A nose as friend, interview with Andy Tauer

Since the beginning of my adventure into the world of perfume I’ve admired  Andy Tauer, his way of working and the concept behind his perfumes.

Andy is famous for his  kindness, as well as for his ability to build scented architectures  and he agreed to answer my questions.

You are an artist and an artisan of perfumery what do you think about perfumery as the 8th art? In your approach with perfumery is there a link with other arts?

I think the term „8th art„ originates from Octavian Coifan. At least, I remember stumbling over the term on his blog. I do not really care much about categorizations when it comes to the art of perfumery. I feel that Edmond Roudnitska has said a lot of what needs to be said there and he did not – to my knowledge- come up with a new term. But he explained why perfumery is an art form. In this sense I full agree with Edmond Roudnitska.(see his booklet Le parfum, written in French, from the series Que sais-je., ISBN 2 13 046057 7)
For me personally, the most direct link is to painting, expressing feelings and memories and explaining the word using light, color, shape and texture. There was a time in my life when I was painting a lot. Painting allowed me to express myself. But pictures are static by nature and perfumes are fleeting, living in the moment, like music. But music works differently, as the brain needs to memorize the individual tones of a melody for a while to appreciate the melody and its beauty. Perfumes, in the contrary, are just there. The beauty of a perfume reveals itself very directly.
What about you and raw material?
I love raw materials.

Sometimes, when working with naturals -they are very important in my work!- I think:” wow! This is like a perfume in itself. It does not need the hand of a perfumer anymore. For instance Orange blossom absolute (a passionate love of mine): What a treat! What a complexity and beauty unfolding right in front of your nose.

Using the best naturals and synthetic raw materials that you can buy, only the best!, is one part of the recipe to make beautiful perfumes. Other important ingredients are passion and love.
What do you think about animal raw materials and the limitation around use of them? Is perfumery poorer after the disappearance of material as musk, castoreum or civet?

It might look as if it is. But then I have to admit that we have now pretty good substitutes for castoreum, musk and civet. The same is true for amber gris. These substitutes are not 100% the real thing. But they come very close. Allow me two side notes here: Except for musks and amber gris, the modern perfume lover is not used to the powerful notes of animal materials anymore, such castoreum or civet. Perfumes like in the 20-ies or thirties, fully loaded with animalic notes, have a hard time today. I feel that we have lost partly the access to them. They speak to us from the past.

The second note deals with the disappearance of natural raw materials in good quality for a variety of reasons. I find this limitation much more important and I feel perfumery becomes poorer. The most known example is the Mysore sandalwood. Or natural Oudh. Oudh is much, much overexploited and contrary to what folks think: The many Oudh based fragrances of the last years have nothing to do with this. There, you hardly find any real Oudh in relevant dosage.
In your opinion. which’s the main difference between the actual perfumery and the pearfumery of the past?
Modern day perfume industry has become very much an industry that produces a commodity product. The glamour of luxurious fragrant goods is gone for a large part. I see a trend towards “expensive means luxurious”, which I find wrong. Thus, we have the tools and molecules allowing us to serve the masses with well done fragrant products; but the chic and glamour is gone.

Then, mostly, the language of the fragrances has changed. Here, I dare to use the term banalization. So many modern day fragrances speak a rather banal language and miss complexity. Perfumery is about story telling. Many modern day perfumes often do not tell a lot. I feel that somewhen after the 70-ies or 80-ies we have lost a lot of beauty and grandezza in perfumery.

I am a hopeless sentimental man. I am looking back at the wonderful classics of a house like Guerlain with much admiration. But I am also a hopeless optimist: I feel that the growing trend of small indie, low volume, and selective perfumery will lead to more thrilling, chic and “grand” perfumes that speak a modern language but live in the spirits of the traditional “grand” perfumery.

Which is a great parfum of the past that you would have created?
I wished I would have created Diorissimo. I admire Edmond Roudnitska a lot.

