Grossmith relaunched, part 1: the history

There's no other piece of news which brings a greater frisson of excitement through a true perfume-lover's veins than the relaunch of an old, historical house. Grossmith, an English perfume house originally established in 1835 in the coterie of influential perfumeries such as Penhaligon's, Guerlain, Floris and Creed (who were following the footsteps of Houbigant and Lubin), has been relaunched by the great-grandson of the original founder working in collaboration with Roja Dove. If you have clicked on Les Senteurs or read one of our Christmas Gifts Ideas post very recently you have seen their wares and marvelled at their elegant bottles of Baccarat crystal and the exotic sounding names... In fact the maison Baccarat has given specific license for the relaunched Grossmith to use the original moulds from 1919 for the range and only minor details have been modernised. But let's get first things first, tracing the Grossmith history together in Part 1 of our exploration of the brand.



J.Gorssmith & son Ltd. was founded in the City (London's business centre) in 1835 by John Grossmith, but it was his son, John Lipscomb Grossmith who developed the firm into a brand with commercial cachet involved not only in parfumerie alcoholique, but also in soaps, powders, toilet preparations and a hundred other scented products (much like Guerlain). Their tour de force? The Grasse-imported essences and the beautiful Baccarat crystal flacons employed. John Liscomb was trained in Grasse and his prolific imagination is reputedly responsible for at least 300 formulae, 96 of which are for fragrances, zealously kept in the company's archives.

A prize medal for perfumery wasn't far behind: The 1851 Great Exhibition saw Grossmith the only British company to land one. Royal warrants followed suit: Queen Alexandra (consort of Kind Edward VII) as well as members of the Royal Courts of Greece and of Spain awarded Grossmith with this mark of recognition (The seal requires at least 5 years of supplying goods or services). The gesture of offering a custom-made fragrance for the wedding of Princess May of Teck and Printe George of Wales (they're best known as King George V and Queen Mary, grandparents of Elizabeth II) is aptly fit for romantic daydreaming. But they also made less expensive, more accessible scents like White Fire (Bouquet), a parfum in red with a pointed top, on of their trademarks from 1954 which lasted all the way through 1980.


But not everything was ~literally and metaphorically~ strewn with roses! Grossmith was family run for three generations (until 1924) but by 1970 it changed hands and trading came to a sudden halt in 1980. Like so many other old houses the modern needs and the ascent of the designer scent had hit hard the more traditional firms in the sector. The brand seemed completely doomed. But thanks to luck, the rising awareness of perfume history instigated by the Internet (and these very pages I should hope) and the business acument of the great great grandson of the founder, Simon Brooke, the idea to relaunch the house suddenly sounded great.

Now, I know several brands which had some "refreshing facework" and were ready for modern tastes and honestly they didn't even come close to resemble anything historical. And I admit I was sceptical myself before testing the scents. However mr.Brooke didn't cut any corners and seems to have invested money into a sound business model: true luxury with consulting by the best and prime materials from the experts in the field. Namely the Grasse-based house of Robertet, who is specializing in natural materials, took care of reproducing the formulae with high quality standards and Roja Dove, a well-known fragrance authority, has overseen the re-creation of the fragrances with attention to detail and featuring them in his Haute Parfumerie boutique at Harrods. Like Roja says:

"Grossmith played a significant part in the development of modern perfumery and occupied an important place as a fine English perfumery house at a time when English perfumery rivalled that of France. It has languished for many years and its revival is a welcome addition to the perfumery canon as their scents have a wonderful complexity and quality which I believe is totally in tune with the current trend for authenticity, legitimacy and indviduality".

The bottles and packaging, inspired by the original flacons, were designed by Holmes & Marchant, uniform for the three scents in elegant ribbed designs.


The limited edition Baccarat flacons, individually numbered and etched in pure gold, are available to order for serious collectors and they're truly as sight to behold: pure decadence!


And behold, three of the classic fragrances are relaunched: Hasu-No Hana (1888), Phul-Nana (1891) and Shem-el-Nessim (1906). Phul-Nana ~ “Hindi for ‘lovely flower’ is a fresh, sweet floral composition with aromatic fougère overtones on a soft, warm, woody base. Shem-el-Nessim ~ “Arabic for ’smelling the breeze’. from 1906, is a rich floriental take on Florentine iris. Hasu-no-Hana ~ “The scent of the Japanese Lotus Lily"~from 1888 is a bright, radiant floral composition with pronounced chypré and oriental facets on a woody, dry, very sensual base. I won't spoil it for you, as I will return shortly with seperate reviews on them, but it's enough to say they're completely gorgeous and choke-full of natural materials singing beautifully on the skin. So beautifully in fact that I fear for their IFRA-positioning later on! But let's not reveal too much right now, we will return with Part 2.

