0:00:05 > 0:00:12Perfume is magic worked by science. Its job - to capture the moment.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20Fragrance takes us back to good times, past loves, the moment we realised
0:00:20 > 0:00:25- our mother could smell of more than just mum.- My mum was getting ready.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30That child's vision of the most beautiful princess was my mother.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36The message is romance, but the language is molecules,
0:00:36 > 0:00:41spoken by perfumers or noses. They're artists,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43scientists and philosophers.
0:00:44 > 0:00:50So many Americans want to smell clean. They really want to divorce themselves as much as possible
0:00:50 > 0:00:54from the way their own body truly smells.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58There are more astronauts than perfumers.
0:00:58 > 0:01:04They meddle with our memories, but their craft is a mystery. Who are they?
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Where are they?
0:01:06 > 0:01:09And how do you become one?
0:01:19 > 0:01:22In August, New York reeks.
0:01:22 > 0:01:29Below the surface, citizens endure the commute, breathing hot steel and perspiration.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Above ground, a cacophony of scents
0:01:36 > 0:01:39riding on wet steam and rotting vegetation.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48If those odours provoke memories of good times,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53alternative perfumer Christopher Brosius will bottle them for you.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58'I think constantly about how things smell.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05'If I'm breathing in and out, on some level I'm working
0:02:05 > 0:02:12'because heaven knows I use a lot of things that have never before been considered as perfume.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17'The smell of the ink that comes out of a magic marker,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20'a box of crayons, a can of paint,
0:02:20 > 0:02:26'certain kinds of ink, paper bags, cardboard boxes, magazines. All of these things smell terrific.'
0:02:26 > 0:02:30# Do you know where you could be going? #
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Brosius makes scents that smell of real things.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51He has no truck with the mainstream fragrance industry or even most perfume wearers.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58So many Americans want to smell clean. That is one of the reasons
0:02:58 > 0:03:02that I Hate Perfume really came to be.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Americans frequently have this idea that perfume is used by the French
0:03:07 > 0:03:12to cover up the fact that they never shower. This is utterly and completely ridiculous.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17The French are not afraid of the way people naturally smell.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22'In fact, sometimes perfumes are designed to really amplify that,
0:03:22 > 0:03:27'to make that really alluring and really erotic and really attractive.'
0:03:29 > 0:03:35One of his concoctions evokes the scent of a musky, unwashed body.
0:03:36 > 0:03:42This one has been known to scare people. It's really a love it or hate it thing.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46People smell it and go, "Oh, my God! I can't wear that. That's filthy!"
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Let's see what happens with that.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57I don't...dislike it. I mean, I'm not in love with it.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03- Uh-huh?- But I wouldn't say I was scared of it. Actually, it smells kind of sweet to me.
0:04:03 > 0:04:10It's interesting, smelling around the human body, that there are certain parts that smell very sweet.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14This odd kind of sweet, spicy kind of mix.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19And that's what that particular scent is really all about.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23- Really? You like this? - I think it's great!
0:04:24 > 0:04:29These scents can be challenging. Only the brave need apply them.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32There are lots of foods, particularly meats,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35that smell wonderful.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Bacon! Bacon is divine!
0:04:38 > 0:04:41These are fantastic smells.
0:04:41 > 0:04:48One celebrity customer hated perfume, but wanted to remember good times at the family dining table.
0:04:48 > 0:04:55She came in here and she said, "I want something that smells good, but does not smell at all like perfume.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"I want this." I said roast beef?
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Are you absolutely sure?
0:05:01 > 0:05:03And she said, "Yes, I am. I love it."
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And I said are you really, really, really sure?
0:05:07 > 0:05:09And she said, "Yes."
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Christopher Brosius finds beauty in what is real.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22French perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena creates fragrance inspired by fantasy.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Ellena lives like a monk in a forest
0:05:29 > 0:05:33with a single lab technician and the sea breeze for company.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44He is the Obi Wan Kenobi of fragrance.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49I want to be alone, only with my thoughts.
0:05:49 > 0:05:56It's time to give more philosophy, to give more serenity, to give more spirit to perfumery.
0:05:57 > 0:06:03Ellena makes olfactory masterpieces with very few, very expensive ingredients.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09I like very much indeed the paintings of Cezanne and Matisse.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And I like also abstract painting.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18I don't try to copy the reality. I don't care a damn about the reality.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Because the illusion is more beautiful. It's like a dream
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and dreams are always more beautiful.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28'Perfumery is an esoteric art.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'Talking to Jean-Claude, it's going to stay that way.'
0:06:32 > 0:06:39I think it's very hard for people to understand how to talk about fragrance as well.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44So maybe this is the best way to explain. I compare it to colours.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Red, dark red. Dark and warmth.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51This is what I can do with perfume.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Red, to me, is also hot. Can red be cold?
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Can red be cold?
0:06:58 > 0:07:03- Like blue can? - Ah...can red be cold?
