An Artist in a Laboratory

Sagarin, Edward, The Science and Art of Perfumery, New York, NY: Greenberg, 1955. 

The post title is the chapter title from The Science and Art of Perfumery, a book that captures how I feel about fragrance. The book was rebound into a blue, dull cover, and when I picked it up from the library, I didn't expect much from it. But it is one of my favorite overviews on the subject, covering a wide array of topics in a short and enjoyable read. I really liked Sagarin's writing style, often beautiful but never flowery, and filled with quote from poetry and prose.

The book starts with the history of fragrance, followed by a few chapters on the materials. When Sagarin discusses musk, it is sounds so tragic. The hunters lure the musk deer out by playing on flutes, leading these poor creatures to their deaths. I don't know if that's how it really worked, but it creates such a sad image to me.

From the natural materials Sagarin moves on to the creation of the early synthetics, first their attempts to duplicate, and then their attempts to create brand new aromachemicals. "An Artist in a Laboratory" is the first chapter on fragrance creation, and that, along with a chapter on flavors, tries to capture the odd nature of this work. On the one hand you're surrounded by the tools of a chemist, but on the other you're exploring the delicate nuances of a scent.

Sagarin breaks down the elements of a sample formula, covering the essential oils and molecules used. There are also chapters on odor description, marketing, business, and medicine. Despite the numerous topics, everything ties together nicely, with the rich history of perfume holding it all together. Even at the end of the book, instead of a bibliography, there is a historical overview of perfumery literature.

On the surface perfumery may seem simple, but a single fragrance can involve millions of considerations. Do you use this jasmine or that one? Even if they're pretty close, at a molecular level, they might have differences that can change the feeling of a scent. Should you use materials from endangered species? For me, it's easy to say I want to avoid the animal ingredients, but what about rosewood and sandalwood? Is it better to use synthetic materials instead with the hope of limiting environmental destruction? You need to consider the toxicity and allergenicity of the materials used, regardless of how they're derived. You need to make sure it smell good in the final product- fragrances used for laundry detergents have different considerations than personal fragrances. 

And then there's what you want to say with the fragrance you're creating. Even with all the science that goes into it, in the end you want a piece of art that speaks not only to you, but hopefully to someone else as well.

Rose Science- The scent and color of rose varies widely depending on the exact species and the type of extraction.

"And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

-T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Chemistry and Poetry

I remember at my job interview for my library assistant position I was asked, "What brings you joy?" It was probably just a throw away question, one meant to be easy. The interviewer, an HR assistant, said it's fine to answer with money, that's what some people answer. Oh, if money was all I needed for joy- at least it is tangible. A lot of things make me happy- cats, the scent of jasmine in the air, the people I love...But this happiness is a fleeting feeling, not a sustained feeling of contentedness.

I answered that finishing something brings me joy. Like putting the finishing touches on something I created, or getting to the end of a difficult book. I do read plenty of books more for knowledge than entertainment, so sometimes just getting through them feels like an accomplishment.

I think I did horribly with that job interview, even ignoring that question, but I got the job anyway. I guess there weren't many other people interested in it, plus I was able to temp while they were deciding. I'm more impressive working than interviewing. During my time there, I learned that there is never an end to anything- assignments from years ago would rise from the dead. Never knowing if something was truly over, I couldn't enjoy anything. I worked there for over eight years, and by the time I quit I was bored and frustrated at the lack of opportunity to advance. The only interesting work left was for me to head down to our "technical books" section and find specifics on semiconductors, 802.11, programming, etc. (By the way, isn't OOPSLA the most fun name for a conference? I just love it.)

I love learning. I've been studying cosmetic chemistry kind of casually since I started the business, but I've been delving deeper into it lately. I listen to chemistry lectures instead of music while working. I read books with funny squiggly carbon chains. Those carbon diagrams used to confuse me, but now I enjoy them. And so I start wondering if I should go back to school and get my master's in cosmetic chemistry.

Oh, but how I hate formal education! I feel like I've learned so much more on my own than I did in school. I did well in school, but it all just felt like part of what I had to do. Go to school, get good grades, go to college, and then join the workforce. Back in high school I assumed after getting my bachelor's, I'd go on to graduate school, but I was disenchanted after four years of college. Screw the talk about college being the best years of your life- it was four years of misery for me. Just thinking about it makes me melodramatic. I worry going back to school would hurt me more than help me.

How much would I never learn if I do go back to school? Would I have time to study art, poetry, literature? After all, I seek poetry for comfort, not skeletal formulas (yes, skeletal formulas are a real term, I'm not just trying to make them sound cold and lifeless). I want to capture the art and beauty in scent. A fragrance is more than just the sum of its molecules- for me it's capturing an idea in a bottle. The thought of translating the abstract into a scent fascinates me. Stretching the imagination this way and that leaves me restless, wondering how far it can go before it snaps.