In the meantime, please watch the interesting videos on Grossmith on London Tonight. (clip makes pauses, it's not a glitch from what I can see)

Grossmith fragrances are now available through Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie, Fortnum & Mason (who also carried the classic line!) and at Les Senteurs(Belgravia, London), all in the UK. Plans for expanding abroad are carefully being considered for the future. Grossmith Phul-Nana, Shem-el-Nessim and Hasu-no-Hana are available in 50 or 100 ml Eau de Parfum (£95-185 respectively, with the option of a coffret of all three in 50 ml for £310), also in 10ml or 100 ml Parfum (£110-425 respectively, a coffret of all 3 scents in 10 ml is £365), or in the 85 ml Parfum in the limited edition Baccarat bottle etched in pure gold for £5750.

Click on the pics to enlarge them.

The winner of the draw...

...for the Thanksgiving Special Giveaway is WaftbyCarol! Congratulations, you're now the proud owner of a vintage gem! Please mail me using the profile contact with your particulars so I can have this shipped to you as quickle as possible before the last days' rush at the post office!

Thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic participation and more surprises will be in store for you later on.

Interviews with Francis Kurkdjian, Mark Buxton and Frederic Malle

The Financial Times supplement How to Spend It had an interesting spin on perfumers this past weekend.


Francis Kurkjian (of Quest and currently Takagaso) and Mark Buxton (of Symrise) are featured in Of One's Own Accord by Karen Wheeler, a long article focusing on respective perfumers' launches of their own eponymous perfumery houses. Buxton discusses the smell of ink, an aroma which takes nuances of blood, horse sweat, and beaver and his inspiration by louche New York scenes manifesting themselves into scents, like the one inspired by a black-decked blonde with long hair he saw in a night-club or another inspired by the girls at Moulin Rouge all latexed-up and smelling of cigarettes, sweat and food.

Interestingly Le Male, Gaultier's bestseller made by Kurkdjian, is termed the male equivalent of No.5 (such is its ubiquitness I presume). Francis goes on to talk about his desire to bypass elitism with his eponymous house line (which apart from standard colognes, scented bracelets and incense features a fabric softener, a laundry detergent and even fragrant bubbles!) He purposely avoids the word luxury as "it's become a very devalued word". In creating functional perfumes for products in his line he was apparently inspired by that famous scene in Breakfast in Tiffany's when Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard only have 10$ to spend in the store, yet they manage to find something chic to spend them on. Cute!

Frédéric Malle is featured on Part 1 and Part 2 (latter a web exclusive) in The Aesthete in non-specifically perfumery-related snippets of style "confessions": He reveals his taste for sushi, Pilates, analogue sound (by George Harrison and Cat Stevens), Leica cameras and travels to Moscow, Egypt & Los Angels and French webzines among other things. And he's currently reading A Rebours by Huysmans: a decade too late, to most perfumephiles, I should think, but let's not judge; he admits being a visual person after all.

Please click the links to read the whole (interesting) articles.

Pic via fashionrules.com, prwebs.com

Perfumery material: Oud/Aloeswood/Agarwood & Synthetic Substitutes

Oudh seems to be THE major trend in perfumery and as recently as this season we have two launches featuring it, the excellent Epic by Amouage and the shortly launching Al Oudh by L'Artisan Parfumeur. However, the market is becoming so increasingly busted by oud-this and oud-that that a closer examination of truths, rather than claims, is needed. Only if you have been living under a rock, have you not read a hundred times already that oud/aoudh/aloeswood is the aroma-rich prized resin produced by the pathological secretion of Aquillaria trees when attacked by a fungus.
Nevertheless, much as the ad copy circulating and the articles in glossies insist, there is a mythology built about oudh in western fragrances which doesn't exactly justify the tsunami of oud-based fragrances launched in the past few years. Several fragrances which feature notes of oud in fact use a synthetic substitute in lieu of the extra-expensive, ultra-rare ingredient: It was a mere consequence of the eternal law of offer and demand. That's how a designer scent with oud "notes" (YSL M7) even became possible. So many fragrances on all price levels as we will see below simply cannot be based on real oud.

