Make a Perfume

There's something about scents and smelling that excites me in a way I struggle to put into words. It's like how music can feel like a language, scent can also tell a story. But in a way so vivid, so visceral it can be unlike anything else.

In July 2020, during the early months of Covid, I stumbled across an intriguing French device online: The Alchemist Atelier Scent Creator. This machine allowed you to create perfumes using an app and pre-filled cartridges. The idea fascinated me, but I started questioning whether I wanted to be limited by a device or whether I should take a more independent approach to learning perfumery. I ordered a Discovery Box from The Alchemist Atelier and did a live call with one of their perfumers to talk through the box which was really interesting. The smells in the box were all themed and the thought of mixing them fired my imagination.

Eager to know what other options there were I looked for alternatives, to see what else was out there and found a course which had just been made available online due to Covid. It was from the Experimental Perfume Club, and they called it their Perfume Creation Foundation. Originally priced at £900 but discounted to £700, it seemed like a meaningful alternative to the £350+£400 cost of the machine and its materials. The online course came with 3 boxes of materials and all online videos to help get started. I decided to invest in knowledge rather than a gadget and enrolled in the course.

First Steps

The course was eye-opening. It introduced me to the complexity of perfumery and deepened my fascination with scent. I learned about fragrance families, accords, and the intricate layering of notes. However, once I completed the course, I hit somewhat of a wall. There was no clear next step, no structured way to continue learning.

I looked online and found other DIY perfumers in a similar situation. The general accepted consensus was to buy materials, learn how they work and just figure things out for yourself. There were some resources available, but nothing in the way of a structured way forward. I learned that perfumery is an incredibly gatekept subject, where most invovled in it either closely guard any progress they have made with a view to charging others heavily for the knowledge. There were some open resources such as a forum for DIY perfumery on Base Notes where egos and toxic behaviours were rife, an online database called The Good Scents Company which was started in the 1980s by someone who the online community suspected may have passed away.

I discovered Pell Wall a materials supplier actually only 30 minutes from me by car, so I started buying individual materials, gradually building a collection of materials and discovery new scents. With each new material, I realised just how much trial and error was involved. There was no comprehensive guide just scattered resources and personal experimentation.

The Need for a Learning Platform

Recognising the gap in accessible perfumery education, I connected with a Canadian perfumer and materials supplier who was interested in establishing open-source licencing of the Good Scents Company database, given that nobody was able to reach the owner any more and its future was uncertain. He felt that there was a fair-use approach which would enable use of the dataset by others.

I investigated around the subject and found that the American PubChem online database had used The Good Scents Company dataset and incorporated into its own, and further more made their own data freely available. I could use this to get a dataset of fragrance information to base a project on.

During my search for knowledge, I met a professional perfumer online who offered some insights, and agreed the need for an online platform. This collaboration helped solidify my vision for a perfumery learning community. Instead of just pursuing personal knowledge, I found myself building something bigger, a structured, open platform to help others learn perfumery without the guesswork.

Learning to Smell

One of the most surprising lessons in my journey was discovering how to smell analytically. Instead of just recognising a scent (e.g., "this smells like pizza"), I learned to break down the components:

  • The toasty bread base
  • The sweetness of the tomato
  • The fattiness of the cheese
  • The saltiness and spices

This way of thinking completely changed how I approached scent. Through buying materials I learned how to identify materials like oakmoss, indole, floral nuances, and began understanding ideas like sillage and longevity in perfumes.

The Ongoing Journey: From Builder to Creator

Right now, most of my focus has gone into developing the perfumery learning platform rather than creating my own signature perfume. However, my ultimate goal remains the same: to create a perfume that I’m truly proud of.

By the time I achieve that, I hope to have built a thriving community, one that ensures no one else has to struggle through the same disconnected learning process that I did. My vision is to make perfumery education more accessible, open and affordable, and more structured, so that anyone with curiosity and passion can learn.

Goal:

  • To create a perfume that reflects my journey and knowledge.
  • To continue developing the perfumery learning platform, making it a valuable resource for future learners.
  • To democratise perfumery education, so that anyone can explore this fascinating art form without financial or educational barriers.

There's some way to go, but no matter what happens, it's been a rewarding goal.

As an addendum, The Alchemist Atelier company eventually ceased operations, so it was the right decision to not invest in their hardware as they sunsetted their app making the machine unusable. The fragrance cartridges could still be mixed, but only by hand. The company was a sub-company of an Catalonian startup called Noustique, co-founded by Álvaro Suárez and Hugo Lasala, which was a corporate spin-off of a joint venture between the Spanish fashion and beauty company Puig and the German domestic appliance company Bosch, using the Barcelona-based agency Bestiario to create the visuals, software and interfaces for the product.

A few years after it'd ended I noticed on LinkedIn that Álvaro Suárez was restarting the project albeit without Bosch or Puig, so I reached out and had a video call with him. He was indeed looking to get it going again, sitting on a large amount of stock from the first attempt. I asked him to keep me in the loop as there may be opportunities to collaborate between my community project. Additionally I found somebody selling an old machine and many cartridges for £100 on Ebay (retail would easily be over £1000) so I snapped it up. I told Álvaro that I'm available for beta testing for when he gets that far, as I have a machine to test with.

So in the end I ended up taking both initial paths to get started; obtaining a Scent Creator machine and going the DIY route!