Interviews

Sonia Constant, Perfumer

05/18/15 15:51:48

by: Serguey Borisov

Atrbazan.com       The Perfume Refrence

Last month after Esxence 2015 I was so impressed by Eutopie №9 fragrance that I went web-researching about Sonia Constant, in order to find out more about the great Givaudan perfumer who stands behind many perfumes like Guerlain L`Abeille,Montblanc Emblem, Burberry Sport For Men, Rima XI and Carner Barcelona Cuirs,Fortis and Liquides Imaginaire Sancti), who is also a beautiful woman and a caring mother. And, of course, I had to make an interview with her, which is right here for your attention.

Serguey Borisov:
There were not so many women amongst perfumers of the past. Now we can name many more, such as Calice Becker, Annick Menardo, Daniela Andrier,Christine Nagel, who work independently and in corporations alike. What has changed in the perfume world that more women become perfumers now? 

Sonia Constant:
Since its beginning, perfumery was a very small industry and naturally reserved to family members. The explosion of the perfume industry together with the emancipation of women into job positions previously reserved exclusively for men changed this situation dramatically. ISIPCA perfumer school has generated a significant amount of new generation perfumers coming from various backgrounds and sensibilities. And today perfumery is certainly not exclusive, neither for men nor to French people. It's open to all different nationalities.

Serguey Borisov:
I recall the motto of the Guerlain family that perfumers should create perfumes for the women they love. Since time has changed, have you created your perfumes like Eutopie №9 or Eclat d'Arpege Pour Homme for the special man in your life? 

Sonia Constant:
For me sources of creativity may have very different origins.

Sometime I create fragrance for a special man, yes, this is the case for the next masculine fragrance I have created (the next Narciso Rodriguez for men). It's very exciting to create a fragrance for your lover! For Eutopie №9, yes, I had somebody in my mind, a very elegant man; in the case of Lanvin Eclat d`Arpege Pour Homme Lanvin the brief was so precise that it was more a style exercise, to create the counterpart for light blue feminine Eclat d'Arpege, the woody-ambery structure and the lemon were the key structures I kept for the masculine version.

But often inspiration  comes from my traveling, I am currently in backwater Kerala at the moment of this interview; I used to travel a lot, Rajastan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Thailand … From each country, from each culture, from each cooking, from each new flower I discover during my travels I bring home new starting points for new perfume creations.

Serguey Borisov:
Where did you learn to be a perfumer? At ISIPCA or Givaudan Perfumer School?

Sonia Constant:
Both! I learnt perfumery first at ISIPCA, and I did my training part at Givaudan in the same time. I was very lucky with the teachers: Dominique Ropion, Francis Kurkdjianat ISIPCA and Olivier Pescheux at Givaudan during this period. Then I continued my training for three years at the Givaudan Perfumery School with Bernard Escano andJean Guichard. Then I joined the Fine Fragrance perfumery team with Christine Nagelas a mentor following with Antoine Lie.

I couldn´t thank enough all of my mentors as each of them brought me a precious stone, in my learning, each one with his own personality ... 

Serguey Borisov:
How would you describe a perfumer's work? Is it art or craft?

Sonia Constant:
I would like to believe that perfumery is still an art and this is really the way I am working, trying always to be creative even if the tests limit creativity, but I think most clients now read the test results in a different way and are smarter than before. A fragrance that is winning the tests is no more necessarily the fragrance that will finish in the brand's bottle. And some of my clients like BPI still believe in their intuition. You have to be creative but in a smart way; creativity is not enough today to become a perfumer.

I think the most difficult thing in perfumery is to turn a creative accord into a finished fragrance that will be good in customer tests either in France, USA, Asia and the Middle East as well.

Serguey Borisov:
You have created perfumes for local markets (O Boticario) and for the international market (Avon), for luxury brands (Guerlain) and for niche brands (Eutopie).
What is the difference in creating for a big renowned perfume house and for a small brand?

Sonia Constant:
I am very curious. This is why I worked on so many markets: Brazil, the Middle East, Europe and USA. I learnt a lot working for the Middle East, knowing how to create Middle East fragrances is a key for a perfumer now, because even the most prestigious brands such as Narciso Rodriguez, Carolina Herrera, Christian Dior or Yves Saint-Laurent have their own fragrances for this market in their portfolio now. Oud has been amongst the interesting trends the last few years.

For Brazil the challenge is to find the right balance between freshness and sensuality. But I have also created a fragrance with Middle Eastern tonality for Brazilian O Boticario, and everybody was astonished to see that this fragrance was well accepted by the client and also in tests! Trends are crossing the markets, even between these two opposite markets!

Working for niche brands like Eutopie, Tom Ford, Rouge Bunny Rouge, Simone Cosacor Carner Barcelona is really a pure moment of creativity, it is really resourceful, but I like also to create fragrances for international brands such like Valentino or Narciso Rodriguez, Balmain, Montblanc, Lacoste ... even if the process is different, of course brands are important and the way I work for Narciso Rodriguez and for Valentino or Montblanc is very different. Some brands are of course more exciting and the relationship with the client is also the key!