Synthetic Oud in the Majority of Perfumes you say?
Even if the whole Southeastern jungle is eradicated in its pursuit, as apart from endagered, the mere process is so time consuming (often necessitating HUNDREDS of years for the noble rot to manifest itself sufficiently in the wood that produces the essence) that it's a logical impossibility. By Kilian freely admits using the synthetic, to their credit.
Firmenich, the aromachemicals giant, has a nicely rounded synthetic base, the Oud Synthetic 10760 E. Seriously hip niche brand Le Labo uses it in their Oud27. Interestingly the material bears some sentising dangers which might bring it into axing under a future IFRA Amendement perfumery restrictions policy.
Givaudan also have Agarwood Orpur/"Black Agarwood base" which is another product used to substitute the golden nectar in fragrance releases, reflecting the particular scent of burning Agarwood chips and amalgamating ambery, olibanum and balsamic nuances.

Somehow the above facts makes the price asked seen under a completely different light!Le Labo are not the only ones to employ these synthetics: Several fragrances have the discernible fingerprint of those aromachemicals all over them (Tom Ford Oud Wood uses Agarwood Orpur by Givaudan for instance, same goes for Bond No.9's offerings)

If the pace of using oud synths escalates everyone will be wearing "ouds", the way at some point they wore acquatics or gourmands a total defeat of the purpose of "coinnoisseurship" which is so brandished in the oud-selling game. Not to mention that by that time, with the help of Bath & Body Works, there will be an oudh for every budget (Ironically enough yes, there is one by B&BW as we speak!), which proves the statement above. But let's explore this fascinating material and the synthetics that often imitates it in this guide on building blocks of perfumery.

The cmplex natural material
Agarwood or Oud or Oudh or Aoud (the name taken from the province of Oudh) is the resinous heartwood from Aquilaria trees (predominantly from Aquilaria malaccensis), evergreens native to southeast Asia. As they become infected with mold (Phaeoacremonium parasitica, a dematiaceous fungus) they compensate by producing an aromatic resin over the course of several decades. The damage is so extensive that agarwood sinks in water. The growing of the infection results in a rich, dark resin within the heartwood. That resin is known as gaharu, jinko, aloeswood, agarwood, or oud/oude/oudh, valued in many cultures since antiquity for its distinctive aroma ~terribly complex with nutty, musty-earthy undertones redolent of undergrowth. Agar use dates back to prehistory: mentioned in the Bible, ancient Persian and Sanskrit religious texts and part of the first historical biographies in Sanskrit. Oud is also inextricably linked to Assam’ s cultural heritage, since the Indian monarchs employed the used bark of the Sasi Agar tree as writing-material for chronicling their royal circulars.
Oud nevertheless is prohibitevely expensive, fit for royalty only, even for niche and ultra-expensive brands and quite rare. One of the reasons for the rarity and high cost (above $62,000 cash for one kilo) of agarwood is the depletion of the wild resource: Since 1995 Aquilaria malaccensis has been listed in Appendix II by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, while in 2004 all Aquilaria species were listed in Appendix II, even though some countries have reservations for the latter listing. Middle Eastern or French perfumers seeking oud at source must establish ginormous bank funds in the pertinent countries, because governments are aware of the trade capitalizing on it. Additonal obstacles arise from the sheer reality of harvesting: Dead infected wood cannot be distilled and heavily infected live wood is not worth it as the wood itself is so more pricey. Thus the only wood distilled is live. Distillable wood is only good for a few months on the other hand, as the essential oil cells dry out, making oud a stratospherically expensive business.

Besides there are grades within the product: The highest quality comes from the tree's natural immune response (known as agarwood #1) while an inferior resin is rendered by deliberatily wounding aquilaria trees (agarwood #2, within which there aslo several grades of quality). Adulteration is not unheard of either, according to Tryvge Harris. The average oud available in the US will have changed hands at least 10 times (!), while rumours abound about Chinese factories who churn out beautiful but fake product ~made of the lowest possible grade agarwood soaked for a month in synthetic (European manufactured) oud. It's also worthy of note that Arabs are not that concerned with purity as might have been supposed, instead focusing on the pleasure principle the aroma brings.
Jenny, an amateur perfumer writing Perfume Making describes the sensation of smelling oud well:

"The scent of Oudh sometimes called Agarwood or Eaglewood is so incredible wonderful. It has all kinds of shades, it's smokey, deep woody, a bit sweet in an intriguing way. It even has some green notes and some kind of mouldy notes. It's hard to describe the scent. It reminds me of a blend of vetiver, birch tar, sandalwood, guiacwood, vetiveryl acetate, patchouli and some spicy notes like the note of clove".

