Featured Perfumer: Olivia Giacobetti
May 14th, 2007
Featured Perfumer is a new category on Aromascope inspired by an article in the June issue of the House and Garden magazine (page 52) about Olivia Giacobetti. Perfumery to me is art, the perfumer is the artist. Hence, I take deep interest and pleasure in learning more about my favorite perfumers and perfumers in general. I especially enjoy looking for distinctive, signature touches in their often diverse creations. Olivia Giacobetti is on my top 5 favorite perfumers list. What strikes me most about her fragrances is the emotional response they elicit. Be it the spicy chai latte drink of Tea For Two by L’Artisan Parfumeur, the succulent Indian dessert of Monsoon Season by Lisa Simon or the salty, wet wood of Preparation Parfumee by Andre Putman – the experience is unbelievably real and very personal. Her scents are never abstract – on the contrary, they’re often intensified interpretations of life. “But what does it take to distill the essence of a person through smell? Focus on detail. Imagination. A genius for interpreting nature.”
Olivia Giacobetti is the nose of the majority of scents in the L’Artisan Parfumeur collection (such as Navegar, Drole de Rose, Dzing!, Tea For Two, Premier Figuier, etc.) as well as Costes by Hotel Costes, Essence of John Galliano by Diptyque, En Passant by Frederic Malle, Hiris by Hermes, and others.
Image source: houseandgarden.com
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
20 Comments
1. Nereis | May 15th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Ooh-hoh!
She’s my most loved perfumer closely followed by Jean Claude Ellena, and I am absolutely hooked to her works. In fact I found she’s the first perfumer to “strike me” when I fell in love with several of her works without knowing anything about her, and later to find out all these bottle in my wardrobes were made by the same hand(nose rather).lol
2. Cait | May 15th, 2007 at 4:02 am
I was happy to see Giacobetti in my issue of the magazine this month. She is a marvel. Sorry IUNX closed. Congratulations on your new job!! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
3. Elle | May 15th, 2007 at 6:40 am
She truly is a genius perfumer. Amazing range. Like Cait, I was very sorry IUNX closed.
4. Marina | May 15th, 2007 at 7:42 am
She made so many of my favorites. There are some, like the whole IUNX line, that failed to move me, but overall I absolutely love what she does and how she does it.
5. Amy | May 15th, 2007 at 7:49 am
This post inspired me to go give myself a couple of big fat squirts of AP PP, which is bottled serenity, IMO. I don’t get along very well with the L’Artisans, but I do admire Giacobetti’s intensely original style of perfumery.
6. violetnoir | May 15th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I love her creations, especially Hiris, which smells like angels’ wings. It’s simply heavenly!
What an interesting photo, Ina. I had to look at it closely before I could see exactly what she was doing, ha, ha!
Hugs!
7. chayaruchama | May 15th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I admire most of her work- not all of it fits me.
But it is original, and there is surely something for all tastes, in the growingly vast body of her work.
8. winterwheat | May 15th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I lovelovelove her. LOVE. Even the scents I can’t wear (En Passant), I love. There is a freshness and clarity to all of her scents, and by “fresh” I don’t mean that artificial detergenty fresh, but REAL fresh, like a splintered twig or torn leaf. And her combinations of notes are original and inspiring.
9. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Nereis, isn’t it amazing? I’m so glad you love her creations. Even though I don’t wear them all, I whole-heartedly appreciate them. She’s a genius.
10. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Cait, thank you! It’s going well, although a bit too busy these first days but I’m getting used to it.
I didn’t realize House and Garden is such a fun magazine!
11. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Elle, yes, it is indeed too bad IUNX closed.
12. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Marina, same here. When I smell Dzing! next to Drole de Rose (at work), I just can’t help but marvel at her talent.
13. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Amy, and your comment inspired me to get some AP PP! It was instant love for me. Must get that small bottle.
14. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Robin, the photo looks even better in the magazine – much bigger! As for Hiris, yes, it’s one of the best pure iris scents out there.
15. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Chaya, yes, something for all tastes. That’s another reason why I love her so much.
16. Ina | May 15th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Kris, yes! Such amazing clarity! It’s almost like real life but better.
17. Leopoldo | May 16th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Like Chaya, I think she’s wonderful, though increasingly she doesn’t always seem to fit me well. I’ve rerally learned to love Navegar though for its versatility and the fact that it seems to shift into different scent sensations on different days – sometimes peppery, sometimes watery, sometimes green. A truly lovely summer scent (I think she’s more of a spring / summer type, somehow).
18. Ina | May 16th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Leo, Navegar reminds me a lot of Andre Putman Preparation Parfumee, just a bit heavier on pepper and juniper. It is indeed versatile.
19. Nereis | May 18th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
A sample of Idole de Lubin just came in today and I am again hit by Olivia’s sorcery. This is the most ethereal incensey lightly sweet gourmand I have ever encountered. Its sweetness masked under the counterpart of what comes to me as slightly soapy musk, and plays hide and seek with my nose. I think it starts out solid with that rum and saffron, but in the heart it turns airy and perplexing, then towards the basenotes it comes back to the earthly world once again! What a surprise!
20. Ina | May 18th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Nereis, I love Idole de Lubin! I love the way you describe it, right on!