Amouage introduced its exclusive new range of attars in 2021. Rich, haunting and mesmerising, the attars bring a unique character to the brand. Renaud Salmon, Creative Director of Amouage, talks about creativity, attars and Oman in an enchanting chat with Business Plus. Excerpts:
Amouage Attars are just as unique as the house’s perfumes. Please tell us about the brand’s decision to introduce attars
We realised that a lot of perfume creators actually craft attars in their own house, or in small companies around the world. Most of the time they don’t comply with the health and safety regulations, which not everyone knows about. That’s one side of the story. Then there are the large-scale perfume manufacturers market the notion of attar. Many of the words in the perfume industry are not regulated. So you have brands that classify their perfume as eau de parfum when it actually isn’t. The same applies to attars. I was really intrigued by this dynamic and what has been going on. I felt if someone can create attars in its true form and sense, then it has to be Amouage. We have the setup and the craft mindset it requires in order to produce the highest quality attars, pure 100 percent perfume oils. At the same time Amouage has the global awareness and scale it takes to make it resonate globally.
Please tell us about the Attars from Amouage, particularly the two latest creations
Amouage is all about creation. We started this journey of attars in 2021 by exploring small hidden villages of Oman to serve as an inspiration for those beautiful creations.
Why did we go for small villages in Oman? Because the attars feel a little bit like the hidden jewels of Amouage. Historically, there were some attars that were actually only available in Oman, mixed in very small batches. And only a few people in the know would know about it. I really like the idea of the attar as being like a precious accessory or like a hidden gem in your perfume ritual. And this is why I felt taking inspiration from small villages was something quite interesting from that point of view. I’m a big lover of Oman. I travel every single weekend to a different village. I make my notes and when I find something interesting, I travel back with a perfumer to that village, and then we would start actually opening our senses and getting a lot of inspiration.
For the two new attars, I was inspired by a trip to Al Sogara and Sohar. Now Sohar is not that much of a small village. However, it’s interesting to look at it from a historical point of view. The first attar is called Amber Sogara. I was hiking in the Jebel Akhdar mountains and I used to always stay at the big hotels in Jebel Akhdar. During one such hike after a really long day, far from the hotel and I had no clue where I was. And it was becoming dark and I only had a small head lamp. But the weather was fine so I was not too worried about it. And all of a sudden, I start seeing what looks like a glowing piece of amber in the mountains quite far.
And I’m like, okay, I need to figure out what this is because it looks weird. In my mind, it looks like people climbing a cliff because I could see a cliff and I could see light. I hiked for quite some time and on reaching closer I realised it’s actually a village that is carved into the cliff that looked like a piece of glowing gold amber. I was intrigued and decided to find more about this village. I did some research about it and realised that the village had been secluded for quite some time until very recently when it opened to the public.
I really liked this idea of the village hanging on a cliff. Living a little bit in the past if that makes sense. And then at night looking like glowing drop of amber. I went back there with perfumer Élise Bénat and created a perfume that has a little bit of an old school take on the amber and chypre theme.
The second one is called Santal Sohar and this was inspired by the history of Sohar as well as its legacy. Dhows are still made in Sohar, and it was interesting to note the smell that wafted from the shavings of the wood that were directly under the sunlight. The beautiful golden light of the sun and the blonde wood shavings of the dhow proved to be an inspiration point. I went back with KarineVinchon Spehner. We went back to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor who is believed to have originated from Sohar. This was also a trade route where incense and spices were traded. We decided to create a sandalwood-basedattar, which is important in the tradition and in the story of attar while adding a lot of spices, particularly clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, together with rose and basil.
I felt if someone can create attars in its true form and sense, then it has to be Amouage. We have the setup and the craft mindset it requires in order to produce the highest quality attars, pure 100 percent perfume oils.
Renaud Salmon
What is your creative process?
My creative process is mostly articulated around the idea of collage. When you look at art in history, it’s actually a technique that has been used by people like Picasso and actually other artists. The idea behind the collage is that you are going to put together elements that are not meant to belong together in order to create a new reality. It works beautifully in paintings. It works beautifully in different types of art, even in music; sometimes new music ideas come from collages of different styles.
I have a big board in the studio where I put a lot of interesting ideas. And then once an idea develops, it moves to its own board. I continue to add more elements.
Once the collage is good enough, I share the it with the creative team who are going to be part of the project in my mind. So typically, the perfumer, the visual artist, the packaging designer, architects if we need architects, and so on.
It takes a bit of time. Sometimes it can take years actually for the idea to materialise and then after that there is this kind of rush of energy. And when the creative flow is going then we just actually work really intensely and then it all comes together.
