Mr. Edmond Roudnitska, Master-Perfumer

Edmond Roudnitska, tireless lover of the Opera and admirer of Richard Wagner, secretly dreamed of becoming a tenor. His perfume creations (Femme de Rochas, Eau Fraîche de Dior, Eau Sauvage, Diorissimo, Diorella, L’Eau d’Hermès, etc.) et literary works (L’Esthétique en question, the Que Sais-Je on perfumes, Une Vie au Service du Parfum, Former les Hommes Mythe ou Réalité), to mention a few, contributed to establishing this icon as one of the greatest perfume industry composers of the 20th century.

Very few professionals dared to closely interact with Roudnitska who was viewed as an impressive, somewhat intimidating figure. Everything about him exuded high standards, transcendence, the will to create harmony, a keen sense of beauty, rigor, obstinacy, and perenniality. Meeting with him meant indulging in a ritual that would never be forgotten and leave you with the feeling that you had been touched and had become wiser. He enjoyed discussing such topics as metaphysics, aesthetics, the right to judge, the need to oppose mediocrity, intuition, knowledge, what aroused him, the memory of special feelings, the notion of time and space, shape perception, etc. According to him, to observe, reflect upon, feel, and inhale Mother Earth were part of any perfumer’s mandatory daily routine.

He thus considered his garden in Sainte Blanche as one of his work tools. He felt that calm, a regular pace, inner and outer serenity and a touch of spirituality were key ingredients when creating a perfume; that meaning could be derived from the ability to adapt and subdue; that time was needed in order to reach anything; that scents should be approached candidly, spontaneously, and free of all preconceived ideas; that a perfumer should view his work as an opportunity to compose an olfactory symphony melodious enough to please an assembly of noses. In one word, in one phrase he could lead others to challenge an entire theory or a given idea. Then he would withdraw and give them time to process it, only to come back later and harvest a thoughtful answer.

He was not in favor of Trends which, according to him, “cause us to adopt an inadequate frame of mind and to create products that have no character.” Rather he would recommend making full use of imagination, which “like the fork of a river brings about vague, unclear, fluid images that can easily be distorted, along with an emotional abstract that carries commonly experienced feelings.” He would even venture to say that “imagination is vital to any composition in that it compounds the different layers of the emotional abstract away from all rules or all intellectual logic, and solely based upon subjective and affective relations because its main reason to be is interiority.”

Edmond Roudnitska fought for the perfume trade to be made an integral part of Fine Arts. He notably advocated for perfumes to be legally acknowledged as “creations of the mind” so that all olfactory productions could be protected and defended in a court of law.

With the support and true companionship of his wife and partner Thérèse Roudnitska, this master composer devoted his entire life to perfumery.

Sandrine Videault, one of the last students of Edmond Roudnitska, is a well known perfumer for historical fragrances and olfactive shows. For her fragrance is a poly sensorial experience where all the senses are involved. That's why, perhaps, she did many olfactive shows or olfactive decorations. One of the most impressive realizations she did is the recreation of the mythical Kyphi for the Cairo Museum in 2002.
She is currently working on a project for LesNez.
Source: Octavian Sever Coifan