Perfumer Francois Demachy on a Fact-Finding Mission in Korea {The 5th Sense in the News}

Perfumer François Demachy who is responsible for the Dior portfolio of fragrances but also associated to the development of several other perfume brands owned by the Louis-Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy group (LVMH) like Guerlain, Givenchy or Acqua di Parma is reported to have been recently in Korea on a scent trek to research local aromas that could be incorporated in future products...

He concentrated on Jeju or Cheju island which has sub-tropical forests and is well-known as a popular vacation spot.

I used the expression "scent trek" although his approach seemed to be less technical and equipment-heavy than based on a personal method involving both olfactory and visual cues and of course the indispensable ingredient, imagination,

"Along the way he came across teolmeowi, a perennial plant that grows in countries like Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan. As it was his first time seeing the plant, Demachy spent several minutes taking pictures of it and drawing it in his notepad.

When asked why he felt the need to draw it even though he already had images of it on his camera, Demachy said it's important to capture other aspects of the plant that photos alone can't provide.

"When people try to recall a scent, they don't actually only recall the scent itself," he said. "Rather, we all have an image of the scent inside our heads. The picture I took and the image that I drew look similar, but the 'feeling' is surely different."

JoongAng Daily: The Scent of Korea, in a Compact Bottle