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Let me think about it.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11'If colour doesn't offer enough parallels, there's always texture.'
0:07:11 > 0:07:17- So you're saying smells have texture? - Yeah. OK, I can take this one.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21The thing is, here the texture is... Now it's very cold
0:07:21 > 0:07:24because the steel is cold.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26It's cold and smooth.
0:07:26 > 0:07:33This is the kind of thing I can do with perfume. I can give, in this perfume, a kind of cold note,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37quite cold, and smooth.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42- Here it's very rough.- Yes. The concrete.- Concrete. Very rough.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45And, of course, I can play with both.
0:07:45 > 0:07:52Smooth and cold, harsh...and dry. Because this is very dry.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56- And I can smell the roughness? - Of course you can smell it.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01Ellena is the nose for French lifestyle house Hermes,
0:08:01 > 0:08:07but allegedly doesn't have to make a whiff of anything until he feels inspired.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15If you ask me to make what you are looking for,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20there is a disaster already
0:08:20 > 0:08:25because I will not offer you a surprise.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31But if you ask me, "Give me a surprise," ah! I am ready to work
0:08:31 > 0:08:33month and month and month
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and sleep badly.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41I want to give you, to share and give you something that you say,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45"Ah! Oh, yes! Oh, yes, I like it."
0:08:45 > 0:08:48It's not a demand, it's a gift.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51If you like my way of doing things,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55this is a plus.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01But I like very much this approach because...we take the time.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Before he was a sorcerer,
0:09:08 > 0:09:13Ellena was an apprentice at the school for noses.
0:09:14 > 0:09:21Located just outside Paris, it's run by the biggest chemical company in the fragrance world - Givaudan.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29The school trains perfumers who'll win contracts to create fragrances for big-name brands.
0:09:35 > 0:09:42Jean-Claude Ellena went his own way. Today students are prepared for a corporate life of strict budgets
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and stricter deadlines.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Many apply, few are chosen.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57This year, there are five students.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Some years they don't take any.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07The Principal is master perfumer Jean Guichard.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10He picks the noses of the future.
0:10:12 > 0:10:18The perfumer should be a mixture between a scientist and a poet.
0:10:20 > 0:10:25When I meet people, I know if they have talent or not.
0:10:27 > 0:10:33I don't want you to have people who say, "I am going to be a perfumer to make a lot of money."
0:10:33 > 0:10:35That doesn't interest me at all.
0:10:35 > 0:10:43Very often they say, "My dream is to be a perfumer since I am a little girl or a little boy.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47"And my grandmother say I've got a fantastic nose," and all that,
0:10:47 > 0:10:54but then when you look at that resume they have been doing nothing around perfume.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59And you have some people after five minutes you are bored.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04I say, "Well, I won't like to spend three years with them."
0:11:04 > 0:11:06I keep that in mind.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13Guichard wants cultured geniuses with winning personalities.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Could I be one?
0:11:16 > 0:11:18We can try.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Quentin Biche was a country boy with a dream.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33There were flowers everywhere at home.
0:11:33 > 0:11:40When I was of maybe eight, nine, ten years old, I wanted to create perfume.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Quentin doesn't know anything about chemistry.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48But he was interested in perfume. He came to see me once.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50We talked about cinema...
0:11:50 > 0:11:55It was a complete disaster. He was trying to make perfume,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00mixing, you know, products he saw in shops.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06After a while, I was sure that it was over. And then one Thursday afternoon,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09I had the phone in my pocket at the time.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15I saw the 01, so Paris. I was like, "Oh!" "Hello, it is Jean Guichard."
0:12:15 > 0:12:17So I pre-selected him.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21He told me, "If you're still interested..." And that was it.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25- I think he's got a lot of talent. - I was hired.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31I'm sorry.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33It's remarkable.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39I'm really lucky.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44We know in the school how to teach the technique. We don't know how to teach creativity.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51'Linda Song had the right stuff, despite her disadvantaged upbringing.'
0:12:51 > 0:12:55I grew up in a small town called Greeley in Colorado.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03Anybody in Colorado who knows it, their first reaction is, "Oh!"
0:13:04 > 0:13:11It was very different from Paris. It's funny. I tried to send flowers to my mom for Mother's Day
0:13:11 > 0:13:17and especially with being here and exposed to so many different seasonal flowers,
0:13:17 > 0:13:24I had all these grand ideas of what I was going to send her. That's just not available in Colorado!
0:13:30 > 0:13:34In the hall, a cabinet of liquid trophies.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39They are all products made by people trained by us.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44What do we have? Poison by Christian Dior, Lou Lou from Cacharel,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48we've got Obsession from Calvin Klein,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51we've got L'Air du Temps,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55and this one also is doing very well at the moment.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59That is One Million from Paco Rabanne.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06We say, you know, that one third of the products created in the world
0:14:06 > 0:14:10are created by people trained by our school.
