LIKE AN AIR OF PANACHE

 

 

Today I'd like to tell you about a place, a fragrance, a beautiful story... A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Nicolas Cloutier, founder of Noseto propose something really crazy! In my previous article, I told you about the very clever promotion of Wes Anderson's film, The Grand Budapest Hotel... As if the film continued to live beyond the cinema, I'm going to tell you about a very fine example!

In the film Gustave H. Concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, very neat and absolutely demented, perfumes himself with "Air de panache", he has a collection of bottles, and when his Lobby boy manages to break him out of prison, the first thing he asks him during their escape is if he's brought him his perfume...

So Fox decided to have this perfume created... A perfume that can't be bought, but a perfume that can be smelled, in the halls of the greatest hotels and at the homes of the most famous. Nosethe fabulous Parisian boutique that created the juice, at 20 rue Bachaumont, 75002 Paris.

Nose is a Parisian concept store and e-shop dedicated exclusively to perfume, featuring over fifty brands of the most cutting-edge designer fragrances, beautiful cosmetics and a selection of home fragrances. All this beauty is built around the cornerstone of Nose, their concept that everyone should be able to create their own fragrance. fragrance diagnosis.

So what's a fragrance diagnosis? Nothing serious, Doctor, just a brilliant and resolutely revolutionary concept. When you arrive on rue Bachaumont, you're handed an iPad, on which you'll find the key questionnaire. Through a list of questions, a bit like a BIBA test but a whole lot more scientific. The Nose Diagnostic establishes your profile, and suggests new juices for you to try out to find what you're looking for. It's an incredible concept for the indecisive, whose secret the whole cosmetics planet is trying to unravel... This application is constantly being perfected, and Nicolas is relishing its success: after a diagnosis, seven out of ten customers buy one of the recommendations on offer...  

Today I had the chance to meet two enthusiasts: Nicolas Cloutier, one of the founders of Nose, and Mark Buxton, the Nose of Nose (that's good!) He tells us about the fabulous Nose adventure with Fox, Wes Anderson and Gustave H.

 

•  Nicolas: In a few words, tell us where you come from and why perfume, and why Nose?

I'm from Quebec and I've been living in Paris for almost 10 years. As an olfactory enthusiast, I was dissatisfied with the perfumes offered by mass retailers, which lacked originality. Over the years, I've discovered exceptional perfumes, but I had trouble deciphering them: too many offers and not always very high quality... I knew a few people in the industry, and the Nose team was born. It's a project on a human scale, based on our passion and complementary know-how. There's no corporate financing and no money-printing objectives. We freed ourselves from all the constraints of the industry to grow at our own pace, with the aim of making Nose an institution.

•  Mark: In a few words, can you tell us about the business? What was your training to become Nose?

  I joined a German company (H&R) 27 years ago, I trained at their internal school for 3 years, studying raw materials,first compositions, bases etc...Then was sent to Paris after 3 years, as a junior perfumer, where I started working on the 1st briefs.

 

• How did you react when Fox called you to work on this crazy project with Wes Anderson?

Although we had received several requests to collaborate, we had turned them all down. We were still too young and didn't have enough experience for collaborations. What's more, collaborations don't mean anything these days; everyone makes co-signed candles for every occasion. When Fox approached us, we'd just blown out our 18th candle (months)! We're a very small team (3 full-time) to run the website, the store and international development. Suffice it to say that a project like this can quickly become a bad adventure if you don't have a team... With 6 weeks to deliver the perfume (including juice maturation), it was becoming impossible. A bit like the Nose story. Everyone discouraged us. But we like a challenge, so we took it on. And that's it!

 

•   Tell us more about this crazy "Air de panache" project, Nose's first collaboration?

We got an email from 20th Century Fox the day after New Year's Day! They asked us to make this fictional perfume real. A short brief (information under embargo), but without constraining us in our creative choices. Several major houses had been approached, but all the projects had been turned down. The pressure! Mark was on a trip to Istanbul. I called him and said: "Mark, we've got less than a week to submit our proposal! We hit the nail on the head on the first try, without having to rework a thing. Our proposal was approved by 20th Century Fox France, followed by 20th Century Fox USA, then Wes Anderson. We then had 6 weeks to produce the perfume!

 

•  How do you create a fragrance for a film you haven't seen?

Nicolas: We had seen short passages from the film. Enough to understand the world of Monsieur Gustave H. Like Nose, Wes Anderson is a meticulous person; no detail escapes him. So we explored and dissected every element. A transformation as the minutes passed, as the film's plot unfolded. The result: a "classic" cologne that transforms (olfactory pyramid) and becomes very animalic and woody. Just like the character!

 Mark: By watching the trailer and brainstorming with Nico, we came up with a cologne, classic but modern at the same time,rich lots of natural products,sensual and animal at the same time. All you need is a pen, a white peace of paper and a good imagination, that's how it all started!

•  Nicolas, what is your first olfactory memory? Then the smell you hate most of all?

The scented coats from the visit to my grandmother's bed at Christmas, in which I would fall asleep, exhausted from exhaustion and emotion. The scents of all the people I loved, all at the same time... my first perfume? Drakkar Noir by Guy Laroche. My father's perfume. I had and still have great admiration for him. I wanted to be like him. His values and his smells. And the one I hate the most... The obligatory DutyFree passages on the way to catch a flight. I hold my breath every time!

•   Mark, tell us in order your first olfactory memory? the scent that reassures you? the scent that makes you want to do your job? the fragrance you wish you'd created?

  I broke my mothers bottle of Chanel No.5 in the bathroom, at the age of 5 years, I never forgot the smell! My grandmothers kitchen in Germany, a mixture of black bread, fresh grinded coffee and the smoke from the old oven,(still stocked with wood). The smell of my British grandmothers kitchen, cheap floor cleaner, actually whole England smells like this... One of my all time favourite smells is Vetiver. And outside of the perfumery world, it is roasted chicken and fresh backed bread! Everything inspires me, for my job, everything is just a matter of vision. Besides a lot of my own creations, my all time favorites are Feminite du Bois and Nahema.

• Nicolas, you have incredible style. Can you give us one or two shopping addresses?

I can give you 3:

–Present London140 Shoreditch High St, London
–Sfäär Tallinn concept storeMere pst. 6E, Tallinn, Estonia
–Shopping center2 Rue de Marseille, 75010, Paris

•  #10 Mark, a good address to treat your senses? Restaurant, Hotel, Bar one or more...

 - Golf de Naple, the best Pizza au feu du bois in Paris,
– Patrick Pignolport Auteuil, the best resto in Paris, for nouvelle cuisine and my favorite Brasserie is Ille St. Lois
- I like all the bars in the big hotels,Raphael, Royal Monceau etc.

Other bars and night clubs , I don't know I'm too old But the all time best kitchen in Paris, is 12 Rue du Bouquet and Roiville!!! That's where I cook....

•  bonus... What's your next absolutely brilliant project together?

 This is still secret, but I totally agree with Nico, for a little weekend in the country side, "Roiville"!

Photography: Charlotte Evrard 

Illustrations: Charlotte Evrard Damien Florebert Cuypers for Nose 

 

 

And for those non-Parisians who can't come and smell the marvel in Paris, Nicolas and Mark are offering you the chance to win 2 fragrances! All you have to do is register on the Nose website here and leave me a comment with your first olfactory memory. I'll draw the winners on Monday evening! 

The big winners are Joon and Corinne Palombo! Please send your addresses and info to [email protected] !