Perfumer Focus: Augustin Clemente, Junior Perfumer

A Belgian Jr. Perfumer with extensive expertise in the Southeast Asian and Singaporean fine fragrance market, Augustin is a young promising talent with a contagious dedication to his craft. In this insightful interview, he shares his journey into creating fragrances and his inspirations from world cultures. Get ready to be inspired by his passion for ethical and sustainable perfumery, and find out Augustin’s tips for aspiring perfumers looking to enter the industry!

When did you realise your passion for fine fragrance creation and the perfumery world?

My very first passion was to smell. I wanted to work with odours but I actually didn’t know what kind of work opportunities existed in relation to scent. It was when I started my bachelor’s degree in chemistry, and realised how I was amused by the smells created in the organic lab, that I wanted to attend ISIPCA and study perfumery.

What steps did you take to join the industry and become a Junior Perfumer?

It is a long, but rewarding journey: when your time at ISIPCA comes to an end, we all have a lot of hopes to enter the industry by becoming perfumers. You have to be willing to work hard and also have a bit of luck. My experience taught me that you learn a lot from a variety of people, and some of them will help you to build your own journey and advance in the craft of perfumery, introducing you to resources, tools, and knowledge that you wouldn't master at perfumery school.

With experience in candle and body care, how did you choose to specialise in fine fragrance? What unique sets of skills or expertise do these experiences offer you?

In my opinion, fine fragrance is the way I can express my creativity the most.
This is probably the support that helps me craft storytelling and allows me to try unique blends of creativity.

On the other hand, consumer goods are amazing to understand the foundation of our creation and customer preferences. It is a more accessible creation that touches more people in their everyday lives.

As a Belgian Perfumer with an international background, currently residing and working in Singapore, how have the diverse fragrance cultures influenced your perfumery style?

All the destinations I visited and all the countries I lived in helped me to understand the amazing diversity of cultures, and how people experience and enjoy smell and taste.

I have linked some to some smell memories I treasure, for example, the smell of Osmanthus flowers reminds me of my time in China.

How do you incorporate your passion for spices and world cuisines into your perfumery?

Food is definitely one of my main inspirations- it requires a high level of expertise and skills in knowing how to use flavours such as spices, and their correct amount - so it highly resembles fragrance creation.

Every spice plays an important role in a recipe, and altering the quantities would cause a completely different result. If you taste an ingredient on its own, it might not be very pleasant, but it will play a major role in your taste buds to sublimate the final flavour.

As perfumes, we have a lot of choices with raw materials of different facets, qualities, uses; our aim is to master our knowledge to be able to blend them properly into creations that can capture stories.

To me, spices create a multisensorial memory that involves all my senses.
In any quantity, they will bring unique complexity to a creation, having a similar effect to when employed in cooking, serving both as magical and sensoria enhancers.

How does experiencing synesthesia influence your work and creative process?

I employ it a lot when working: I find smells to have colours, melodies, and different textures. I see synesthesia as a translation mission.

During my creation process, some ingredients give me colors feeling like ionones or Damascones. Some others give me music notes like AmberMax, Ambrettolide or Cashmeran. I even see shapes for other ingredients. My job is to find the correct level of all of them to create the perfect olfactive melody.

Synesthesia also occurs when I want to interpret some of my inspirations (travels, arts or cuisines) into scents. It is a time when I can do abstraction of some reality to dive into my imagination.

I use it similarly to the way I find inspiration in visual arts. Translating a painting into a scent, interpreting music into perfume notes, or sometimes imagining a formula by sensing the beauty of a walk in the middle of the forest.

All of this serves as an important inspiration to translate emotions into a bottle.

What are some notable differences between the Singaporean/Southeast Asian and European fragrance markets? How do you navigate these differences as a perfumer?

Culture can create specific odour etiquettes and trends, and I believe every perfumer’s background impacts to a degree their approach to fragrance creation.

The South East Asian market is undoubtedly very complex and diverse, due to its diversity in population, heritage, etc...
In my region, modern floral perfumes are currently particularly appreciated, with creations characterised by delicate scent trails and designed to be of comfortable wear.

As a young perfumer, do you have any colleagues you look up to or admire for their contributions to the industry?

I admire a lot of perfumers with great experience, and who mastered the South Asian market like Master Perfumer Steve Williams.

What role have your mentors played in shaping your career?

I was very lucky to be trained in Paris during my apprenticeship in Sozio by 3 amazing perfumers: Melanie Carestia, who trained me to create accords and make them simple and efficient. Once I gathered great skills in accords composition, Caroline Mallejac gave me the opportunity to work on customer briefs, and she shared with me her passion for gourmand accords. She also taught me candle and body care fragrance creation, and how these categories' regulations can be an exciting challenge for fragrance creation. Fabienne Bourcier is another perfumer I would like to credit, as she pushed me to explore some of the raw materials that we can only use in limited quantities. in perfumery
We worked on some fruit accords together, and she was guided in the creative direction of some of my first fragrance trials. At the beginning of my education, I was lucky to have a person who pushed me into believing in my dream of becoming a perfumer and believed in my talent: Marina Bontems, my tutor in Sozio. Without her support and her distinguished positive approach, I wouldn't be the Junior perfumer I am today.

What types of fragrances are you most excited to create in the future?

I am very passionate about advancing ethical, sustainable perfumery, and I would love to contribute in the future to new revolutionary creations in perfumery. Having a penchant for rich Ambery, Spicy, and Chypre fragrances, I would love to interpret these fragrance families from a contemporary point of view.

What role does sustainability play in your perfumery and creative process?

Sustainability is a driving factor of our generation. Consumers want to know where the ingredients are coming from, what is the impact on our planet, and if our formula is biodegradable. We have become more conscious about our resources, and this is the good thing. I always try to make my perfumes as eco-conscious as I can.

This is not always easy, but it actually helps me to be more creative and learn more about the ingredients I play with.

You're part of the emerging generation of young perfumers. How do you think your generation is changing the industry?

All the generations have advanced the art and science of perfumery. My generation is particularly aware of the challenges we are all facing with climate change, but also the innovations with new regulations, and emerging technology. For example, I am highly optimistic and excited about the role of AI during my creative process to find combinations and sometimes even more inspiration. Additionally, my generation is increasingly experimental with fragrance creativity, incorporating unconventional ingredients into our creations as flavour molecules or new natural and synthetic technologies helps to create uniqueness and new dynamics in our amazing profession.

What aspects of your job excite you the most?

I am a very curious person, and my job fulfils my curiosity of discovering always something new. Every day is a discovery in perfumery, making each day unique. Sometimes I am captured by the creative process behind new accords, other times I am surprised by the intensity of some raw materials, and by discovering new facets of raw materials I use. And of course, it means a lot to me when my perfume is selected by a customer.
It’s an important accomplishment to capture all the efforts that go behind a perfume.

What advice would you give to someone interested in joining the industry and pursuing a career in fine fragrance?

Perfumery is a job of passion. The journey is long and not easy, but my biggest advice will be not to give up, try to compose all the creations you have in mind if you have access to ingredients. And of course, smell every day: so many products on the market - from flowers to the food you eat, or the sea air-, and try to describe with your own words what you are smelling!