0:14:10 > 0:14:17One day, I'm sure it will be their products that will be there. For sure.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23Right now, the students can only dream of creating scents that will make perfume history,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27that will carry us back to other times, places,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29and people.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35It makes me think of first love.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40It makes me think of...
0:14:41 > 0:14:43..being sixteen.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48The first time I smelt this,
0:14:48 > 0:14:53it was on a 17-year-old boy when I was 16 years old.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56And I was at school.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00He was an absolutely beautiful boy. I'm sure he still is.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And I just assumed when I got close to him and smelt him
0:15:04 > 0:15:08that this was naturally what he smelt like.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12I just thought some boys were born magically fragrant and lovely.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It was a big shock to find out he was wearing this.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19It was a defining scent for me
0:15:19 > 0:15:24in terms of how...intoxicating scent can be.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33In all honesty, I still have yet to find another male scent that matches this.
0:15:33 > 0:15:39The fantasy of what men could be like didn't match up to the reality of men.
0:15:39 > 0:15:45I don't think I've ever come across a man who encapsulates everything that I smelt in this,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49that I thought men could be. So far. It could change.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Christopher Brosius is in the business of evoking memories.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06He profits from the sense of loss that fragrance exploits.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13# I remember sky... #
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Scent is really about emotion.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21There is an enormous connection between scent and memory.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31# Or at least I think... #
0:16:34 > 0:16:40People smell something and they immediately flash on an experience that they've had.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50The smell actually evokes the emotion that you felt at the time
0:16:50 > 0:16:54that you were experiencing the thing that became the memory.
0:16:54 > 0:17:00# Sharp as thumb tacks Coming down like... #
0:17:00 > 0:17:03You know, when people, without, you know,
0:17:03 > 0:17:09really thinking it or expecting it, pick up a bottle and suddenly they are really transfixed.
0:17:09 > 0:17:16They are in a different place and a different time and feeling something they'd utterly forgotten,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20but suddenly in this simple little bottle, here it is again.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25I have clients who keep them kind of as a modern smelling salt.
0:17:25 > 0:17:32If they're in their office and their boss is being more than a little demanding or incredibly difficult,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36they can take a bottle out of their desk drawer or their bag
0:17:36 > 0:17:43and smell it and, at least for a few brief seconds, they have a break. They're somewhere else.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45They feel better.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Brosius has his own way of recovering times past.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55This is... the makings of...
0:17:55 > 0:17:57A Memory of Kindness,
0:17:57 > 0:18:02which is a perfume that is very, very important to me.
0:18:02 > 0:18:09It's really the smell of tomato leaves and tomato vines growing in a garden.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I wanted that smell. Tomato leaves.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16One of the earliest memories I have is of...
0:18:16 > 0:18:19creeping very quietly
0:18:19 > 0:18:22one summer afternoon.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30I crawled under the tomato vines in my aunt's garden.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35- #- It was a very good year...- #
0:18:35 > 0:18:40I'm sitting... in the dirt, under the vines,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45which to a small child seemed kind of like a jungle.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50You know, it's like wild and it's another country in there.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51And...
0:18:52 > 0:18:58You know, when I was a child in the country, gardens were important, particularly vegetable ones.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03They fed the family, frequently, so they were really not to be messed with.
0:19:03 > 0:19:09And, you know, a lot of people would have scolded a child for going in there,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12but my aunt, that was not her way.
0:19:14 > 0:19:19She gave me a cookie and... I realised, you know,
0:19:19 > 0:19:25she is perhaps the kindest person I've ever known.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28And, um,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33so much of my childhood are memories involving her
0:19:33 > 0:19:38and that just all-pervading sense of kindness.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43And it all comes back to the smell of a tomato leaf.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47- #- Who lived up the stairs...- #
0:19:47 > 0:19:51So that's what that perfume is really all about.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54- #- With all that perfume in the air...- #
0:19:55 > 0:20:00- I can see you are transported as you smell this.- Mm-hm.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07- Is that what people come to you wanting to experience?- Yes.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09- Transport?- Yes.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12Yes.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17- #- Bali Hai call you...- #
0:20:17 > 0:20:24A few streets away across Brooklyn is the home of fashion designer Sean Crowley.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30- #- In your heart you'll hear it call you...- #
0:20:30 > 0:20:37He's American, but pines constantly for an England that vanished somewhere around 1930.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Having an English grandfather who was an Anglophile himself,
0:20:43 > 0:20:50growing up with lots of old things around, getting to know the comfort of a nice kind of worn-in thing,
0:20:50 > 0:20:57really sort of gave me the bug for all things English.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59- A bit of a mug.- Another one.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01A pot with a handle.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04And thank you. It's complete.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11Crowley loves old Albion as only someone who doesn't live there can.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14He's got everything but the smell.
