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IF ALL OF THE PERFUMERS WORLDWIDE...

14 December 2020 Association
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IF ALL OF THE PERFUMERS WORLDWIDE WERE TO JOIN FORCES

At the beginning when the Society International of Perfumer-Creators was created, Raymond Chaillan, along with others, remembers the conditions that led to the creation of the SIPC, the objectives and mission which were established from the start and chosen to pursue. 

The perfume industry may attribute some of its masterpieces to Raymond Chaillan: Pour Homme by Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy III, Anais Anais by Cacharel or Monsieur by Carven. The industry also needs to thank him for his vision, before anyone else, of the necessity to create an authority responsible for “defining, protecting and promoting the work of a perfumer”, and to have bravely fought to implement this project despite doubts and all kinds of resistance. The idea emerged during a conference that the Perfumer gave at the SFP on the 27th of September 2012, on the occasion of the SFP’s 70 years’ anniversary. Raymond Chaillan evoked the lack of statutory recognition and consideration that was already affecting the Perfumer Profession: “Doctors, lawyers, architects, artisans are registered into an organisation or an association which gives them a legal legitimacy. Us, perfumers we have nothing!” he said partially provocatively and showing his disenchantment. For him, imagining an institution which would firmly carry the perfumers’ voice seems evident, especially in the current favourable societal context. More than ever the sense of smell, the olfaction and the perfume have aroused curiosity, is the subject of many debates and is at the centre of many books, magazines, conferences and documentaries. However, all this attention is without truly talking about the perfumer’s role, achievement of this dream orinvolvement into this industry which generates some tens of thousands of millions of euros. The time had come to clarify the situation and to clear some artistic vagueness around words intentionally maintained by some opportunists disguised as perfumers: “We were annoyed to see people proclaiming themselves as perfumers without ever having any training, or compounding a single fragrance’ Raymond Chaillan remembers. The perfumer niçois, amongst others, could identify that the association they were dreaming of, could allow professional perfumers to join forces and to speak with a single voice.

A worldwide community of perfumers

With the support of the most important fragrance houses, national perfumers’ associations worldwide and of some prestigious brand;  the founding members Patricia de Nicolai, Raymond Chaillan, Maurice Maurin, Maurice Roucel, Jean Guichard, Olivier Cresp, Dominique Ropion, Christopher Sheldrake and Thierry Wasser (which were joined soon by Sylvie Jourdet and Patrick Saint-Yves, honoured president of the SFP), finally decided to create the Society International of Perfumer-Creator on the 8th February 2016. They renounced the initial idea to create a professional association, to establish a public utility responsible for enforcing ethical rules of the profession and receiving possible consumers’ complaints.

They preferred a non-profit organisation, whose mission is to promote the perfumer profession and bring it back to front and centre

This unique institution aims to bring together exclusively the Perfumer-Creators, regardless of their rivalries, status, place of work or speciality, the SIPC works towards managing cooperation and communication between them. This association is also a stakeholder “for the protection of the perfumer’s raw-materials palette which is used to elaborate the fragrances”by making its voice heard on the Brussels recommendation regarding the authorised or banned raw materials, in order to avoid the impoverishment of the perfumer’s expression. Another unknown mission is to provide its expertise for few occasional arbitrations organised by courts or international organisations. Determined to provide a future for the profession by sharing the perfumer know-how, “the association equally helps with the development and elaboration of new training for future perfumers”. Most of the association’s actions are fuelled by a concern to protect the creation and not just the creator, by banning the temptation of corporatism. In fact, the SIPC would like to obtain the recognition of the fragrance creation as a “work of the mind” (not just showcasing know-how) and of “the nose intelligence” like an art work. The perfumer, independently of who they are, beginner or master, famous or unknown, is now represented by an association whose legitimacy is established beyond the borders of France, under the presidency of Calice Becker. Today, the SIPC represents at least 300 perfumers worldwide. Concerned with presenting a unique vision of the perfumery, this association seeks to become a singular voice into the industry, next to the SFP, the Osmotheque, and The Fragrance Foundation.

The time has probably come.




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