One of her readers gives a price ballpart as well: The pure Oudh Oil Grade A costs about USD300.00/12mls (1 Tola) and the Resins for Grade AAA is about USD 7,000.

The difference in smell in the finished product is also relative to how oud is treated as a "note" from a perfumery standpoint (regardless of whether it derives from a natural or a synthetic source): From the Band-Aid note of Montale's Aouds (due in several cases to the phenolic guaiacwood used in tandem) to the smoother versions like in M.Micallef Aoud Homme when the lactic notes can pop up under the shriller introduction. Le Labo went for a camphoraceous feel with pungent rather than burning tonalities, while Tom Ford extended the effect with lots of cedar.

Word of Mouth and Word of Mouse
The literature on oud is picking up fast with all the semi-underground fora, specialty blogs and even mainstream press mentioning the prized ingredient:

"Oud (pronounced ood) smells expensive and it is. What it perhaps has going for it most is its obscurity and ineffability. There really is nothing quite like it. Hence its appeal. While the cultivation of agarwood can be traced back to ancient Asian civilizations, only recently has oud become the note du jour in high-end Western fragrances from Yves Saint Laurent's M7 to Tom Ford's Oud Wood."

Thus says Amy Verner on the Globe and Mail, only to semi-contradict herself later stating:

"Just don't expect to see oud featured in mainstream fragrances any time soon. Since it's not only rare but pricey, most experts think that it will remain on its rarefied perch." [ed.note: We already stated that Tom Ford's posh Oud Wood uses a synthetic anyway]

The truth is somewhat different than what you often read in the press, as we have proven.


Fragrances with Oud Notes
Fragrances stating oud notes start as low-end as Culture by Tabac: Arena di Roma by Mäurer & Wirtz (2002) and as mainstream as Versace pour Homme (2008) or Farenheit Absolute by Dior (2009). Ava Luxe, an ultra-niche brand with remarkably low prices states oud as a note in her unisex Chaos. Of course there are several niche players involved as well: From "classic oudet-cadet" Montale (Aoud Leather, Black Aoud, Red Aoud, White Aoud, Bois d'Aoud, Louban, Aoud Rose Petals ~the latter incidentally is sublime~ etc.) and the Arabian real mcCoy El Haramain's line-up to By Kilian Arabian Nights Pure Oud (and Cruel Intentions) and Le Labo Oud27. And from the newest Midnight Oud by Juliette has a Gun all the way through Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Man (2004), M. Micallef Aoud Homme, all-naturals Ayala Moriel (Charisma, Megumi, Razala), Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (Prana) and Neil Morris (Taj, Fetish, Flowers for Men Gardenia, Burnt Amber). If you want to smell real, medicinal expensive natural oudh beyond any doubt to get a feel of the material go no further than Anya's Garden Temple: the fragrance is almost entirely comprised of oud's dense complex notes. Mona di Orio's Oud also uses an amount of the real thing, accounting for the very pungent yet layered smell.

And remember that as with anything when there is great demand, the offer tends to cut corners. Think about it next time you're asked stratospheric prices and go by the only rule-of-thumb that should apply in choosing fragrance: how much pleasure it gives you!
Additional reading on the Eastern use of aloeswood in incense as well on this link.
Painting of As Afuddaula, the nawab of Oudh via Exotic India Art. Pic of agarwood rot by Robert Blanchette, University of Minnesota, Advertisement of M7 via easycorner.com.

Esxence, The Scent of Excellence: Fragrance Exhibition

The second edition of ESXENCE – The Scent of Excellence, the event dedicated to artistic perfumery, will take place in Milan from the 25th till the 28th of March 2010 at the Museo della Permanente in Via Turati, one of the cultural Italian landmarks, in this way renewing it’s value a san artistic event, and giving visibility to excellences that meet a certain level of constant quality.

Esxence the second edition will propose a series of events, educational and informational activities that will alternate in the four-day event, accompanied by meetings and debates in which the industry will analyze the evolution of this niche market. Many will also be the opportunities for brands that wish to increase their exposure, describe their profiles, and their newest products.

During open days (only by invitation) to the public, a series of experiential moments will be proposed in order to discover the fascinating world of perfumery

When
25th – 28th March 2010
Where
Museo della Permanente
Via F.Turati, 34 - Milano