The heady smell of success...

Perfumeries have always been a very closed industry, but with more business avenues opening up, the industry now is offering exciting career options for the technical professionals with a creative bend of mind!

ENCYLOPEDIA Britannica defines perfumes as (a), `fragrant product that results from the artful blending of certain aromatic substances in appropriate proportions', but we all know what it does to a woman is definitely magical...even divine!Aromatic extractions were originally used for the very unglamorous purpose of covering up the foul odours emitted due to lack of hygiene and the stench of disease. Later on the Egyptians mastered the techniques like decocting, pulverisation and maceration for making scented oils, unguents, and balms and also made the initial attempts to produce essential oils by distillation.

Down the ages aromatic oils have found diverse usage right from religious ceremonies to curative medicines. When burnt some plants released strong aromas and their scented smoke became a mystical means of communication between heaven and earth and this was used largely in pagan worship.

The nerve centre of the natural perfumery industry has for many years been in Grasse in France. The culture of extracting aromatic oils from flowers was practiced in Bulgaria, India and Syria. Turkey was especially noted for the production of attar from roses. This was a pure extract that required tons of rose petals for producing a few ounces of aromatic oil.

Top Note

One of the most important steps in the manufacture of a fine perfume is the adding of a fixative that enables the alcohol to retain the fragrance for long periods of time. Three natural and costly substances have been used since ancient times namely; civet, musk, and ambergris until more economic substitutes were invented.

The perfumery industry is highly secretive and a closed industry where all employees are sworn to secrecy. All chemical formulae, compositions are kept under tight security and literally under lock and key.

The industry as such can be divided into two major sectors:

* One, the companies making the end product for the market in the form of pure perfume compositions.

* The other sector is more diverse and consists of chemical manufacturers who are largely responsible for reproducing natural or synthetic fragrance and flavours for wide range of products from shampoos to biscuits.

The first category of manufacturers is mainly governed by the fashion industry and their compendiums are sold from the high fashion streets of Paris and Milan to our own back alley counterfeits!

The second category of industry is expanding at a rapid rate with many international and indigenous companies setting up shop. Since most of the fast moving consumer goods demand individualistic fragrance or flavours to succeed in the market, this branch of the industry has a lot of business potential both in the domestic and international market. Though generating a lot of job opportunities, most companies prefer to recruit from similar other companies or from related fields.

Whiff of opportunities

This is one industry that needs plenty of flower power! Flower farming is one related field, which is literally blooming in India. While all the premium quality flowers are exported, the ones that are fresh but unfit for usage in bouquets and decorations are sold to the perfumeries for extracting essential oils. As one of the world's largest producers of rose and jasmine many small scale industries are into producing base oils like geranium oil which is an essential ingredient in the preparation of rose and lavender perfumes. A large domestic market for end products (from food, beauty to incense) that require rose extracts has also helped promote a lot of units involved in the production of rose water, rose essence and flavour extracted from rose petals.

Alchemists all!

Many opportunities are available in the areas of technical, research and manufacturing.

Chemistry Graduates can join as chemists to produce blends of fragrances and flavours as per the formulations created by the perfumer or the flavourist.

Doctoral students of Chemistry can pursue research opportunities in areas like identifying, evaluating and selecting molecules useful in fragrance and flavour creation. Doctoral students of Analytical Chemistry can make their careers in quality control and assurance, where they analyse all the chemical compounds used on various parameters including olfactory.

Science graduates with a creative bend of mind can step into this field and kick-start their career by creating fragrance or flavours for various end product categories.

The technologists in food, soaps and detergents or cosmetic technology can make a career in the application area, wherein they can test the efficacy of the fragrance in the end product and help develop a new product concept or a recipe.

Middle note!

This industry has a long initiation period and the initial training will last at least for five years before a professional can become a junior perfumer or junior flavourist. Then, one goes on to become a perfumer or flavourist, which is a very senior position and demands a lot of hard work.

Apart from a dedicated technical team, a dynamic marketing team is also very essential for a company in this industry. Account managers and business development managers closely coordinate between the client and the perfumer to develop the perfect fragrance or flavour.

Bottom note!

Research on human pheromones has seen the perfume industry rushing to capitalise on this trend. Bio-chemists working in this field are in great demand now with new avenues opening up practically everyday.The art of perfumery has travelled a long way from the confines of exotic palaces and boudoirs to the common man and woman. From a highly priced aphrodisiac it has become accessible to everyone and has been incorporated into the daily grooming routine. While everyone might still not be able to get a personalised perfume concocted, one can pick up a variety of woody, flowery or retro fragrances as per personal choice.

Malini Suryanarayanan

maalini.mds@careercommunity.co.in