'The Nose' knows perfumes — and shares his knowledge

It's not every day that one can attend a master class taught by a perfumer so prominent he's known simply as "The Nose.''

"Every day I have to wear a perfume," said Beatrice Schindler of Orlando, a collector of perfumes. "I know a lot of brands, but for a perfumer to explain the process — it's like an artist about to do a painting."

She and about 30 people attended an invitation-only seminar by Parisian Francis Kurkdjian held at the Neiman Marcus at Orlando's Mall at Millenia.

In fact, Kurkdjian's process is like that of many artists. A spark of inspiration soon leads to a product that not only smells good, but more importantly, tells a story, he told the champagne-sipping group. After his lecture, the attendees sniffed individual scents from one of his creations.

Kurkdjian, 44, who started his perfuming career when he was 20 years old, is one of the biggest names in the industry. Having created dozens of best-selling fragrances, including a commission to re-create the favorite perfume of Marie Antoinette, his work has earned him numerous awards and an exclusive partnership with Neiman Marcus.

"I have a nose like everyone here," Kurkdjian said. "There's only one difference: My head is capable of envisioning smells and scents that don't exist."

The master perfumer says that the entire process of creating a new scent takes roughly 18 months from conception to sale and distribution. Kurkdjian rejects the idea that fragrance making is a haphazard process of mixing random scents.

"I create a perfume because I have an idea," he said. "There is real thinking that goes into it and without a story, there is no perfume."

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