Monday 23 September 2019

STEPHAN’S SIX - JONATHAN WARD


Creativity shows itself in many ways and, for Jonathan Ward, it’s the second bite of the cherry that has proved to be the sweetest. After a successful career in fashion, Jonathan launched the attention-grabbing Scent of Time candle collection in 2018 and expanded it last month to include the accompanying diffusers. After creating aromas for others I thought it was about time to discover his own scented secrets during “Stephan’s Six”.

What is the first smell that you can remember?
The earliest memory of scent would be my mum’s lipstick. She wore a pale pink that almost bordering on neutral, before neutrals were a “thing”. When she kissed me goodnight I can remember the scent from the traces that were left on her skin.

What was the first perfume you remember your mum or dad wearing?
My mum never wore big classic perfumes like Chanel or Guerlain. Her taste was varied but always a little left of centre. Anais Anais by Cacharel was the scent I remember. Created in 1978, I was five, it would have been her Saturday night perfume. She didn’t wear perfume every day as we were quite a humble family.

What was the perfume of your twenties?
Ha ha ... Calvin Klein Obsession. I used to wear a long navy coat with extravagant floral ties for night outs, it was the late eighties after all, and drown myself in it. I remember the thick amber colour of the fragrance on the window sill of my childhood bedroom that overlooked the ocean.

What was your biggest perfume mistake?
Actually it was one I created when I very very first started out in this business. I had a wildly radical idea to create a scent called “Child” and capture the purity and scent of a baby’s head. It went awry.

You can only choose one perfume?
The one that I always go back to is the original Comme des Garçons. It came out when I was in fashion school and I remember spraying it in class. There was a student that I didn’t get along with very well who commented “You have the worst taste.” The Comme des Garçons aromas went on to become an empire. Not such bad taste after all.

What perfume should I try?
I’m going to do a shameless plug for Cosimo, which is part of my new Harvest Collection of candles. Not technically a perfume, the aroma is built around a concept exploring tomato leaf and Italian old money, and it’s finished with wasabi and spearmint top notes. Plug finished.

For more information about Jonathan Ward you can visit the website at thejonathanward.com where you can also discover his full range of candles and diffusers.

[Image of Jonathan Ward used with permission]

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