Monday 12 June 2017

STEPHAN'S SIX - NICK STEWARD


It takes guts to start a new independent perfume company these days, but that is exactly what Nick Steward has done. After nineteen years working in the fragrance industry he has taken the plunge and launched Gallivant with a beautiful range of scents designed for “the traveller in us all”. So, let’s find out a little bit more about the man behind the passport as he answers “Stephan’s Six”.

What is the first smell that you can remember?
Some of my earliest scent memories are linked to travel and flying. The smells of fruity, sugary boiled sweets, the type that came in tins, which my mother used to bring for us. Mixed with the smell of airplane leather seats. Thinking about it again now makes me remember how exciting it felt to be flying, to be travelling... the emotion and anticipation of seeing family abroad.

What was the first perfume you remember your mum or dad wearing?
Both my parents are Francophiles, so I guess it’s unsurprising that they both wore French perfumes. My mother wore Diorissimo, I think she’d discovered it as a young woman living in France, and for my father, Eau Sauvage. Both were created by Edmond Roudnitska, of course, although we would have had no idea about that back-story at the time. I don’t think we had any conception that there was a perfumer who actually created these perfumes. So it’s funny now for Gallivant that I’m sourcing my fragrance oils from the Roudnitska house Art et Parfum. Life is full of strange coincidences.

What was the perfume of your twenties?
I flirted with lots of perfumes in my twenties but I had a definite soft spot for Dior Higher, which I think is underrated.

What was your biggest perfume mistake?
Jean-Paul Gaultier Fleur du Male. In hindsight it seems like a style mistake, like wearing a T-shirt which was clearly too tight, but I’m sure I enjoyed it and was having fun with it at the time. I still love the bottle. There’s something beautiful and elegant about that bottle design.

You can only choose one perfume?
That’s hard, but here goes … Timbuktu by Bertrand Duchaufour. It really is a masterpiece. There are so many happy memories for me. It’s that rare, rare fragrance which is glorious and memorable on everyone. I love smelling it on other people as much as I love wearing it myself.

What perfume should I try?
Am I allowed to say one of my own collection or is that a bit naff? Ok, then it’ll be Tel Aviv by Gallivant. It celebrates this amazing, hot beach city - a place I love. It’s got a sense of humour, but also style. It’s fun and bright and also a little surprising and everyone seems to enjoy wearing it. Men and women. I think it’s legible and likeable, on a simple and immediate level, and then wearing it, you realise how interesting and complex and storied it is.

For more information on Nick Steward and Gallivant you can visit the website at gallivant-perfumes.com or click on the image below to take you to my previous blog about the company.

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