I wish I had time to study everything that interests me- all of the above, plus so much more. I would take this knowledge and blow it up like a giant balloon so close to popping. And then I would ever so gently paint a flower on that balloon.

"Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question...
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit."

-T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Book Reviews

I can't wait to review the book I'm reading now. Oh, I love it so much.

But for now, I'll write a bit about two other books I recently finished reading.

Ellena, Jean-Claude, Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent, New York, NY: Arcade Publishing, 2011. ISBN: 9781611453300

Burr, Chandler, The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. ISBN: 9780805080377 HD9999.P932B87 2008

I included the LoC call number on the second citation because it was in the book, and I used to add those to a list of books we had collected at my old job. It can help you learn what a book is about by looking at those, and while it might seem obvious for many books, that isn't always the case.

I would definitely recommend The Perfect Scent to anyone interested in fragrances and the perfume industry. It covers many of the aspects of fragrance creation, from the scent itself to the bottles and marketing. Naturals vs. synthetics comes up, and most fragrance companies don't want you to realize their scents aren't all natural. All natural fragrance is really a niche, though some of the larger companies do use large amount of naturals in their perfumes.

I also thought it funny that fashion designers want the public to believe they make the scents themselves. It never occurred to me that they would have, though I didn't know much about who did create them until a few years ago. The Perfect Scent delves even deeper into this, revealing how much goes into one single scent.

I don't really recommend Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent unless you're obsessed with Jean-Claude Ellena. It's not that it's a bad book per se, but it covers a lot of the same ground as the The Perfect Scent. One of the two fragrances featured by Burr was created by Ellena, and he does a better job of capturing Ellena's thoughts and creative process better than Ellena does. Of course Burr is primarily a writer and Ellena primarily a perfumer, so it's probably proper that Burr would write the better book. Ellena does have another book that I haven't read yet, so perhaps that one will prove better.

Book Reviews- Perfumes: The A-Z Guide & Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, Turin, Luca and Tania Sanchez, New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-14-311501-4

Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries, Williams, Tessa, New York, NY: Merrell, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-8589-4577-4

Two books on perfume- Perfumes gives short reviews of hundreds of perfumes, while Cult Perfumes is a coffee table book full of pictures and the stories behind several perfumeries. I liked them both, but Perfumes: The A-Z Guide is probably more helpful to most people. Of course, Cult Perfumes is nicer to look at.

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide covers a wide variety of perfumes, many that you've probably heard of, and some you probably haven't. I enjoyed the writing styles of both Turin and Sanchez, and often found myself laughing at their reviews. The reviews of bad perfumes are usually funnier, though I'm not sure that would take the sting out of a one star review. The reviews are alphabetical by fragrance, with an index by star rating and brand in the back. After the name of the fragrance, they give the brand name, star rating (1-5), two word synopsis, and pricing (1-4 dollar signs). Price and stars don't always correlate- there are good cheap perfumes and bad expensive perfumes. They're a bit dismissive of all natural perfumes, though there are some good reviews of natural fragrances. Some brands have both 5 star perfumes and 1 star, though the reverse is definitely not true. While I read this cover to cover, I think it could be a nice book to just pick up every now and then and read a review for fun- even if you're not interested in perfumes.

Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries is probably best for those that truly love fragrance. It has pictures of bottles, advertisements, showrooms, and items of historical interest. It goes over the history and fragrances of 27 perfume houses, from the few that are centuries old to the relatively new. Prices put some of the fragrances out of reach for most people, including some that are $1000+ and bespoke perfumes that have waiting lists on top of exorbitant prices. The book doesn't go much into pricing, but there are some fragrances in here that do cost significantly less than $1000 (diptyque has some for less than $100). Some perfumeries strictly control distribution of their fragrances, making them hard to find. Serge Lutens has many available worldwide, but has a collection of fragrances that are only available in Paris, for example.While this is a lovely book, it wouldn't be a good choice for helping you find a new scent. In addition to the issues above, the lack of criticism in this book makes it hard to determine which of the exclusive scents are better than the others. If any sound intriguing to you, check out Perfumes: The A-Z Guide before going any great lengths to pursue the perfume. 

Book Review- Delivering Happiness

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh, New York, NY: Business Plus, 2012. ISBN: 978-0446576222 (paperback) 978-0446563048 (hard cover)

First off, the hard cover is cheaper is you buy the book used, but if you like your books all shiny and new, I gave the ISBN for the paperback as well, since that's cheaper than the new hard cover copies. I love used books, but generally like finding them in used book stores, where you can see them before buying them. Plus, it's more of a treasure hunt that way.

