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Marie Le Febvre sits at a white desk in her perfumery on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm.
The large pane of glass behind her offers a view of the perfumer's laboratory.
On the walls, neatly labeled green bottles are lined up, each with a different scent.
On the table in front of Le Febvre are five small containers, each labeled with a word: "Rose", "Eucalyptus", "Birch", "Lemon", "Carnation".
“You stimulate your nose,” she explains, while she opens one of the vials and brings it to her nose, “by smelling them”, she breathes in and puts the vessel down, “and wonders what you can smell - whether you smell anything at all. "
Together with her husband Alexander Urban, Le Febvre runs the Urban Scents perfumery.
While most perfumers work for large companies, either as employees or as suppliers after winning a tender, LeFebvre has opened her own shop with an attached laboratory.
She is not the only one: in recent years the capital has developed into a center for independent companies that create their own fragrances.
These include brands such as JF Schwarzlose Berlin, Atelier Oblique and AER Scents.
Many people suffer from olfactory disorders
Le Febvre is one of around 800 professional perfumers worldwide, she reports.
She completed her training at ISPICA in Versailles, France, one of the few institutions that teach the art of perfumery.
Le Febvre is fascinated by how smells and memories are related.
“The sense of smell has no filters,” she explains.
“An example: I smell something and immediately associate the smell with my mother.
Only then do I start to think. ”The regions of the brain that process smells, memories and emotions are closely linked.
This distinguishes the sense of smell from other sensory perceptions.
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The vials on Le Febvre's desk are part of a smell training.
Together with two professors, Thomas Hummel from the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital in Dresden and Caroline Huart from the Saint Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Urban Scents developed the training to help people regain their sense of smell.
"Studies show that around five percent of our society cannot smell at all, 15 percent suffer from mild to moderate olfactory disorders and can therefore taste less, but nobody cares," she says.
“When a baby is born, the eyes and ears are checked.
But who cares about the sense of smell? ”A rhetorical question.
Through training, the participants should learn to differentiate between different scents.
Over a period of several months, they smell the five bottles twice a day - in a constantly changing order.
In this way, up to 60 percent of the participants should have fully or partially regained their sense of smell.
The training was originally developed for chemotherapy patients who can no longer smell after treatment.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the procedure has gained in importance, as the loss of smell is one of the symptoms of illness that occur particularly frequently in the event of infection.
“People only realize how important their sense of smell is when they have lost it,” says Le Febvre.
Jessica Hannan, the founder of the Berlin fragrance brand Apotheke Perfume, also finds that the sense of smell is not valued enough.
“The sense of smell is a strong sense,” says the British woman.
“We smell before we see.
But we consume smells like fast food.
Most noses are used to chemical aromas, not natural ones. ”When creating her fragrances, Hannan values natural oils and pays attention to sustainable production and materials.
Together with Le Febvre, she has developed a perfume line that represents four different types of fragrance: the dreamer, the thinker, the lover and the traveler.
The typology is based on the tarot card system that has been used for fortune-telling and for locating the personality since the late 18th century.
With a quiz that Hannan developed and which is based on these cards, your customers can find out which perfume suits them.
Combines spirituality and fragrance creations: Jessica Hannan
Source: Emma Dudlyke
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Hannan also believes that too little is trusted in the sense of smell.
"When we're sad, we watch a 'Feel Good' movie or treat ourselves to delicious food," she says.
“We influence our mood by stimulating the sense of sight or taste.
However, we can also do this by distributing certain smells in the room: Bergamot, for example, brightens our mood, the scent of roses releases endorphins. ”Hannan believes that no matter how versatile people can influence their mood through smells, they should also use perfumes .
“We have a wardrobe with matching outfits for different occasions.
Why shouldn't we get a perfume wardrobe too?
You could then find a power fragrance for work, a sexy perfume or a light fragrance for at home. "
The British woman is convinced that the social interest in fragrances and perfumes is increasing continuously.
This development can also be observed on social networks.
On Instagram, thousands of people philosophize about the composition of fragrances under contributions from perfume lover accounts.
This interest is also reflected in purchasing behavior.
"In the 50s, there were still white men in suits behind perfume creations," explains Hannan.
“They wanted to teach people that they would need that one perfume for the rest of their lives.” This has been a profitable business model for decades.
"But today people want something special, individual, they like to buy from small, independent brands."
Le Febvre also believes that a change is taking place in the way society treats perfume.
“The motto is: 'Back to Basics', away from the commercial fragrances and big marketing campaigns.
It's more and more about what the individual likes to smell personally - and less about advertising. ”Multinational corporations have recognized this trend and are acting.
The cosmetics company Estée Lauder, for example, bought brands such as Le Labo and Jo Malone in order to benefit from the image of the independent labels.
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In her laboratory on Kurfürstendamm, Le Febvre runs his finger over the green glass bottles.
"In the past it would have been very unusual for a perfumer to open her own laboratory," she says, looking around.
"We have nothing to hide here."
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