"I am a pilferer, a thief, a scavenger of odors," he said, adding he's not interested in copying nature but rather "transforming it" and conveying aspects of nature using as few materials as possible. "It's a challenge to be simple," he said. "If I'm simple, the better [one] understands." If a composition is "too complex," he said, "the message is lost."
— Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena discusses his approach in a talk at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York earlier this week. (via Women's Wear Daily) His latest: Hermès Kelly Caleche.
Sounds like Picasso. 🙂
“Why should I copy this owl, this sea urchin? Why should I try to imitate nature? I might just as well try to trace a perfect circle. What I have to do is utilize as best I can the ideas which objects suggest to me . . . illuminate them [somewhat].” [Pablo Picasso]
Great quote, thanks!