My formulas can be mysterious. They have big, big elements that stretch out – maybe six or seven ingredients. And after that, little, little touches. I work on the details for a long time – and this is the influence of Jean Giono. If you analyse my formulas with chromatography, you can’t find the details, they’re so tiny.
— Read more in How the Books of Jean Giono Inspired Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena at AnOther Magazine.
Thank you for this interesting link. I can see why JCE would be inspired by Giono, who writes so descriptively about Provence and Southern France. Giono’s The Horseman On the Roof is one of my favorites and may be of interest to any NSTers who love the region. Very picaresque, which is a word that is rarely used to describe novels today.
Yes, he has cited Giono as an inspiration for several of his fragrances…I think Horseman was listed as one of the inspirations for Terre d’Hermes, but it’s been a long time and I may have my books confused.