Serguey Borisov:
You created spicy oud-y oriental perfume Eutopie №3 in 2012 and now you have made the new green aromatic fougère Eutopie №9. They are so different in smell but both share some milky tender softness. Is it a signature accord of your style, or Givaudan, or Eutopie? 

Sonia Constant: A photographer can change his/her subject but you will always recognize the style of a photographer, and it is as well a good example considering that different photographers taking the same subject will make very different pictures.

I believe there's the same process in perfumery. I have my own style and my sensibility relative to my story... Elodie Pollet, the creatrice of Eutopie, is a very nice and sweet person. I think a fragrance is like a gift, like something you offer; I put so much of myself in my fragrances I would not offer any of my fragrance to people I have a negative feeling about ... It's all about intuition, even with the people you are working with.

Serguey Borisov:
It's so unusual for a green woody fougère to be so tender, musky and sweet. What is the secret that makes Eutopie №9 feel so magical: as manly asFahrenheit, and as suave as Le Male?

Sonia Constant:
I think the mystery is coming from Cashmeran at the back. I like this raw material, woody and musky at the same time, very modern! The combination with elegant Clary Sage and dandy Violet Leaves is the secret of the addiction. Sweetness comes from Tonka beans and Vanilla that with Musk can give some reminiscence of Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Male, and Violet Leaves with Leather give a little wink at Christian Dior Fahrenheit. 

Serguey Borisov:
Could you, please, elaborate on the story about Eutopie №9's creation. What was your starting point?

Sonia Constant:
We wanted to create a fragrance around a new quality of Clary Sage, an enzymatic Clary Sage coming from a new process. This was a tribute to the great new raw material. This fragrance has an overdose of this enzymatic Clary Sage, actually!

Serguey Borisov:
What are your thoughts about perfume pyramids? For example, I could smell a lovely dry tea accord in Eutopie №9, and there's no such a note in the pyramid! And there's Jasmine, which is not evident at all…

Sonia Constant:
I think you are right, pyramids are not the best way to describe fragrances! I suggest to forget pyramids and listen to the emotions that come from the smell when you close your eyes ... In a museum I sometime prefer not to have the long and tricky explanations of the guide ... I think you miss the most inspiring part this way. I prefer to feel the piece, to listen to your emotions, to your intuitions, but most people prefer read what others think. Einstein said that imagination is more important than the knowledge; and also that those who are thinking for themselves and listening to their intuition are rare people, it is easier to think and just repeat what most people are thinking ...

I am very happy you have your own feeling about my fragrance and that you feel it differently from the pyramid! Don't be like so many sheep. ;-)

Serguey Borisov:
Thank you. When I saw your experience in perfumery, I was really astonished. You have created perfumes for Brazil, Europe and UAE. You have created candles, shampoos and perfumes! Are there some perfume briefs you did not win yet?

Sonia Constant:
When I started perfumery I was so curious, everything was worth learning. I was like a hungry dog that wants to learn-learn-learn as much and as fast as possible, as I did not have kids at that time and was able to finish very late in the evening. I can also remember myself staying in the flavor refrigerator for several hours with my down jacket on, smelling all the flavors on the shelves! Then I asked the flavorist to help me find the key of these delicious smells! Chestnut cream, meringue, delicious blueberries ... I am more focused now on international brands.

Serguey Borisov:
What were your best mistakes in perfume creation that you love the most? 



Sonia Constant:
I love mistakes! I always give a place for mistakes in my work! It's easy because I am very awkward. It happened in Eclat d'Arpege for men when my assistant made a trial with the ten-fold violet leaves! Of course, it was the best trial.

I think a human being loves things that are logical, but creation is exactly the other way around! It's like an orgasm: it will come only if you let you go. If you think too much you are going to do the same thing that others did before. You have to be a little bit crazy! I remember when I started perfumery, Olivier Pescheux told me that I was completely crazy to put such a big quantity of cardamom in one of my trials! Later on, I was working for Dior and my fragrance wasn't selected, the client said it was too creative. I was very sad but Christine Nagel, who was my mentor at that time, told me that I should be very happy because for her it was a compliment!

Serguey Borisov:
And a little more personal question, if you allow: what kind of influence does your motherhood bring to your work, in your opinion? Do you think it changed the style or perception or are home and work separated strictly?

Sonia Constant:
I would say that becoming a mother helped me to become more confident. Again, intuition that I use a lot to raise my kids shows me that I was right. I think I listen even more to my intuition in perfumery.

Otherwise the process is the same, the difference is that I am selecting the projects I am going to work with, and I do not work on shampoos or candles, and I am now working only on projects that I find inspiring. I also prefer to work with clients very closely, to try to understand their wishes, to better understand the brand I am working with. Being a mother taught me to be more focused and concentrate my energy on the briefs that are worth doing.

One of my dreams during my maternity leave was to create the smell of my baby. I try to dissect it but cannot find the secret of this smell, I guess it's too private!

(Heaps of thanks to Givaudan's PR department and Sonia Constant who spent her vacation time answering the questions!)

Serguey Borisov Serguey Borisov has been known in the Internet world of perfume under the nickname moon_fish for more than 10 years. Now he writes about perfumes for GQ.ru and Vogue.ru, and contributes on the subject for glossy magazines.