0:21:14 > 0:21:20There's an unmistakeably British weird, fusty, musty old smell.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23That I love. I don't know how you bottle that.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29I mean, the kinds of things I imagine. Tweed has a very distinctive smell.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Certainly when it gets wet, it becomes quite pungent.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41It smells like a wet dog. If you could make it work, I'd wear it.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46I don't have a fragrance at the moment.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51Christopher Brosius is renowned locally for his alchemy.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57Crowley wants a scent that will take him across the sea without the inconvenience of leaving home.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02His vision may be a bit Sherlock Holmes, but it's a start.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Brosius seems to be thinking more Bonnie Prince Charlie.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11- #- Some day
0:22:11 > 0:22:14- #- You'll see me...- #
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Yay!
0:22:27 > 0:22:28Mmm.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32- So what is it that you're after? - Well...
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- I mean, I'm an Anglophile. - Mm-hm.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I love old musty things.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42I'm a bit of an Anglophile myself.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47- Forgiven.- Let's discuss your experience of England.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52- Well?- Things like... You know, pipe tobacco.- Mm-hm.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58- But where do you really smell it when you're there? - Out of the pipe that I'm smoking.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00- That YOU are smoking?- Yes.- OK.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06- Cobblestones...- OK. - ..are in evidence.- OK. - Wet tweed sleeve.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08That's one you should work on.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13- Of, you know, like an old army great coat...- OK.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18- ..packed in a crate for 60 years... - Yeah.- ..kind of smell.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23- That is a strangely pleasant and distinctively English smell. - That makes sense.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28- I love the smell of old books. - You took the words out of my mouth.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Well, put that one down. Old books. That was on there.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Is there anything else you can think of that really means England to you?
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Whisky. Scotch.
0:23:40 > 0:23:47Mm-hm. All of these things really do fit together. It would make a very, very nice smell.
0:23:52 > 0:23:59Before they can create any fragrance, students at the nose school must absorb
0:23:59 > 0:24:04a great body of knowledge about scented raw materials, man-made and natural elements,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07animal, mineral and vegetable.
0:24:10 > 0:24:17In midsummer, Jean Guichard takes his pupils to Provence to study lavender.
0:24:19 > 0:24:26You know, they have to see the plant and maybe, you know, looking at the plant in the natural,
0:24:26 > 0:24:31when they work with lavender, it is not something abstract.
0:24:31 > 0:24:37That might give them, you know, some idea for, you know, a project or whatever.
0:24:38 > 0:24:45Lavender is a key note in a whole class of scents - the ferns or fougeres.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50There is one family very important. It is fougere, fern.
0:24:50 > 0:24:57That family is very successful for men. A big example are the old Brut from Faberge,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Paco Rabanne for men, One Million.
0:25:06 > 0:25:12I always tell them work, work, work, but don't work like a rat in a lab
0:25:12 > 0:25:15because you won't have the ideas.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20- Can you hear the bees? - Ah, oui. The bees.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36I like to be here alone with no noise around.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40No people talking, no cars. Just to hear the...
0:25:40 > 0:25:44To sleep in the middle of the field
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and think about the next future lavender.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Not all ladies, but young ladies. Young ladies, yeah.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Beautiful young ladies.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14So that is clary sage. Clary sage. We use that also in perfumery.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19It is a raw material that is very successful for men's products.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24And some people like, you know, that smell very much.
0:26:24 > 0:26:30But very often we say it is a bit sweaty, it smells like sweat, but not female sweat. Male sweat.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Do you like the smell of it?
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Em...
0:26:35 > 0:26:38- Not.- No? Yes, you like?
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Yes, usually it is very controversial.
0:26:43 > 0:26:50After a few days in the sunshine, the students appreciate the value of getting out of the lab.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00Jean-Claude Ellena is also out of the lab, looking for inspiration
0:27:00 > 0:27:03and finding it in Paris.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14'On the top of the Hermes boutique,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'on the roof, we have a small garden.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22'Nobody knows from the streets that we have a garden in the top.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27'It's a very peaceful place. It's another world.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29'So I play with that.'
0:27:35 > 0:27:42Ellena has made the relationship between man and nature a theme of his recent fragrances.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48And we have a pear. Pear trees here. That smells wonderful.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Roses here.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54We have magnolia. Magnolia, yeah?
0:27:55 > 0:28:00These then will be the elements in the perfume Garden On The Roof,
0:28:00 > 0:28:05next in a series of fragrances inspired by exotic gardens.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Back in the south, Ellena visits specialist chemical suppliers
0:28:12 > 0:28:17to order minute quantities of raw materials for his experiments.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21If any of these make it into his finished perfume,
0:28:21 > 0:28:27the order will be measured in hundreds of kilos, costing thousands of euros.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Back at his desk in the woods, the juices start to flow.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Here begins the story.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58And for me it's not a perfume yet.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Maybe I have to bring in this perfume
0:29:02 > 0:29:05the feeling of the sun.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09The feeling of the dew of the morning.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Once he starts, there's no stopping Ellena.
