Perfume as Art :: Perfume as Commerce

I am sometimes torn trying to pull myself away from developing perfumes of my own and concentrate on BUSINESS, looking over my (many) resources and focusing on putting them to work to MAKE MONEY.

The great majority of people in the fragrance industry are focused on MAKING MONEY. This is a JOB for them and they go to work to bring home the bacon.

But perfume creation itself is, or can be, an ART. And those who are artists with smells follow their inner muse regardless. WHAT they create is of more importance to them than what they GAIN through their creations. Some, most likely, have never made enough money in the SALES of their perfumes to pay the cost of the raw materials that went into developing these fragrances. They hardly notice.

In both worlds there are the extreme personalities -- those who are so focused on commerce -- or on art -- that they can't appreciate or relate to those on the other side of the fence. But when you take a closer look at MOST of the people on either side -- art or commerce -- you'll find that they aren't so enclosed in their own worlds as you might think. The "artist" perfumers, for the most part, understand the need for money. Without it they can't pursue their love of perfume making. And the "nicest" money for many would be money from the sale of their own fragrances. This money is (or would be) more than just utilitarian. This money is the public's vote of appreciation for their fragrance creations.

On the commerce side, most of the successful men and women in the business are successful because of their love for fragrance. They are people with taste who know the difference between the great and the mundane.

But the crossed relationships go farther. The commercial side DEVELOPS cool new aroma chemicals, aroma chemicals that open doors for creating beautiful new fragrances, fragrances unlike anything the world has seen (smelled!) before.

On the commercial side these aroma chemicals get USED, they get out in the world and thus they INSPIRE the artist-perfumer to think in new directions and, where possible, acquire some of these new materials to make use of them in his or her own ARTISTIC fragrances.

Likewise the artist perfumer is often inspired by the MARKETING ideas developed by the commercial people. Some of these ideas can be morphed into marketing tools for the smaller companies and individuals. Artists are not stupid people.

And of course we see the reverse. People in the commercial world feed off ideas developed in the artist world. After all, ultimately we are all presenting our products to the same great public.