What the Nose Knows - The Art of Perfumery, Scent and Inspiration

Perfume has been linked to civilisation as far back as we can go. It is known that before the Battle of Thermopylae the Spartan warriors, knowing they were going to die fighting off the Persians, bathed and perfumed themselves to meet their death smelling good. 

And in the Islamic tradition we know that beautiful scent was loved by the Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alayhi wassalam) and that it is strongly recommended to beautify the self by wearing the best perfumes to the Jumuah and the Eid.

In this episode, Ikramuddin Zwane, a self-taught perfumer from Johannesburg, South Africa, opens a door onto the world of scent, olfaction and the art of perfumery alongside reflections from his journal of perfumery.

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Timecode Guide:

02:33 The beginning of Ikramuddin’s journey mixing perfumes just for fun and his Moroccan Taxi driver

04:35 From mixing existing perfumes to learning how to make perfumes via Peter from the UK

06:33 Started mixing by experimentation drawing from instinct

07:48 The 5% of perfumers that are artisans

09:36 Three levels of Perfumery - 1st Designer Perfumes

10:47 Three levels of Perfumery - 2nd Niche Perfumes

11:36 Three levels of Perfumery - 3rd Artisanal Perfumes

11:52 The traditional way of becoming a perfumer

12:42 The non-traditional way of becoming a perfumer

13:35 How the non-traditionalists break the rules and the example of the Chypre

16:15 The subjectivity of perfume

17:33 The price tag of perfume and how perfumes smell different on different people .

19:34 The driving force behind artisanal perfumery

19:54 The smell of the Springbok 

20:48 Deer musk - where it comes from and what it is

23:01 Ambergris - where it comes from and what it is

26:05 Oud - where it comes from and what it is

Out of all the perfumery world the oud is the most diverse, basically its like all the other raw materials you can find - in a tree

28:30 With Hardship Comes Ease

29:40 The Ayat: “Which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?” and inspiration from Allah

30:18 The hadith of the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wassalam) on his love of perfume

32:00 Spirituality linked to certain scents and the link to the heart

33:01 Dr Muhammad Cassim on the link between scent and inspiration

34:10 Scent and memory

There is a strong connection between scent an memory. And it immediately takes you back, you are transported. Its basically timeless!

37:50 Do the ancient perfume recipes still exist and if so are they accessible?

40:28 The Battle of Thermopylae and the warrior’s perfuming themselves in preparation for their death

41:52 Khoi San perfume of Southern Africa

42:10 Perfumes comes from one of the Prophets just like martial arts - where does the inspiration come from?

42:50 How do you choose the smells in a perfume?

45:00 A perfume as the imagined smell of places in the past

48:12 The scent of a horse

48:58 The difficulty of making a clear distinction between masculine and feminine in perfumery

51:01 Life is fluid. It’s very hard to remain structural. Things change. They move

51:25 Anosmia and losing the sense of smell - sensory overload

52:57 Scent and Sex

 

Music by Ian Cattanach