We're going to meet the world's most respected perfumer, Roja Dove.
Roja will take us on a journey through his expertise and love for fragrances. How it all started and where we are today with his luxurious parfums.
His talent is indeed like no other.
"Roja's unbridled enthusiasm came to the notice of the Guerlain family, the living link to perfumery's Golden Age. Working with Guerlain for 20 years, Roja was the first ever non-family member in history to become Global Ambassador to the company. Consolidating his passion, knowledge and talent, Roja developed a method for understanding fragrance that changed the whole industry. This sealed Roja's destiny. Roja set up his own company to enable him to follow his heart, redefining and restoring luxury and creativity in the world of perfumery".
Parfums that have captivated the world as an experience, an attitude, a lifestyle!
Before we begin our interview, there's always a little small chat that takes place. We chuckled for a moment as we spoke about the friendliness, here in Houston. How mostly everyone is pretty nice and smiles at you, when saying "hello". And for a Northern California girl, that's very welcoming, as Californians can be a little a rude at times. I know, I know, please don't jump me over that. LOL!
Moving along… Quickly!
Before anyone gets the chance to think about what I just said…
GB: Lets talk about the actual collection. You have a beautiful, beautiful collection. I love it! I had the luxury of smelling some of the fragrances and was taken away. Your newer fragrances that you just launched, the "Tutti Frutti" collection - AMAZING!!!
RD: Tutti Frutti Aouds. Thank you.
GB: Yes! I love them! I read that your love for fragrances/scents came from the nightly kiss you use to get from your mother and its just taken off ever since then.
RD: Ah, the Tutti Frutti Aouds. When I trained, no one smelled "Oud". We were told, that's the US and Middle East, now lets move on. Because no one in the West took Oud parfums. I personally think that when Dubai started, Dubai is the modern equivalent of New York. If you think back to 1920's when New York started to blossom, people from around the world, all over the world, looked at it
as the new land of opportunity. People came from everywhere to New York. And I think that in a funny way, Dubai is a little bit like that. Think about an American, short to saying, no one thought to go to the Middle East for a holiday, far too hot, nothing to do or see. It was all desert. Since Dubai has grown up, lots of people travel there, as their first time destination to go to the Middle East.
And, when we go to the middle east, we suddenly smell all these very exotic smells, which we don't know from back home. Whether that's America or Britain where I come from, these very old materials, Oud's, to us, smelled new. And so, I was unusually working on a project in the Middle East for one of the big families there. I went out there for 3 years, two weeks every month for 3 years. I think, I'm most likely the only western perfumer who has actually spent 3 years working in the Middle East, where I learned about Oud. So, we launched my first scent, "Aoud". The reason I write it with an "A" is in the Middle East, they don't pronounce it as "Oud", they say, "Aoud". Which explains the "A". I launched my Aoud and we launched my brand in Harrods and said to them, "how much do we make?" And I've always made parfums for people, in which I still do, so I never had a commercial problem. And I said, "how many do we make?" They said, "make this number, so last for 4-6 months." It sold out in 10 days.
GB: WOW!
RD: In ten days we had the most successful launch in Harrods history. The Aoud's become this huge phenomenon around the world. Then I launched, Amber Aoud. Which is very
interesting whether it's in America or whether it's in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, or in London. The Amber Aoud is the #1 selling parfum.
So, I'm very known for Ouds. But I'm also known for, well, I don't know what I'm known for, but if I'm known for something, I hope I'm known for that I've always banged my own drum beat. I make things up that I love. I'm a creative human being. That's all I know how to do. Make parfums. I just thought, well, all around the world none of us want to be like our parents. Every generation, you know we might love and respect our parents but we don't want to be like them, and certainly don't want to smell like them. Right? (Chuckles)…
With the Ouds, in some parts of the world, Oud is considered very traditional. I wanted to see, could I make an Oud, which is really original, a totally new way of working Oud.
If you've ever been to the Middle East, it's the most historical place. Whenever they meet, they always meet for the same thing. You meet for tea and they'll give you cakes. Every where are sweet things. Sweet, sweet, sweet! I had this idea, what about taking these warm woody notes, the "Ouds" and putting them with something very gourmand. All around the world, in every culture, the gourmand materials are just as important. So, I thought, okay well, let's make/arrange "Tutti Frutti". The inspiration, really for the collection, the name, came from a very famous piece of jewelry made by Cartier. They made a bracelet "Tutti Frutti". I thought, it's fun! It was very unusual because jewelry was just a diamond ring other than something that was fun with color.
When I look at a lot of my clients around
the world, you might have a client who loves the idea of say, owning a Hermes but they wouldn't want to walk around with a Birkin bag. Maybe, the Birkin bags their mum or it even might be, if they did buy by one, it would be in a Birkin Pink Crocodile but the chances are, a younger woman may not want that at all. What she'll buy is one of their cuffs in a fabulous color because it's younger. They love the idea of the brand but they don't want the bag. That was the idea. I came with this thought, lets do them and lets make them really look like something you eat, tutti frutti colors and fun names. I always have this line, "please don't take me seriously, because I don't". A lot of people when they sit with me, suddenly all are like awe "what am I wearing? What does he think about how I smell?" That's not how I am as a human being. I came with the idea, Candy Aoud, Frutti Aoud, Sweetie Aoud. And it seems people tend to love them.
