From Givaudan, a 4 1/2 minute tribute to perfumer Olivier Gillotin, who won the Lifetime Achievement Perfumer Award from the American Society of Perfumery this year. Includes footage of Shalimar Alpacas, his farm in Warwick, New York.
Flavor and fragrance corner
But the news from the industry’s flavor and fragrance corner is different. At two leading players—Givaudan and Symrise—both sales and earnings were up, and sales fell only modestly at International Flavors & Fragrances. It turns out that demand for the consumer products their ingredients go into has held up during the pandemic—and in many cases has even grown.
— Don't forget this does not necessarily relate to perfume sales; these companies fragrance and flavor just about anything with a smell or a taste, including all those bleach wipes and hand sanitizers. Read more in Flavor and fragrance firms dodge pandemic sales blow at Chemical & Engineering News.
Everything is based on the perfumer’s memory
In perfumery, we do not really have direct access to all our ingredients, because everything is based on the perfumer’s memory. His memory of ingredients, of what they smell, of their accords… The problem is, memory works by getting rid of unused information to better focus on what’s new, which is why we forget about things.
— Perfumer Calice Becker, talking about Givaudan's new AI system, Carto. Read more at “We aim to put artificial intelligence at the service of perfumers’ creativity,” Calice Becker, Givaudan at Premium Beauty News, or see Givaudan Fragrances launches ‘Carto’, its Artificial Intelligence powered tool to reinvent the way perfumers create at the Givaudan website.
The road to patchouli
Videos from Givaudan (just below; including short appearance by perfumer Jacques Huclier) and Firmenich Naturals (below the jump) on sourcing initiatives with patchouli farming communities in Indonesia and Malaysia.
How to become a perfumer
Perfumer Quentin Bisch talks about studying perfumery at Givaudan.