Once the brief is established, the journey into formulation begins. My connection to chemistry, shaped by years of study, has made me detail-oriented. Chemistry teaches you to see beneath the surface, to notice how every atom and molecule has its place. In many ways, formulation is like solving the world’s smallest jigsaw puzzles, letting each piece slowly reveal a larger picture. The closer you look, the more emerges.

This meticulous attention guides my approach. I focus on each accord, feeling its texture, tracing its movement, observing its interactions. The bigger picture emerges organically through these tactile discoveries. The process is immersive, almost obsessive, but it is how I begin to understand the soul of a scent.

Other perfumers, instead,  start differently. They begin wide, constructing a “landscape” first: a skeleton, a stage, a base. Details come later, layered with nuance until the scene feels complete. Only after this framework is established are accords dissected for marketing, storytelling, or teaching.

My method starts with the micro. Each note, each interaction, each nuance is inhaled, dissected, experienced. The macro emerges from the micro, like a mosaic taking shape under your fingertips. Both paths seek the same prize: a fragrance that speaks, that evokes, that inhabits the story set out in the brief. But the paths feel different, one structured, aerial, composed, the other intimate, tactile, alive. The tension between them is itself a lesson in creation.

No matter which path you choose, one truth remains. The journey is as compelling as the fragrance itself. Finding your own rhythm, your own touch, is part of the artistry. In the end, fragrance is about connection; connection between materials, between ideas, and ultimately, between you and the scent.