Or another lovely fragrance, called Knize Ten. I love this a lot.
What do you think about the trends in niche perfumery as oud or ambroxan?
To be honest, I do not know exactly what you mean by niche. For me, niche as term has become obsolete. Niche is occupied these days by all sorts of actors and the niche segment is not entirely clear to me. I rather speak of low volume, selective or artisanal perfumery. I wonder sometimes where a trend originates. Is it the producers of fragrant raw materials and bases? Is it the Zeitgeist bringing up a trend? Is it the consumer asking for a certain perfume family? If I look at the Oud flood these days, then I have my doubt that the consumer and the perfumery owners really asked for it. But this is me. I tend not to worry about trends. Actually, the goal of any artist is to create a piece of art that stands the test of time beyond any trends.

I read about a perfume that is no longer in production, Orris. I read it was great. What about it and why you do not longer produce it?

It is a perfume long gone. I wore it yesterday when visiting friends, being privileged to still have my own flacon. It is a fragrance that was designed for 200 flacons, wherein you find a vintage leathery dark rose, with a silver bright orris root and an Oudh heart. I built this Oudh heart with natural Carbon Dioxide Oudh that is very hard to get in good quality. The base of the fragrance is a chord of natural Mysore sandalwood and a classical ambergris note.

And as all things limited, it is very much asked for these days. Human beings always want what they cannot get. It is very much in our nature as humans.

Thus, I get a lot of questions about it. But I do not have any plans to make it again exactly like it was. Today, I would create a different perfume; I guess I would use much less leather.

I read also an exciting news about your new line, Collectibles, and a new linden blossom parfum. What about this line and what about this new parfum?
Yes, this is the most exciting upcoming launch for me right now. The “A LINDEN BLOSSOM THEME” as the first fragrance within the COLLECTIBLES line is my passion these days. I will have all pieces together in a few weeks; a nice pentagonal “tauer” flacon made from green glass, labels, the beech wood top covers and the fragrance. Actually, the fragrance is ready since a while. It is a perfume that I build around a natural carbon dioxide extract of Linden blossom. It has an opening, rich like a cologne, a flowery and bright linden blossom heart and the softest base you can imagine with lots of natural sandalwood and natural vanilla extracts.

I decided to come up with this COLLECTIBLES line because I realized that there are raw materials that are difficult to get over the year. Using these raw materials such as the linden blossom extract makes it difficult to produce fragrances that are the same over the years, or it may proof difficult to make a lot of it.

Thus, I decided to create the COLLECTIBLES line. A line where I produce a few hundred flacons of a particular vintage, like Linden blossom 2011. Next year, I may make another linden blossom, the version 2012, and it might be slightly different. Or, if I run into troubles getting the high quality sandalwood that I need, I may not produce it at all and wait until I have all raw materials that I need.

The COLLECTIBLES line allows me to do perfumes that build on truly rare and exclusive materials.
Which are your fragrant projects for the future?

OK, dear Giovanni, here’s a teaser for you: In September, I will launch the PENTACHORDS in Florence at the Pitti Fragranze. These are fragrances that I build around 5 notes, using a reductionist, very unconventional approach. I am pregnant with is idea since years. The first time I talked about the design concept in my blog 2 years ago. These perfumes are stunning. Due to the reduction they speak a very modern language. And they are amazingly beautiful and full of light. Trust me: To create these is not easy, but very rewarding. I learned a lot about notes and molecules. But I can only ask for your patience.

Then, I have a few more projects together with other perfume lovers and partners, but I cannot talk about them here and now. I wished, I could because some of these projects are very, very exciting!

You have a direct relationship with people who enjoy your fragrances with blog and with facebook. Is this important for you and for your work?

Yes, Giovanni, this is important to me. Of course, there is a limit set to how many people I can speak directly and get into an exchange. For me, this interchange, this collaborative exchange, this sharing of passion, is an energy source. It is a daily reminder and tells me for whom I am doing all this. And it is a source to learn from; about people and beyond.

And it is a lot of fun.