Published April 8: “This is something that I am so passionate about,” declared Pete Murray, Sales Director of La Perla, Lubin and Bois, at the start of his one man show – Once Upon A Perfume – which he had been invited to present to the British Society of Perfumers. Billed as “an entertaining and interactive olfactive journey through iconic and famous fragrances from the last 100 years”, the evening show held on April 7 did not disappoint the large audience who had gathered for the association’s annual Northern Lecture in the architecturally magnificent Gorton Monastery in Manchester – then again Peter never does.
Usually presented to fragrance enthusiasts in department stores and perfumeries throughout the country, Peter adapted his show for the perfumers, evaluators, buyers and consultants who comprise the membership of the trade body. He began by evoking the magic and mystery of the perfumer’s art because “perfumers are magicians” he said. Peter is an expert in retelling the stores behind the creation of today’s most iconic fragrance brands, interlacing legends of the business with his own personal recollections of meetings with those responsible for maintaining the traditions of those great houses that were created in the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Three famous stories were especially memorably told: how James Henry Creed a manufacturer and purveyor of English Leather goods to the Royal family began in 1780 to create fragrances as a gift for his most distinguished customers; the story of Francois Coty smashing a bottle of his first fragrance La Rose Jacqueminot (1904) on the floor of a Parisian department store to demonstrate the mass appeal and selling-power his product to a sceptical store buyer; how the House of Bois was reborn following the 2005 discovery by today’s owner Enzo Galardi of the original fragrance formulas created in the 1920s by his grandfather Guido Galardi.
Pictured: British Society of Perfumers’ guest speaker Peter Murray (middle), Sales Director La Perla and Lubin with Helen Hill, President British Society of Perfumers and John Bailey, The Perfumers Guild and organiser of the event.
Once Upon A Perfume continues in department stores nationwide. For the latest schedule contact anita.gordon@hornvale.co.uk.
Report written by Jonathan Charles from www.yourbeautyassistant.com