Searching for Blamage - A Documentary about a Perfumer's Quest for Happenstance Creativity {Perfume Images / Movies & Olfaction}
When Gods Spill Perfume into Your Phial
Esxence, the Milan-based annual exhibition fair established in 2008 featuring the recent work of niche perfumers is to take place this year from March 20th to March 23rd 2014. Among its cultural highlights, there will be the première of a documentary by Paul Rigter entitled Searching for Blamage which follows the unusual quest of perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri aka Nasomatto, "Crazy Nose"...
While most of the time, rigor, discipline and endless "tweaks" are associated with perfume creation, Gualtieri was inspired to go back to a fertile source of perfumery imaginings, the accidental overdose, or just plain simply, the accident. Shalimar and Chanel No. 5 are the most famous examples of this type of "gift from the gods" approach.
Of course, it is only when you are fully prepared that you can understand the richness of the accident.
It is interesting to see this happenstance approach acknowledged in perfumery. It is much more accepted for instance in fashion. Christian Dior wrote about how visual accidents take place all the time in the couture workshop to reset your vision of a dress.
Serge Lutens, who comes from the world of fashion, also stated that a perfume in the end might not be what you set out it to be. There is room for happenstance.
In some historical cases, this randomness was incredibly fertile once it was harnessed.
Here is the synopsis of the movie,
Synopsis
"Alessandro Gualtieri is an Italian perfumer who calls himself 'The Nose'. He lives with his Dutch wife and children in Amsterdam. As an independent spirit in the big perfume industry, he only follows his own nose. He designed perfumes for major companies, but after being rejected more and more for his radical concepts, he decided to launch his own perfume line in 2007: Nasomatto (Italian for 'crazy nose'). Now his brand represents nine perfumes with intriguing names like Black Afgano, Pardon and Narcotic Venus, that are sold worldwide in high end perfume stores.
For his tenth and last perfume for Nasomatto he considers the title Blamage. He wants to design Blamage by making real mistakes and using coincidence, because he is inspired by some very famous perfumes that were created by mistakes during the process. The quest for Blamage takes him to the other side of the world, but the farther he goes, the more he is confronted with his restlessness and drive for perfection."
Here is the Trailer,
More information at: The Nose Film
Via press release
