A passionate admirer, connoisseur and connoisseur of fragrances Andrei Gridasov lives in Kursk. They say about such people: perfume maniac. Some of Andrey's aromas appear before they are brought to Russia, to Moscow.
Mass product is not interesting
He holds out a scent paper blotter, and I breathe in the odor.
“A villa in the Tuscan wilderness, a fireplace is burning, he is smoking a cigar, drinking brandy. Everything is quiet. But a wild beast lurks in the dark. Perhaps this beast is in him,”says Andrei Gridasov.
Next blotter and another story:
“Night in Bali. Sweet rice is fried here, spices are placed, everything is fragrant, incense sticks are smoking, flowers are lying. The smell is glamorous, postmodern, about travel."
I notice that the packaging looks not just modest, but imperceptible. A box made of inexpensive cardboard, a bottle of the most unpretentious form. No embellishment.
“I am attracted not by luxury and mass-market, which are poured in wagons, but by the so-called niche perfumery,” explains Andrey. - Behind these fragrances there is a cultural background, some kind of prehistory, the personality of the creator. This is a handmade perfume, it is not made in tanks, it is not made by robots. The fragrances do not pretend to be liked by everyone, but they give pleasure to true connoisseurs. These smells are not so much about spirituality as about the soul, they appeal to the deepest level of a person - his unique inner self. Perhaps this is somewhere even a selfish story. These are angels in bottles talking to people."
Andrei has been fond of collecting perfume "with history" for the last 25 years. But smells have always played an important role in his life.
“I have it, most likely, from my father. We went with him to the forest, collected herbs and mushrooms. I could smell the smell of autumn, spring, poplar buds. Then I saw my mother's perfume. I have heard the perfumes of my father's friends, adult cousins. French perfumes were of great value back then. I would like the perfumery to stop, freeze, stop its great chees in the production of new products. Marketers have taken over the world, not creators."
However, there are also a lot of those for whom perfumery is akin to art. One of such masters, according to Gridasov, is Spyros Drosopoulos from Amsterdam. Andrey knows him personally, communicates in social networks.
“Two weeks ago, a new perfume line by Spiros appeared, and the first Russian city where it came to was Kursk,” says Gridasov. - Perfumers are big kids. They want the scents they create to be loved. Another fragrance will be released soon, Spyros dedicated it to his daughter - he created it for seven whole years!"
What did Leo Tolstoy smother with?
“The sense of smell is one of the ancient signaling systems in the body, which analyzes: one's own - another's. To understand another country, you need to breathe in and comprehend its smell. What does the house smell like? What do people smell like? The more we sniff, the more neural pathways we cut in our heads. Often, aromas overlap with memories. A fragrance library has been created in France. All the French perfumery heritage is collected there, formulas are written down. You can come and listen to the perfumes worn by Mayakovsky and Yesenin, Guy de Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy, Tsar Nicholas II. Account books have survived, in which it is written that Leo Tolstoy bought three bottles of Houbigant Fougere Royale in the store. I know the reincarnation of these fragrances. They are also in my collection. The perfume is expensive. But a real collector will sell the last shirt, but buy whatever interests him. It's not just the cost of raw materials, but how to adequately assess the work of a perfumer. Therefore, the cost is always symbolic."
Please let me smell the "smell of the Pope's cassock."And at the same time tell the story of his appearance in Andrey's collection..
“Pope’s Sutana” sounds beautiful and bold, but it is so, - Andrey holds out another sample, and I catch the smell of incense mixed with something incomprehensible. “Base notes: rosewood, amber, oakmoss, tonka bean,” explains the collector. - The creator of the fragrance is the Italian Filippo Sorcinelli. He is an extravagant guy who plays the organ in a Roman cathedral and designs clothes for priests. It was the first scent that was sprinkled on boxes in his atelier and cassocks were placed there. Even Pope Benedict is said to have worn this fragrance. It is called Lavs (in Latin - praise). In general, incense is one of the most difficult resins. There are whole incense lines of perfume. In Russia, they shy away from such gothic aromas - people are not yet used to it. By the way, the same perfumer created the Black Boredom scent, - Andrey holds out another sample. - But this is not some gloomy insanity, but rather a state of creative breakthrough. And the last of Sorcinelli's fragrances is called "I have no hands to caress myself." This is a story about celibacy, loneliness, sacrifice of eros in the name of serving God. I don’t have it in my collection yet, but I will definitely bring it”.
Synthetics or natural product?
Oksana Shevchenko, AiF-Chernozemye: Andriy, you must agree that not everyone dares to use such extravagant aromas.
Andrey Gridasov: Yes. But let's not forget that perfumers are Western people, where there is excessive individualism. What is the problem of the Russians? We lack openness. Everything is assessed from the position: how will they look at me? An eerie provincial complex. Walking in a herd is okay, but being an individualist is bad. “Be like children,” said Christ. This is not in us. Our women carry themselves with such pathos, as if they are going to the last battle. We are full of stereotypes. For example, we associate the smell of violets with grandma's perfume. When I say this to Western perfumers, they are very surprised.
- How many scents should a person have?
- I think 5-7 is optimal. Different moods, different seasons. Different clothes. Sometimes you want lightness, weightlessness, and sometimes something bright, beautiful, as if you are on the southern islands. I myself wear about 30 fragrances.
- Which is better - synthetic or natural?
- Some naively believe that the price is made up of whether natural or synthetic raw materials are used. This is not true. Buying a well-known brand, you pay for glossy advertising. Synthetics have been used in perfumery since the end of the 18th century, when chemistry began to develop actively. And this is a real salvation for nature. The massive felling of sandalwood trees has led to their disappearance, and the price of sandalwood oil is growing exponentially from year to year. Therefore, there will be no sandal in Indian chopsticks for 29 rubles. Or take the same musk. Previously, this aromatic substance was extracted from the glands of a musk deer. To get a kilogram of musk, it was required to destroy up to 40 animals. Since the 70s, no one has carved a bag of iron from animals.
- Why are perfumes expensive?
- Perfume is not bread. You are being sold an optional thing, an emotion. Then, many niche perfumers simply cannot sell their works cheaper, as they produce small lines, small batches. When they tell me about the price, I am indignant. Guys, when you have 50,000 iPhones in your pocket, do you tell me that perfume is expensive? 6-8 thousand rubles is the average price for a bottle of a niche perfume.
- Perfume with pheromones - is it a myth, or do they really exist?
- It is a myth. There is no one-size-fits-all remedy. We perceive aromas too differently. What may be sex for one person is nothing for another. And Patrick Suskind's novel Perfumer is a fantasy, a book about the absence of love. With modern technology, you don't need to kill anyone. To create the scent of a specific person, they would be placed in a capsule where a neutral gas is supplied. You will breathe calmly, molecules will settle from you onto the filter. And then you can recreate your physiological profile. It is clear that perfume is most often viewed through the prism of temptation. And I urge you to look at smells through the prism of history for yourself.
- Could you live without scents?
- I don't overestimate perfumery. This is just one drop in the ocean of life. But she makes her look fat. Yes, I can give up perfume. There are things beyond that, like love. I had moments when I didn't wear perfume at all.