0:29:14 > 0:29:21Ideas tumble out and technician Anne Maynard turns every one into a chemical sketch.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23- Anne?- Oui?
0:29:27 > 0:29:32- Here are...all the... How do you say?- Tries.- Tries.
0:29:32 > 0:29:38- And this is about three weeks' work. - All of this is three weeks' work?
0:29:38 > 0:29:39Yes, mm-hm.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43Per day, Jean-Claude can make...
0:29:44 > 0:29:48..like, 10 or 12, maximum, tries like this.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53- When you say you often clean it...? - Because it's full.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56- And I need to be...- Yes. - To keep them like this.
0:29:56 > 0:30:03- I like to clean.- Yes, but when you say clean I have a horrible feeling you mean throw them away.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09- Yes, exactly. - Any one of these could turn out to be a classic fragrance
0:30:09 > 0:30:13- that the world would love. - Yeah, but I have to decide.
0:30:14 > 0:30:22- I have to decide. - But...but some of those could be another Eau Sauvage or a Shalimar.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25- Or...- Maybe, maybe.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28I'm very shocked by that cupboard.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32In there. Great things, never to see the light of day.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39'This is what makes great perfume so costly.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44'The ingredients are expensive, development's a fortune
0:30:44 > 0:30:48'and the creator kills all his babies.
0:30:49 > 0:30:55'When it does emerge, this fragrance will become someone's scent signature,
0:30:55 > 0:31:01'provoking memories of them whenever it's smelled for ever after.'
0:31:01 > 0:31:06I'm outside of my parents' bedroom. She had like a dressing room,
0:31:06 > 0:31:12my mother. Before she went out at night, there just would always be this lovely, warm smell.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16It evokes in me...
0:31:18 > 0:31:23..associations with glamour, of when my mum was getting ready.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27A child's vision of a most beautiful princess. That was my mother.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32And so, I suppose, it... that scent...
0:31:32 > 0:31:37encapsulated not only memories of my mother, but...
0:31:37 > 0:31:42also evoked feelings of safety and comfort, I suppose.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53To work their magic, perfumers at the nose school must learn to recognise a vast palette
0:31:53 > 0:31:55of scent notes.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59In their three years here, they don't actually make any fragrance.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03It's just one giant chemistry lesson.
0:32:03 > 0:32:09First, I mean they've got to learn, you know, the raw materials. It's like the alphabet.
0:32:09 > 0:32:15All scents are a combination of odorous chemical elements suspended in alcohol.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17There's a lot to learn.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22You have to memorise about 500 raw materials.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27And to learn how to mix them in order to create something good.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Along with endless smelling, there are countless tests.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41Quentin is the only student with no previous experience of chemistry.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47What I don't like is when they come to see me without having worked enough.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51Then they will lose time and I get upset.
0:32:51 > 0:32:57He's been given the task of identifying individual ingredients in solution
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and deciding their relative concentrations.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06What amount did you have to find?
0:33:06 > 0:33:09- 10 for the coriander.- That's OK.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15- Black pepper, five. - That's OK as well.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20- Nutmeg, I say 10. - That's OK as well.- OK.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Missing a woody product, you know...
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Not very far from cedar wood.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31OK.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37- Could it be kephalis?- No. - Cedrol?- It is, yes. Very good.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42- I had a really hard time finding them.- He's a good student.
0:33:42 > 0:33:50'My dream is to smell a perfume I have created on somebody who is in the street or subway or theatre.'
0:33:50 > 0:33:54And that's...that's that's the dream.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Linda is further along the course and has a more complex task -
0:33:59 > 0:34:04dissecting the chemical elements of accords or blends of notes.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09Linda, she has learnt the raw materials. Now she learns how to mix them.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Hedione and Hexyl Cinnamic Aldehyde?
0:34:27 > 0:34:30On this one,
0:34:30 > 0:34:33in fact, there are three raw materials.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37- And you have identified two out of three?- Yes.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41- So I identified eco essence... - Yes.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45- And isoraldeine 70. - Yes, very good.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49- And what is the third one? - Linalyl acetate 114,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53benzyl acetate 116, oil 117
0:34:53 > 0:34:55and indoline 118.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Perfect. Very good. Very good.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02So this one, it was difficult for you to find indoline?
0:35:02 > 0:35:04- Yes.- Yeah.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08I find a lot of them very difficult!
0:35:11 > 0:35:13And...
0:35:13 > 0:35:16149 to 153?
0:35:16 > 0:35:19I was missing one raw material.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25If you don't know your raw materials perfectly, then you are losing your time.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30The investment in this tiny student body is enormous.
0:35:31 > 0:35:37They're recruited to fill specific positions in the Givaudan empire,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41jobs that will be waiting for them when, if, they graduate.
