Perfumer Olivier Polge on the Eve of the Launch of Misia {The 5th Sense in the News}

© Danny Ghitis for the New York Times

On the eve of the launch of Misia by Chanel, his first fragrance for the fashion house, in-house perfumer Olivier Polge, who is set to succeed his father, exchanged some ideas about perfume with the New York Times...

We retain two meaningful quotes:

Perfumery is about a fundamental paradox,

There's a very crafty aspect to creating a fragrance. And at the end, you create something completely immaterial. That's one of the reasons I liked it so much. [...]

A beautiful perfume is not an intellectual object, more one created with your senses and sensibility and in connection with the rhythms of nature,

How do you start on a new scent?

You start to work without your nose. You're working from your memory, your experiences. Then I like, fundamentally, to go to the fields. I would say my approach is kind of down to earth. Sometimes, there's a tendency to be seduced by concepts and things like that. You don't make beautiful fragrances with very complicated ideas.

You can read more at Meet Olivier Polge, Chanel's New Fragrance Creator