The fact of the matter is, perfume is complex…
But it needn’t be.
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A Clear and Confident Voice
How knowledge is delivered matters. In a world brimming with garbled voices, clarity and confidence rises to the top. A formal education at the highest echelon, ongoing teaching engagements, and intimate relationships with the most interesting characters in the perfume industry have moulded an irreplicable voice and style.
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Theoretical Know-How
A PhD addressing the richness of aesthetic experience and creation alike provides the sturdy background which informs my approach, equipped with the frames for understanding how we relate to the world of sensory objects. This is bolstered with sustained interests across many areas of cultural and social studies, and an enduring fascination towards the notion of taste.
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Hands-On Experience
Leaning on a decade of varied industry experience, I have covered many facets of the perfume industry from front to back, above and below. Historically, my roles include sales, curation, education, evaluation, creative direction, product development, brand development, copywriting, customer engagement strategy, press, and public relations.
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Passion and Respect
There can be no room for doubt when passion fuels this flame. My entry into this world begins with a devout desire to share my love of good taste through words. I navigate through life nose and palate first, open to its crisscrossings. With a simple life philosophy, I am intent upon elevating the aesthetic to the fervid status of a religion.
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Empathic and Human
Pedagogy must be flexible, and the general cannot do justice to the particular. My approach to consultancy is guided by empathy, a humanistic interpretive principle which, like osmosis, draws out ideas and inspiration in full appreciation of its particularity. Where everyone seeks rigid and immobile facts and universal truths, I seek understanding.
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A Love of Writing and Research
Every claim requires proof and reference, every sentence should be worth savouring, and absolutely no denunciation without its proper instrument of close analysis. My highest passion is for writing - both essayistic and novelistic forms - which becomes an instrument that creates rhythms, textures, and flavours. Words shouldn’t merely tell us something, they should also make us feel something as we encounter them.
Consultancy Services
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Conveying accurate and engrossing material, as well as fulfilling informative, didactic, and evaluative criterea is the key to some of the best pieces of writing. From charming descriptions to critical critiques, research reports and proclamations, my services range the gamut of what is required of perfume writing and social / cultural commentary more broadly.
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With honed senses and an inclination towards all matters of taste, I lend a valuable perspective when it comes to developing, refining, and/or repositioning one’s branding and their products.
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I have specific interests in the following:
The aesthetic value and impact of perfumery.
Communication strategies around sense experiences (i.e., ordinary language philosophy, gestalt psychology, sense and reference, and phenomenology).
Perfume appreciation / evaluative techniques.
Understanding the notes, accords, categories, and genres of perfumery.
The geneological study of Western perfumery.
Customer engagement.
Group Workshops
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On principle, I do not accept commissions for a review as I believe it is antithetical to the notion of a proper review in the first place. However, I have always accepted products submitted for review on the proviso that this does not influence my final analysis.
Please use the adjacent form if you wish for me to review a product.