumes, maybe not all... but they just don’t tell you that,” says Chong who was trained as an opera singer.

He adds that Amouage uses 20 per cent concentrate in its EDP. Its latest fragrance, Interlude, has 22.5 per cent concentrate for women and 25 per cent for men.

The quality of synthetic scents, like musk and amber, for instance, differ greatly according to price, quality and manufacturer.

Take rose essential oils, for example. The best are oils distilled from just petals, from a certain type of rose that blooms at a certain time. Inferior ones include the stem and and leaves in the process.
“Our man-made products are of top quality and we mix it equally with natural oils so the end product isn’t compromised,” says Chong. “We try to find a balance. There is commerce, quality and respect for nature that we have to consider.”

HEALTH CONCERNS
As if climate change is not enough, the fragrance industry is also plagued by regulations, especially in the European Union, where most well-known perfume houses are based. Every company is subjected to stringent regulations in its perfume composition.


Read more: Romancing reality - Style - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/style/romancing-reality-1.112185#ixzz2QQIEcv00