0:35:49 > 0:35:55Christopher Brosius is in London. He's researching its signature smells
0:35:55 > 0:35:58for Sean Crowley's British scent.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07'England, for me, is a real sense of eternity.'
0:36:07 > 0:36:12- #- Lays me down with my mind she runs...- #
0:36:12 > 0:36:17There's an underlying English smell here which I recognise as London.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Kind of dirty, urban smell.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24It's been a while and things have changed.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28The perfumer's scent memories are unreliable.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33It's really just boring. The old ones had leather seats.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37You know, so they had an inherent smell of their own.
0:36:37 > 0:36:43I think from, you know, just like a decade or so of people riding in them
0:36:43 > 0:36:47the leather was soaked with a much more interesting smell.
0:36:54 > 0:37:01'It's changed a lot. There are a lot of things I've noticed that are very different.'
0:37:06 > 0:37:09See now? It doesn't smell the same.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13I was expecting a more diesel kind of smell.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18- #- Never a frown with golden brown...- #
0:37:24 > 0:37:26RUMBLE OF THUNDER
0:37:28 > 0:37:32The scent of phonebooks hanging in the phone boxes.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36They were always there on the chain, generally battered to hell.
0:37:41 > 0:37:47A couple smelt absolutely dreadful. Apparently, there was no public gentleman's convenience nearby.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55I realised that that phonebook smell is gone.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00It's...just like the dodo. A thing of the past.
0:38:04 > 0:38:10Client Sean Crowley was thinking mildewed frock coats and hansom cabs, but they're extinct.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14At least the pubs are still clinging on.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Could I have a pint of Black Sheep, please?
0:38:18 > 0:38:22'There is only the smell of beer in here.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26'There is no longer the smell of smoke.
0:38:26 > 0:38:33'I remember when I was much younger, the first pub that I ever went into, you could barely see the barkeep!'
0:38:37 > 0:38:40It's a very London thing.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44The problem is...
0:38:44 > 0:38:47this is not something
0:38:48 > 0:38:53that is going to translate well into something that can be worn.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58Think about the scent of Stilton cheese. It's a wonderful smell.
0:38:58 > 0:39:05You would not want to be anywhere near a person who smelled like Stilton cheese!
0:39:07 > 0:39:11They're not things that you can really put on the human body
0:39:11 > 0:39:16and it's gonna smell alluring in any way.
0:39:16 > 0:39:22I have a client who's an actress with a director that she'd never worked with before.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Apparently, on the first day of rehearsal, he pulled her aside
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and said, "Drinking isn't going to be a problem with you, is it?"
0:39:30 > 0:39:32And she said, "No! Why do you ask?"
0:39:32 > 0:39:37He said, "You really smell like whisky a lot."
0:39:37 > 0:39:41And she said, "Oh, no, no! It's my perfume!"
0:39:41 > 0:39:46And she had to bring him the bottle to show so that he would believe her.
0:39:46 > 0:39:52And I thought, "Oh, you know, that's not something that I'd really considered before."
0:39:52 > 0:39:58- But it's something to be mindful of. - Was it one of your perfumes?- Yes.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Alcohol is risky.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Dairy is a no no.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Sean Crowley's scent may be unattainable.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14'The smell of a bus seat, the scent of wet London pavement,
0:40:14 > 0:40:20'the inside of a taxi cab. You know, I need to be able to have all those little bits and pieces
0:40:20 > 0:40:25'that can be assembled to create something that is really, for Sean,
0:40:25 > 0:40:28'his ultimate London experience.'
0:40:29 > 0:40:35Much of what perfumer and client were after has evaporated over time,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40but there is one smell that will be forever England.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18You know what? Different books from different countries smell slightly different from different periods.
0:41:18 > 0:41:24English books have a very particular smell because it's so...
0:41:24 > 0:41:26humid here.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31It really does kind of saturate things.
0:41:31 > 0:41:37These are books that lived in libraries where it was humid
0:41:37 > 0:41:41for decade upon decade upon decade.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46For heaven's sake.
0:41:46 > 0:41:54Or there was a wood fire that was burned routinely. All of that soaks into the paper, binding and glue.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00These English books smell like England because that's where they are.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04Could a book from the right era have the right smell?
0:42:04 > 0:42:08Does an edition of Bleak House smell of old floorboards?
0:42:08 > 0:42:13- We have some of Dickens' first editions.- Oh, really?
0:42:13 > 0:42:17- Interesting. Could I just smell one of those?- Of course.
0:42:17 > 0:42:24'What I'll be doing for Sean is creating things that are a London that no longer exists.'
0:42:24 > 0:42:26Oh, I see!
0:42:26 > 0:42:30'A PG Wodehouse experience of England.'
0:42:30 > 0:42:32- 1862.- Mm-hm.
0:42:38 > 0:42:45In September, Jean-Claude Ellena takes his ideas for the garden on the roof scent
0:42:45 > 0:42:47to his employers in Paris.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55This fragrance must be a liquid expression of quality, craft and provenance.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00Wearers must smell it and know it's more than just expensive.
