The perfume legend Edmond Roudnitska was a great defender of the artistic nature of fragrance creation. He always argued that the industry was too concerned with profit at the expense of beauty. He said; “Anyone can make a nice smell, the trick is to create a fragrance that has SOUL.” His greatest pleasure was the freedom to develop perfumes without regard to mass market acceptance.

That is CONFORMITY TO A STANDARD, a CONFORMITY to something is to imitate it because of its excellence. Are we educating the industry as well as the public to this STANDARD? That is why Roudnitska is a LEGEND in the industry. We should get back to that STANDARD and CONFORM our beliefs to seek the SOUL of a fragrance and not to its market acceptability.

The profits should come as in the past, if we educate the people involved to look for the SOUL of a fragrance. The SOUL of a fragrance is its; vision, spirit, heart, individuality, personality, philosophy and eloquence. All are necessary to let the fragrance CONFORM TO A STANDARD. Are we there today?

To have those seven STANDARDS within a fragrance should produce a profitable undertaking. It worked before, we must see the value in creating a fragrance with real SOUL before we attempt to satisfy the “market.” Look at the fragrances that Roudnitska created, they are still selling fairly well today. Why? Because they all have SOUL. Roudnitska against all odds followed his dream.

DEVELOP A FRAGRANCE THAT HAS SOUL, THAT IS CONFORMING TO A STANDARD. YOU SHOULD FOLLOW THE DREAM.

Categories: Leadership PERSPECTIVES Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.