Video: Career Path of a Perfumer 2024, May
Sensitive sense of smell is a curse for some people and a gift for others. Unique talent first found application in the homeland of the perfume industry - in France. Today, the profession of perfumer is in demand, because every year dozens of perfumes are created in the world by mixing fragrances and creating interesting compositions. What should a perfumer sacrifice in order to smell, and where can a “special” nose come in handy?
Perfumer: a history of the profession
Since the emergence of the profession — from the 12th century — odor specialists have been called "noses." They were later renamed sniffers. Today, masters of smell are called perfumers, but the essence of the profession most accurately reflects the word "nose". The perfumer’s task is to accurately determine the components of the fragrance. Sniffers not only distinguish tens of thousands of smells, but also remember them, analyze and can create bouquets from memory with an understanding of what kind of aroma the final composition will have. In the profession of perfumer, the ability to describe smells is an invaluable skill necessary for creating perfumes.
What does a perfumer do?
Perfumers do not just mix different smells - they mentally create new aromas. It is in such cases that smelling skills come in handy. The idea of aroma is approved by the advice of the perfume company, after which a sample is created. The first test is created from ready-made flavors with a record of the recipe - the names of the components and their weight. After that, the serious work of perfumers begins. The process of creating a new flavor requires a change in the formula, adding and removing components, adjusting their amount, and tracking the appearance of sediment. The result is frozen, filtered, and the council decides on the mass production of the created perfume.
Unlike those who were at the forefront of the profession of perfumer, modern masters are able to decipher odors using science. New aromas are created on the basis of information on fasteners and basic chemical components, and additives are chosen by perfumers.
What a perfumer should know and be able to
A special scent is what every perfumer should have. However, a perfect sense of smell is not enough - natural talent must be developed. The profession of perfumer requires basic knowledge in physics, chemistry, pharmaceuticals and botany. For example, in order to study at the International Paris School of Perfumery, Cosmetics and Aromatic Substances located in Versailles, you need to get a bachelor's degree in chemistry. Training the profession of a perfumer also requires passing a test in organic chemistry.
The duties of perfumers include not only the definition, memorization and recording of odors, but also an understanding of the formulas of each of them. These basic knowledge will not be limited: a specialist needs intuition, imagination and imagination. Perfumery combines creativity and precision, because of which extraordinary ideas and the possibility of their embodiment are appreciated.
The working day of perfumers begins at 6 in the morning and lasts no more than 2-3 hours. The person’s sense of smell is sharper in the morning, and during the day, odors begin to overlap, which impairs the ability to recognize them.
What is forbidden to a specialist
In the description of the profession of the perfumer, certain restrictions are often indicated. Among them are dermatitis, allergies, respiratory diseases and migraines. People with similar problems should not work with a lot of odors that can negatively affect their overall health.
The main working tool of the perfumer - the nose - must be maintained in perfect condition. Subcooling, too dry air can become a problem, so do not expose the sense of smell to such tests. There should be no dust in the premises, and drafts are the main enemies of the perfumer.
Any effect on a specialist’s delicate scent can be detrimental: spicy and fatty foods, alcohol, and smoking. Perhaps the perfumer’s profession is the only one that requires a healthy lifestyle.
The absence of stress is the key to the perfumer’s quality work. Anxiety, nervous state, anxiety distort the smells, which can affect the accuracy of the bouquet.
Training
In Russia, training for the profession of perfumer is impossible: there are no accredited state educational institutions in our country. However, they are being replaced by private courses. The largest of them is the St. Petersburg School of Perfumers. It operates in full-time and part-time modes. The full-time program is divided into two parts, each of which lasts 9 months and will cost the student 130,000 rubles. The part-time course is divided into two part-time programs and a ten-day full-time course. The total cost of the course is 175 thousand rubles. All subjects in the school are taught by perfumers practitioners. The courses also train specialists working in industries close to perfumery - image makers, journalists, sellers. An in-depth study program provides knowledge in various fields of science. At the end of the courses, graduates are not given a diploma, but a personal letter of recommendation signed by the entire teaching staff and listing the achievements, knowledge and skills of the student, which is also duplicated on the site.
In addition to the School of Perfumers, there are abridged copyright courses - for example, the courses of perfumers Anna Gerasimova or Anna Zvorykina.
The Paris school of perfumers remains the most prestigious in the world. You can enter there even if you have a bachelor's degree in chemistry, obtained in Russia - from the applicant will only need to confirm the knowledge available to receive the profession of perfumer. Salaries specialists owe "smell" to their small number and high value of services.
Earning
There are not even hundreds of world-famous perfumers, and their earnings are known only to tax agents. However, the amounts received by technologists, creators of industrial compositions, flavors, fragrances are known: the minimum salary is 32 thousand rubles.
Where else do you need a great scent
Good sense of smell is required not only in the beauty industry. Perfumers' services are in demand in other industries - for example, astronautics. The NASA staff includes several perfumers whose main task is to determine the smells of all objects that fall aboard spacecraft. Cosmonauts who are in a closed space for a long time should not be exposed to unpleasant or dangerous odors. Aromatic problems in outer space are solved by knowledge of perfumes and odor formulas.
Odor specialists are in demand in forensics. Fragrances often become the main evidence, allowing to reveal complex cases. The dark side of the perfumer’s profession was perfectly shown in Patrick Suskind’s novel “Perfumer”, in which the film of the same name was shot.
Women do not belong here?
The profession of perfumer has long been considered the prerogative of men. The founders of the famous perfume houses that still occupy leading positions in the market were men - Jean Patoux, Jean-Francois Ubigan, Pierre Francois Pascal Guerlain. According to a centuries-old tradition, only men became their successors. Due to genetic characteristics, the olfactory abilities of men are better and more stable: women perceive odors more difficult due to pregnancy, PMS and other changes in the body.
However, over time, the profession of a perfumer was opened to women: Sofia Groissman is considered the best American specialist in the industry, and in Europe many perfumers are women.
