Monday 6 February 2017

STEPHAN'S SIX - DANIEL PESCIO


ISIPCA is a school based in Versailles that teaches the formulation of perfumes, cosmetics and flavours. Now, many perfumers have passed through its doors but one of the newest is Daniel Pescio. His background in cinematography has definitely influenced his style, with bold choices littering his creations, and when I met up with him in Paris I took the opportunity to find out more about this new perfumer during “Stephan’s Six”.

What is the first smell that you can remember?
This would be the scent of clay. I grew up in a small town in Brazil that was cut by two little rivers. I remember the odour of the clay that we collected and played with was a bit metallic, earthy and mineral. It also evokes the taste of water and the scent of the rain. On my first day of training at ISIPCA we smelled Neroli oil and Methyl Anthranilate, and for me this had that same metallic-clay aspect.

What was the first perfume you remember your mum or dad wearing?
It was Brut for my father and Mystère by Rochas for my mother, but the perfume smells that are in my memory come from the Portuguese soaps and talcum powder that my father loved. It was great fun when the big boxes of soaps were delivered at home and I was always very excited to open them. There were two types of soaps; one was a very aromatic, fresh-clean odour and the other more floral.

What was the perfume of your twenties?
Until the age of twenty-four it was Azzaro Pour Homme, Polo by Ralph Lauren and Ungaro III, but after that I had a long period of ten years without a drop of perfume on me. I started to enjoy the "clean" odour of skin without any perfume and this period has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life. The act of not having a single drop of a perfume on my skin has allowed me to improve my sense of smell, and I was always searching for smells on people, on the streets, everywhere.

What was your biggest perfume mistake?
A green apple perfume that I used to wear when I was fourteen years old. Today the fantastic Mugler Cologne reminds me of it, but fortunately it has nothing in common with that horribly fruity, juicy, sweet, acidic green apple that I wore.

You can only choose one perfume?
Guerlain’s Candide Effluve! I just can’t believe that this Jacques Guerlain’s masterpiece didn’t find its deserved success when it was launched in 1922. Fortunately last year I found a bottle of it on eBay. It’s my inspiration now for a perfume creation I’m working on.

What perfume should I try?
Let’s say two, one modern and one vintage. Champaca de Comme des Garçons is a floral woody musk perfume which I describe as a sparkling, luminous, narcotic, angular fragrance. The most beautiful interpretation of Champaca flower. For the vintage it would have to be Doblis by Hermès, which is the most beautiful leather I have ever smelled in my life. I remember when I bought a little bottle with maybe 2ml inside; I smelled it and understood the meaning of an “olfactory shock”.

For more information on Daniel Pescio you can visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/danielpescioperfumer

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