0:43:04 > 0:43:10He may have complete creative freedom, but even Ellena has a client to please -
0:43:10 > 0:43:15the general manager of Hermes Perfumes, Catherine Fulconis.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19FROM FRENCH:
0:43:25 > 0:43:32Ellena has brought two possible versions of his scent, romantically named 52 and 53.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35Now Ellena reveals a surprise - a third scent idea,
0:44:35 > 0:44:40something that survived the cleaning out of his cupboard.
0:45:49 > 0:45:55The philosopher nose will return to his forest to adjust, refine and dream some more.
0:46:03 > 0:46:10Christopher Brosius is about to offer thoughts on the smell of Britain to his client, Sean Crowley.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17He's memorised the smells of London and recreated them with a mix of ingredients
0:46:17 > 0:46:20sourced from chemical companies.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27The army great coast that he mentioned was very intriguing to me,
0:46:27 > 0:46:34although I know that fabric smells have been a big challenge to really get right.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37It's one of those kinds of smells
0:46:37 > 0:46:41that the perfume industry overlooks.
0:46:41 > 0:46:47It's like they're not interested in the smell of wool or tweed or cotton or silk.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52They want things that are pretty, like flowers, fruits, trees.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58The challenge is always do the aroma chemicals exist
0:46:58 > 0:47:01that I can use to put this together?
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Cos for them it's about, naturally, what is commercially viable.
0:47:05 > 0:47:12And what they... Commercially viable, in this country particularly, means easy.
0:47:12 > 0:47:19"What can we make a lot of and sell a ton of without really having to do anything about it?" Lovin' that(!)
0:47:22 > 0:47:26It's been five months since Sean Crowley was last here.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29He's ready to smell Britain.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34'It would be nice to have a little jar on a table and just pick it up
0:47:34 > 0:47:41'and have a remembrance, but I'd really like it to be something that I could wear.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44'I mean, I think that would be the ideal.'
0:47:44 > 0:47:50So essentially what we're going to do is sit down and we'll start with the prime note
0:47:50 > 0:47:55and play with a whole bunch of blotters and I'll make more notes
0:47:55 > 0:48:02- so that the accords can be then specifically made to... - To just him?- Yes, exactly.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06This is a tobacco absolute.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09You can sort of see...
0:48:11 > 0:48:15- ..kind of like where that's going. - Oh, yeah.
0:48:15 > 0:48:21- It smells like a pipe after you've...- Yes.
0:48:21 > 0:48:28Let's have a whiff of the firewood, which is very much an English drawing room fireplace
0:48:28 > 0:48:35that I thought might be some of the background for that men's club idea.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Oh, yeah. That's nice.
0:48:39 > 0:48:44We didn't talk about gin very much. Any thoughts on that?
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Em...yes, please.
0:48:46 > 0:48:47OK!
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Cos I have to say that that is one scent that...
0:48:52 > 0:48:56a lot of my English clientele, boy, do they get it!
0:48:56 > 0:48:59- London dry gin...- Hmm.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03It's funny. I was in a pub, a nice, old, proper English pub
0:49:03 > 0:49:09and it was the first one I'd been into for a while, certainly since the smoking ban.
0:49:09 > 0:49:14Well, that wonderful sort of fusty, smoky, tobacco-y,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18cut a little piece off and take it home atmosphere has gone.
0:49:19 > 0:49:26- They call that progress. - We'll get that kind of like human carpet smell, why not?
0:49:26 > 0:49:30I like again that faintly mouldy,
0:49:30 > 0:49:33earthy quality.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36- It's like an animal smell.- Mm-hm.
0:49:36 > 0:49:42- Absolutely right. You can smell it?- Yeah.- Good. It's called wet sheep.- Oh.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46It's like the downmarket is just what you want sometimes.
0:49:46 > 0:49:53You want the Cadbury smell. You want... What's my favourite one in England? Fairy Liquid!
0:49:53 > 0:49:55- Dish-washing liquid.- OK.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00- Those are important. - I just noticed - porcelain?- Mm-hm.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- A tough note.- Mm.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09There will be more blending and shaping before the scent is ready,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13but it's possible to smell a rough sketch now.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16This is a lot.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28- Somewhere in that cloud is England. - Yeah. Sure.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37I'm definitely getting, like you said, lots of...
0:50:37 > 0:50:40- Green. - ..green, vegetable kind of...
0:50:40 > 0:50:45- Is the chocolate in there? The Cadbury?- It is.
0:50:45 > 0:50:51- That's great. Thank you.- Sure. What I would need to do then is go back with these notes,
0:50:51 > 0:50:56- further refine those core English ideas.- Mm.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01- I'll put those together into...perfume!- Right.- Mm-hm.