I borrowed this book from my firm's library- libraries are also great places to borrow books- they let you take them for free, as long as you promise to give them back in a timely manner. It was written by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. If you've never ordered from Zappos, they really are pretty great. The prices are a bit high, but they don't compete on price.

This book would be a good read for a wide audience, whether they are interested interested in business or not. Hsieh goes into some personal stuff and writes about his previous company before going into how he became involved in Zappos. It gets a little weird at times with the Zappos stuff, kind of cultish, but there is still plenty of good stuff to take away from the book.

While I already knew about the importance of customer service and passion for what you do, it made me think more about company culture. It also seemed like Hsieh's investments and efforts for Zappos were a real gamble, that fortunately paid off for him. I'm thinking a lot of his decisions wouldn't work for other companies, but his ideas on keeping employees happy and making sure they're a good fit for the company are good.

I'm not business expert, and this book certainly didn't turn me into one. But if you're looking for an inspiring and somewhat useful business book, I would recommend it to you.

Book Review- An Introduction to Perfumery

An Introduction to Perfumery, 2nd ed., by Tony Curtis and David G. Williams, Port Washington, NY: Micelle Press, 2001 (reprinted 2007 and 2009 with corrections).  ISBN: 9780960875283 (USA) 9781870228244 (UK)

This is a textbook- not light reading, and while it's called an introduction, it's pretty intense for someone who might want a few ideas of things to blend to make a perfume. A lot of it is about working at a perfume house, and if you're anything like me, that's not happening. It goes over things like the chemistry and business of perfumery, including the things you might not want to think about, such as the household cleaners that need scenting. A lot of the experiments talk about using a lab, and if you're just sitting at home reading this, chances are you won't be able to do a lot of them.

I wanted to start with that so that no one invests the money in this book who won't find it suitable for their needs. For me personally, this was a great book, though not always the most fun to read. It covers many aspects, including the aroma chemicals and essential oils that might want to learn about, plus experiments on creating floral bases, such as lilac, rose, and gardenia. If you're interested primarily in natural perfumery, this book is probably not the best for you, since it doesn't go in depth into how to use the naturals.

I liked how it covered the chemistry aspects of perfumery, though those sections were sometimes daunting. The applications of perfumery sections were useful in learning exactly why chemistry is so important- not all scents are suited to all applications. It was a bit silly the way they talked about fragrance and some products you don't associate with fine perfumery, but products like laundry detergent and dish soap have their scents developed by perfumers.

As someone who thinks about top, middle, and base notes, it was also interesting to think of how some products don't need an evolving scent- for example, candles need to give off the same scent throughout their burning.

While the business sections of the book might be interesting for someone, they're more focused on big businesses rather than small, independent perfumers. It covers things like marketing, management, operations, and product development.

While I would not recommend this book to most people, I do think anyone who has a serious interest in all aspects of perfumery and fragrance might be able to useful. While I was certainly bored at times while reading the book, overall I'm glad I read it.

Librarians and Books

For my day job, I work as a research assistant as part of a law firm's library. I do not have my Master's in Library Science, though I had applied and been accepted into a program. I had a few reasons for not pursuing me degree, the primary one is that so I could focus more on my business, which would be hard with a full time job and classes. But I had other reasons as well. This has probably been going on for awhile, but since I started my job, I have seen all sorts of libraries cut back on their staff, so a library degree didn't necessarily feel like a path to job security.

This gets a little political, but I don't think it should really offend anyone. The governor of California, Jerry Brown, has appointed a journalist to the position of state librarian. This person does not have his degree, though he claims he will take some classes. No experience either, making him less qualified for this position than me. It angers me that there is so little respect for librarians, and I hope his appointment does not go through. I'm considering how to get my opinion best heard, and I hope any Californians reading this do as well.

While many people feel libraries and their employees are becoming obsolete, they really are a valuable resource. While there are many times you can enter a few words into Google and get the information you want in your first page of results, there are occasions where that doesn't work. A librarian knows the various resources out there, and can help you find the information you need- whether it's in a book, or buried online in a place not even Google goes (and there a many places it doesn't- paid databases, for example).

This might seem a little off topic for this blog. As someone who has spent years working in a library, and has spent a lot of time in public libraries as well as my college's library, I want people to realize that librarians do have value. It is a profession that requires an advanced degree for most positions.

Now getting back to normal things. My love of libraries sprang from a love of books. I have read a lot of books pertaining to fragrance and other products I make, and will start including book reviews from time to time. I don't review books elsewhere, but I feel this is a natural fit, and hopefully I can guide some readers to some helpful books.