Then you have, another side of what I do, as you said, this love affair I have with parfum, started as a little boy. I don't know how old I was, maybe six or seven, and one night, my mother came to give me a kiss goodnight. She was wearing a gold long cocktail dress, the landing light was on her, so she had this light shining on her from the back, her dress was like metallic. Imagine light on something metal, it was like she had a parhelion around her. So as a little boy, where do you see that? You see it in a book. It's the image of a fairy or an angel. My mum, you know, come in from school, made a meal or whatever it is my mum did and suddenly she was wearing this fabulous, glamorous outfit. It was as if something magical happened. I remember her bending down to give me this kiss goodnight and it was the first time that I remembered smelling, being aware of my mothers parfum and also the smell of her face balm. My mum use to wear very little makeup. She'd wear a little bit of face balm and lipstick. My mother died in 2009 and I had in my mind for a long time, I wanted to make something in memory of her. But that's such a personal thing, you know, no one else in the world is interested in my relationship with my mother and it could sound a bit odd, the idea of a scent, based on someone else's mother. This idea was so strong in my mind and Dominic, my business partner, went on and on about it, turned around and said to me, "you just need to do it. For yourself. You need to do it". My mothers birthday would have been the 6th of Jan, so I decided to make six bottles and we launched those six bottles on the 6th of January and sold them in my perfurmerie in Harrods and we sold them all in the 1st day.
We actually sold eight on the first day. The next day we set up eight. There were two of the ones we sold too many of and six new ones and we sold all this in the same day. By the end of the month, with no advertising, no marketing, by the end of January, it was the biggest selling parfum I had in the world. I suddenly understood, that everyone, it's a universal story, we all remember somebody that gave us a kiss. Whether it's our lover, our mother, aunty, whoever, our closest friends, there can be a kiss that someone can give you that stays with you. The most gently of all human gestures can in a funny way be the most powerful. It seems that's the story almost everyone relates to. I just mention it because there are lots of different things that inspires me to make parfum. It can be something very personal like that.
Many of my parfums come with a violet cap. Violet is my favorite color. Any of my parfums that comes with a violet cap, means that parfum, is a part of my story.
GB: Oh, interesting! I like that, love it! And the ingredients that are used, you use such a unique mixture of ingredients it's just fascinating. When you actually smell the scent it appears there's different levels. Like there's a top scent, there's a middle scent, and then there's something once you get to the base of it.
RD: My pafums, whether you smell something very at what seems on first glance, very simple and fresh like say the bergamot, ordinarily, when you actually smell them on your skin, just on your oil point even seems very fresh. You discover its very multi fascinate, multi layered. But, yes, I make scents that have lots of complexity about them. Because I think people are complex. I think what's interesting is there's always something there to intrigue you, you never quite get to know the parfums, you think you know it, then you suddenly smell something you didn't know. That's just like knowing people, you know, sometimes even ourselves. You think you know yourself, you've lived with yourself all your life and suddenly you do something and you hear yourself say, "god I would never have guessed I did that". So, we even surprise ourselves. (Chuckles). For me, parfum is something that shouldn't be one dimensional. It's something that should carry on intriguing us.
GB: The packaging, I love the bottles they're just as beautiful as the scent itself, so it blends perfectly together.
RD: Thank you. They're based on my diamond ring. The cap is based on this ring (he shows me this amazing diamond he's wearing. Well, he really didn't have to show me as I already seen it a mile away. LOL!)
I've always had a huge, well I wear too much jewelry, I'm sure I do. I love jewelry. I've always loved jewelry. This diamond ring was the inspiration for the cap. One day, Dominic came into my office and I was sitting in the corner doing something, and I didn't even hear him but he said to one of my business colleagues, "what's he doing?" And Peter turned around and said, "oh' leave him, he's happy, he's at his happiest." I was sitting there and I had these crystals that I was sticking on the cap with glue to see what shape I wanted the cap to be. And I came up with that.
We had this idea, that if a woman took that from her bag, out of her purse, the minute you see the cap it's like a Christian Louboutin red sole. If you know what it is, therefore, you know exactly what it is. Most people looking at it would have no idea. So, the cap's interesting. We wanted this. It's nice that you commented on it because we wanted you to notice them. I also think the cap, the whole thing of undoing a bottle should feel a little bit exciting. It's like the thing of, you don't get parfum straight till you get the whole thing of just taken that lid off. And then the parfum presents itself. Like the inside of the box, if you look at the scent of my luxe, we're putting pure silk inside of the boxes. Real silk crepe de chine.
Why? When I was young, the very first luxury thing I ever bought myself, about 18 or 19, I went into a shop in Cambridge and saw this shirt, it was beautiful and I said to the woman, "ooh!" and she said, "it's silk crepe de chine". I said, "oh! fabulous, I'll have it" I didn't know what crepe de chine was, I never heard of it. I just knew it sounded lovely. I remember this shirt which I adorned, the very first time I put that shirt on, I felt like I was surrounding myself in luxury. And so, the reason we use silk in the boxes, I hope its a bit of a promise of the parfum itself is going to give this lovely luxurious effect…
I must confess, I felt luxurious just sitting with Roja and listening to his story.
He was fun, energetic, full of life and it clearly shows in his work of art.
The Tutti Frutti Aouds are to die for!!!
You wouldn't expect anything less from the world's most innovative perfumer, would you?
Next time you're looking for a fragrance that sets you a part from the rest, don't cheat yourself, treat yourself with a Roja Dove experience…
#TuttiFruttiAouds
HA! And that's a wrap!
#TheHauteReport
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