0:51:01 > 0:51:02Anglomania.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Perfume is always an art about time.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08It takes times to create it,
0:51:08 > 0:51:12it takes time to... think about it,
0:51:12 > 0:51:17it takes time to really have it on the skin telling its story.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20All of these things are about time.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24In the modern world, time is a luxury that is not cheap.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30'It's like having a suit made,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34'but much longer! Having multiple fittings and going back
0:51:34 > 0:51:38'and smelling and refining and tweaking.'
0:51:39 > 0:51:44A bespoke perfume like this costs in excess of 2,000.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51'It just adds one more layer to your life.
0:51:51 > 0:51:58'You know, it's something that you look for that you didn't look for before, in this case smells,
0:51:58 > 0:52:03'fragrances. And, I guess, fragrances from unlikely places.'
0:52:03 > 0:52:08And so I really hope that maybe through this
0:52:08 > 0:52:13we can actually find something that reeks of England.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17It's going to be a long haul, but I look forward to it.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28At the Parisian nose school, the students are aquiver.
0:52:28 > 0:52:34They're about to meet a famous old boy, a man who once was what they are now.
0:52:39 > 0:52:45Outside, master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena is just another face in the crowd.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47In here, he's a god.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51One of the big perfumers. Wow.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56It's like meeting a celebrity.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03I was the first student of the school. The first one!
0:53:04 > 0:53:06That was terrible.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11I know a little bit about the school.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16All of you know who is Jean-Claude. Our school has trained a lot of perfumers.
0:53:16 > 0:53:23We think 30% of the perfumes created in the world were created by perfumers trained here.
0:53:23 > 0:53:30- Unfortunately, that doesn't mean one in every three perfumes in the world is sold by Givaudan!- Nearly!
0:53:31 > 0:53:37We train some perfumers and, unfortunately, I hope you will not follow that example,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42some of them leave us. Jean-Claude is an example.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Oh, thank you!
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Thank you. Thank you, Jean.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Today they are going to leave the school and work for Givaudan.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56What advice would you give them?
0:53:56 > 0:54:02You have to believe in yourself and at the same time you need to have doubt because...
0:54:02 > 0:54:07It means that you are creating feeling.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10If you have no doubts,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13you have a problem, I believe.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16If you are too sure about yourself,
0:54:18 > 0:54:20you close your mind.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25And I'm sure that the customer can feel it.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29So be sure, but at the same time be open.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35Not easy. And I'm sure the customer can understand that.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Guichard is taking a risk inviting Ellena.
0:54:39 > 0:54:45He's a star, but he's also a maverick who has written his own rules.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The students might get ideas.
0:54:48 > 0:54:55He takes you because you are an artist and he likes to work with you because you represent what he is not.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00I have no brief. No market test.
0:55:00 > 0:55:06No market test on the perfume, on the bottle, no market test at all.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11For me, marketing has nothing to do with the art. ELLENA LAUGHS
0:55:13 > 0:55:19What I do in Hermes is what I do for me. The signature of the Hermes perfume is my signature.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26The trainees have yet to make a fragrance,
0:55:26 > 0:55:32but they've had a glimpse of the world of creative expression a perfumer can enjoy.
0:55:32 > 0:55:39We could have spent all day with him, probably, just listening to everything he had to say.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48There are so many things to think about now and to digest.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52It's like new universes that open for us.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57When he's talking about the details of how far he can go in his work,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01it's something that we dream about and we hope to be at one day.
0:56:01 > 0:56:06They may be destined for a different world from the man in the woods,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09but their mission is essentially the same -
0:56:09 > 0:56:14to create something that is more than just a nice smell,
0:56:14 > 0:56:19a fragrance that has the power to inspire the memories of the future.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Such memories... come flying back to me.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34As far away as my 18th birthday,
0:56:34 > 0:56:38which was just after the war had finished.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Beautiful warm summer's evening
0:56:45 > 0:56:50and this just gently wafting up from the flowers in the night air.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52Oh, lots of lovely times.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58I remember we used to go dancing, which was quite a lot.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02It always found its way behind my ears or on my wrist.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05Promises, promises, I guess.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10I wore this perfume
0:57:10 > 0:57:16when I got married and obviously it accompanied me on our honeymoon.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23No matter what, this is the one.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It could only be French, couldn't it?
0:57:35 > 0:57:40Next time, perfumers seek big opportunities in new economies.
0:57:40 > 0:57:47European and the American business have not enjoyed tremendous success. These regions are exploding!
0:57:49 > 0:57:52'It's not just about fine fragrance.'
0:57:52 > 0:57:59- Is that the magical moment?- It's one of those.- 'The secret is decoding local tastes and pandering to them.'
0:58:01 > 0:58:04- She'll love this one. - That's gorgeous.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09'Tales from a liquid gold rush. Scents and sensibilities.'
0:58:09 > 0:58:10Ahhh!
0:58:17 > 0:58:21Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011
0:58:22 > 0:58:24Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk