Thanks to Annette for accepting my interview offer. We know her perfumes and some of us her fan. We respect the perfumes produced by such powerful artists. I would like to thank Annette once again for sincerely answering all questions. Lets go
Could you tell us briefly about yourself?
First of all, thank you so much for getting in touch with me and your patience, which I have tested quite a bit taking such a long time to finally answer your questions.
I am officially making my perfumes since 15 years, but my original occupation is being a jazz musician. I studied the jazz trumpet at the Universities of Music and Performing Arts in Graz / Austria and in Stuttgart / Germany where I graduated in 1997 and have been performing as a singer and trumpet player for over three decades now.
When did your passion for perfume begin? I guess your grandmom has been very influential in your passion for perfume.
No, my grandma (for once) had nothing to do with it, because she would regard perfumes as a totally unnecessary luxury. The plants in her paradise garden though were definitely my inspiration from the earliest age on and there is no baby picture on which I am not picking some flowers apart and smelling them from the moment I could walk.
What was your first perfume you used?
The first perfume I used in my late teens was Ispahan by Yves Rocher. It was sort of an YSL Opium knockoff and I wore it for many years until it was discontinued. Must de Cartier, Obsession, Opium, KL and later Angel were in heavy rotation too. I always loved bombshell fragrances!
What was the first perfume you created? And it was handmade too?
That was Avicenna, a spicy oriental rose perfume which I named after the Persian polymath Avicenna who is said to be the innovator of the rose oil distillation. Yes, it was handmade, as all my fragrances are. Sometimes people ask me why I don't have them manufactured externally, but first, all the raw materials wouldn't be available within one professional production company, because none of them would have everything I need, the special piece of ambergris, the extremely rare Boronia, the certain kind of Oud and so on...It always takes quite a variety of suppliers to gather everything I need for my formulations.
The quest for raw materials is extremely time consuming, since with the exclusive use of naturals one can get very different materials under the same name. For instance many Orange Flower absolutes have quite a harsh and sharp note, to find a beautiful one takes quite a bit of sampling.
When you order Methyl Naphtyl Ketone to build a synthetic Orange Flower you are pretty likely to know what to expect. The same goes for all the varieties of Rose Oils and Extracts versa for instance Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol or Citronellol (main compounds of Rose absolutes or oils that are also synthetically produced and much cheaper.)
That being said, with naturals there is simply no other way than making everything by hand, plus I love this analog way of working and creating very much, although it's an almost anachronistic approach nowadays.
Did you get any education and help about creating perfume?
No, never. I am entirely self-taught and my education was the thousands of experiments that failed, which was very expensive using only naturals, but the courage to fail is the source to improvement.
As I never intended to sell my perfumes, I just regard it as my “exploded hobby”.
Nevertheless, I studied many years from all possible sources, books, scientific articles and such. That took at least as much time as a university degree. Also the legal requirements for producing or selling cosmetics in the EU are extremely complicated and require either much money for consultants or doing the labour and having the patience to find out for yourself.
The few official perfumery schools were never an option for me, as I don't like the use of synthetics for myself. Though I admire very much what others are able to do with them!
Recently I even had a request of an ISIPCA graduate, professionally trained perfumer who applied for an apprenticeship with me, that was puzzling, as I would not even call myself a perfumer.
Actually I am an amateur in the true sense of the word, I love to make perfumes, but I never learnt it in any kind of school.
What are the perfumes you use other than your brand? And favorites?
Apart from testing my own experiments I hardly use perfumes anymore, to keep my nose free. Only if I go out or perform. Then, I have to admit it, I always use my own.
Believe it or not, with the exception of perfume I only use scent free products in my house, so I can enjoy the particular fragrance I choose to wear rather than a scented chaos.
What are your inspirations while creating perfume?
There are many, I'm a synaesthete and certain inputs trigger multiple other sensory impressions in me.
Music (for example Autumn Nocturne, Make Someone Happy, Blue In Green), colours (Vermilion Orange), poetry (Sonnet 18), Nature (Narcissus Orientalis, Rosa Alba, Estate), a certain festive mood (Fumoir des Anges) or a particularly interesting raw material of course (Per Fumum: Ambar).
Which your perfume is your favorite?
Currently Fumoir des Anges, but I love all of them and each has a special meaning to me. It also changes by the mood, season and weather.
What is your favorite notes?
Oh, that is hard to say, because there are many. Vanilla, Beeswax, Rose, Bergamot, Orange Blossom, Benzoin, Labdanum, Sandalwood, Tobacco, Tiaré, Frangipani, Ambergris and Hyraceum as cruelty free animal ingredients.
Is there any perfumer you liked works?
Some other perfumers whose work I really adore are Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Charna Ethier (check out her Moss Gown, it's a stunner), Liz Moores and Tanja Bochnig.
Delphine Thierry is fantastic. And from the more commercial perfume world I find Chris Sheldrake incredible. From the olden times of course Jacques Guerlain and Ernest Daltroff. But this is only to name a few, there are by far many more great noses.
We know that you use natural ingredients in your perfumes. What do you think about synthetic notes?
I am in awe what a skilled person can achieve with them and it's fantastic that there is a much wider variety of materials to choose from. Like a great abstract painter emphasizes the essence of the painted object with less lines, a great perfumer can do that with synthetics. As I think about it, Paris by YSL comes to my mind. It's a very crisp, clean and clear rose on steroids, way more than what you get with natural rose materials.
And last not least, they are way more cheaper and affordable. But on the other hand this cheap and easy access also leads to insane overuse and massive environmental problems, not only in perfume, but in many daily non biodegradeable products like fabric softener, laundry detergents, cleaning products etc.
I find it concerning that all of these end up in the water, it's organisms and even in human tissue or mother's milk and can't be filtered out again. It remains to be seen what the long time effects will be.
It's almost absurd that it's more of a luxury to have no fragrant environment than every little thing perfumed in nuclear strength. In olden days perfume was a luxury (because there were no synthetics available) and marked special occasions or rituals, I love that.
For myself I definitely prefer naturals, as I feel they connect with me, but I appreciate any good perfume if it's well made.
Could you tell us briefly about your next perfumes?
My next perfume will be named Estate (after the Bruno Martino Song, very famous sung by Joao Gilberto) it's a Lavender / Neroli / Citrus dominated male perfume with summery herbs and a base of genuine white Ambergris, Vetiver and Sandalwood.
Hepster is a materpiece perfume, It became one of my favourites, at first sniff. Very strong and high quality perfume, I used blue in green and its wonderful too. What does hepster mean to you?
I am so very happy and honoured by your compliment, thank you so much! Well, the term Hepster originates from the jazz world and is the first word for “Hipster”. To be “hep” meant to be sophisticated with a sense for jazz, arts and nice clothes. Cab Calloway for instance was a prototype of this species.
What would you say perfume lovers in Turkey?
In Munich we do often have Parfumo meetings and it's such fun not only to meet virtually, but in real life. This would be my dream in Istanbul, a city that I've been wanting to travel to since years!
Thank you all, it was a great pleasure talking to you. For now I pray for peace for all of us.
Thanks for your time. I love your scents, this is so special for me. Thank you so much again.
Thank you ever so much too, dear Sezgin, for your kindness and support, I really appreciate your patience too! Keep up the great forum and all the best to you, Annette Neuffer
Annette Neuffer - Sezgin Baran
All rights reserved. Cannot be used without permission.
Could you tell us briefly about yourself?
First of all, thank you so much for getting in touch with me and your patience, which I have tested quite a bit taking such a long time to finally answer your questions.
I am officially making my perfumes since 15 years, but my original occupation is being a jazz musician. I studied the jazz trumpet at the Universities of Music and Performing Arts in Graz / Austria and in Stuttgart / Germany where I graduated in 1997 and have been performing as a singer and trumpet player for over three decades now.
When did your passion for perfume begin? I guess your grandmom has been very influential in your passion for perfume.
No, my grandma (for once) had nothing to do with it, because she would regard perfumes as a totally unnecessary luxury. The plants in her paradise garden though were definitely my inspiration from the earliest age on and there is no baby picture on which I am not picking some flowers apart and smelling them from the moment I could walk.
What was your first perfume you used?
The first perfume I used in my late teens was Ispahan by Yves Rocher. It was sort of an YSL Opium knockoff and I wore it for many years until it was discontinued. Must de Cartier, Obsession, Opium, KL and later Angel were in heavy rotation too. I always loved bombshell fragrances!
What was the first perfume you created? And it was handmade too?
That was Avicenna, a spicy oriental rose perfume which I named after the Persian polymath Avicenna who is said to be the innovator of the rose oil distillation. Yes, it was handmade, as all my fragrances are. Sometimes people ask me why I don't have them manufactured externally, but first, all the raw materials wouldn't be available within one professional production company, because none of them would have everything I need, the special piece of ambergris, the extremely rare Boronia, the certain kind of Oud and so on...It always takes quite a variety of suppliers to gather everything I need for my formulations.
The quest for raw materials is extremely time consuming, since with the exclusive use of naturals one can get very different materials under the same name. For instance many Orange Flower absolutes have quite a harsh and sharp note, to find a beautiful one takes quite a bit of sampling.
When you order Methyl Naphtyl Ketone to build a synthetic Orange Flower you are pretty likely to know what to expect. The same goes for all the varieties of Rose Oils and Extracts versa for instance Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol or Citronellol (main compounds of Rose absolutes or oils that are also synthetically produced and much cheaper.)
That being said, with naturals there is simply no other way than making everything by hand, plus I love this analog way of working and creating very much, although it's an almost anachronistic approach nowadays.
Did you get any education and help about creating perfume?
No, never. I am entirely self-taught and my education was the thousands of experiments that failed, which was very expensive using only naturals, but the courage to fail is the source to improvement.
As I never intended to sell my perfumes, I just regard it as my “exploded hobby”.
Nevertheless, I studied many years from all possible sources, books, scientific articles and such. That took at least as much time as a university degree. Also the legal requirements for producing or selling cosmetics in the EU are extremely complicated and require either much money for consultants or doing the labour and having the patience to find out for yourself.
The few official perfumery schools were never an option for me, as I don't like the use of synthetics for myself. Though I admire very much what others are able to do with them!
Recently I even had a request of an ISIPCA graduate, professionally trained perfumer who applied for an apprenticeship with me, that was puzzling, as I would not even call myself a perfumer.
Actually I am an amateur in the true sense of the word, I love to make perfumes, but I never learnt it in any kind of school.
What are the perfumes you use other than your brand? And favorites?
Apart from testing my own experiments I hardly use perfumes anymore, to keep my nose free. Only if I go out or perform. Then, I have to admit it, I always use my own.
Believe it or not, with the exception of perfume I only use scent free products in my house, so I can enjoy the particular fragrance I choose to wear rather than a scented chaos.
What are your inspirations while creating perfume?
There are many, I'm a synaesthete and certain inputs trigger multiple other sensory impressions in me.
Music (for example Autumn Nocturne, Make Someone Happy, Blue In Green), colours (Vermilion Orange), poetry (Sonnet 18), Nature (Narcissus Orientalis, Rosa Alba, Estate), a certain festive mood (Fumoir des Anges) or a particularly interesting raw material of course (Per Fumum: Ambar).
Which your perfume is your favorite?
Currently Fumoir des Anges, but I love all of them and each has a special meaning to me. It also changes by the mood, season and weather.
What is your favorite notes?
Oh, that is hard to say, because there are many. Vanilla, Beeswax, Rose, Bergamot, Orange Blossom, Benzoin, Labdanum, Sandalwood, Tobacco, Tiaré, Frangipani, Ambergris and Hyraceum as cruelty free animal ingredients.
Is there any perfumer you liked works?
Some other perfumers whose work I really adore are Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Charna Ethier (check out her Moss Gown, it's a stunner), Liz Moores and Tanja Bochnig.
Delphine Thierry is fantastic. And from the more commercial perfume world I find Chris Sheldrake incredible. From the olden times of course Jacques Guerlain and Ernest Daltroff. But this is only to name a few, there are by far many more great noses.
We know that you use natural ingredients in your perfumes. What do you think about synthetic notes?
I am in awe what a skilled person can achieve with them and it's fantastic that there is a much wider variety of materials to choose from. Like a great abstract painter emphasizes the essence of the painted object with less lines, a great perfumer can do that with synthetics. As I think about it, Paris by YSL comes to my mind. It's a very crisp, clean and clear rose on steroids, way more than what you get with natural rose materials.
And last not least, they are way more cheaper and affordable. But on the other hand this cheap and easy access also leads to insane overuse and massive environmental problems, not only in perfume, but in many daily non biodegradeable products like fabric softener, laundry detergents, cleaning products etc.
I find it concerning that all of these end up in the water, it's organisms and even in human tissue or mother's milk and can't be filtered out again. It remains to be seen what the long time effects will be.
It's almost absurd that it's more of a luxury to have no fragrant environment than every little thing perfumed in nuclear strength. In olden days perfume was a luxury (because there were no synthetics available) and marked special occasions or rituals, I love that.
For myself I definitely prefer naturals, as I feel they connect with me, but I appreciate any good perfume if it's well made.
Could you tell us briefly about your next perfumes?
My next perfume will be named Estate (after the Bruno Martino Song, very famous sung by Joao Gilberto) it's a Lavender / Neroli / Citrus dominated male perfume with summery herbs and a base of genuine white Ambergris, Vetiver and Sandalwood.
Hepster is a materpiece perfume, It became one of my favourites, at first sniff. Very strong and high quality perfume, I used blue in green and its wonderful too. What does hepster mean to you?
I am so very happy and honoured by your compliment, thank you so much! Well, the term Hepster originates from the jazz world and is the first word for “Hipster”. To be “hep” meant to be sophisticated with a sense for jazz, arts and nice clothes. Cab Calloway for instance was a prototype of this species.
What would you say perfume lovers in Turkey?
In Munich we do often have Parfumo meetings and it's such fun not only to meet virtually, but in real life. This would be my dream in Istanbul, a city that I've been wanting to travel to since years!
Thank you all, it was a great pleasure talking to you. For now I pray for peace for all of us.
Thanks for your time. I love your scents, this is so special for me. Thank you so much again.
Thank you ever so much too, dear Sezgin, for your kindness and support, I really appreciate your patience too! Keep up the great forum and all the best to you, Annette Neuffer
Annette Neuffer - Sezgin Baran
All rights reserved. Cannot be used without permission.
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