Thursday 1 June 2017

GALLIVANT - Scenting The City


The niche sector of the perfume market is an ever-growing one with new companies seemingly popping up at a rate of knots. Some of them are excellent; some of them miss the mark. Some are created by perfumers; some are envisaged by creative directors. Whichever way they come to market the most important thing is that the product is of an exceptional quality, otherwise they just get lost amongst a sea of Google search results. Enter Nick Steward and his company Gallivant. No stranger to the perfume industry, and with an approachable nature that is refreshing, I met up with him to find out more about Gallivant.

When Nick started in the fragrance industry back in 1996 his major skill was languages, he had graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a joint honours in Arabic and French. A perfume career had not been part of the plan but it was a world that he found himself thrown into. Nick came to the industry without any preconceived ideas about what was "good or bad" but rather a personal understanding of what he enjoyed. It was this ability to take the science out and put the emotion back in that saw his career succeed.

He started at PUIG working with Paco Rabanne and Carolina Herrera, had a detour to Harpers Bazaar, and then worked his way through Revlon, Molton Brown and L'Oreal. It was this final position that saw him branch away from marketing and into fragrance development, and this would have a bigger impact than he could ever have imagined. In 2009 Nick joined L'Artisan Parfumeur as their Creative Director and he stayed there for almost six years before deciding that the time was right to enter the fragrance market himself. So, in September 2015 Gallivant was born.

Nick is very clear that he is not a perfumer and so he chose the exceptionally talented creative duo of Karine Chevallier and Giorgia Navarra to realise his collection. With a career that has taken him all around the world he took his inspiration from four cities that have an emotional attachment and a wealth of memories. One thing that struck me when we met was that his eyes literally light up when he remembers these places, and it's exactly that excitement that he has been able to translate, via Karine and Giorgia, into his fragrances.

The idea of scents representing cities is nothing new, but what is unusual and exciting about the fragrances from Gallivant is that they challenge your perception. London isn't just Earl Grey and scones in Nick Steward's mind, just as Brooklyn is far more than the American dream (whatever that may be these days!) The four perfumes offer the customer a scented skyline based on his memories and, even if you don’t share all of those experiences, the fact that they have been created with a story and a connection to the place means that they are guaranteed to resonate in some way with the wearer.

For more information you can visit gallivant-perfumes.com or got to the exclusive UK stockist Roullier White at roullierwhite.com

4 comments:

  1. The London fragrance of this collection reminds me of Guerlain's now discontinued eponymous fragrance. Must be the rhubarb. They are all very nice.

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    1. Hello Thomas, thanks for your message. Apart from a familiar freshness that is where I find the similarity ends. I think that Gallivant's realisation of the cities is more interesting than Guerlain's and much less twee. Which is your favourite of the Gallivant range? Best, Stephan

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    2. I love how the whole collection has such an inbuilt freshness to it. I would have expected Istanbul to be quite heavy going but it remains balanced and light enough for daytime wear. Incidentally it is my favourite of the collection. Which one is your favourite?

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    3. Hello Thomas, my favourite is still London because I love the way the leather works in it. Best, Stephan

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