Perfumers owe their increasingly high profile to Frédéric Malle, whose nine-year-old luxury company, Editions de Parfum, was the first to celebrate perfumers by name. The black label on each bottle identifies the perfumer, like an author’s name on a book jacket.
— From Now Smell This, and See Its Maker at the New York Times.
...the most notable trend in the industry right now comes from the growth in niche products. Fragrance is a sociological phenomenon. On the one hand, perfume is a commodity, dominated by global brands and fashion houses, but on the other hand we're in a new golden age of perfume, driven by artisans who seek to create experiences rather than brands.
— Michael Edwards, quoted in Fragrances of the World 2010 at Cosmetic World.
What do you think — do perfumers owe their increasingly high profile to Frédéric Malle? And is this "golden age of perfume" driven by artisans? Because in both cases I would have said it's all driven by consumers, and more specifically, by perfume-related consumer activity on the internets: the blogs, the fragrance forums, what have you.
