* NOTE: As you are probably aware, the coming regulations to the EU’s proposed ‘approved substances’ will mean the death of the European perfume industry as we know it, whether niche, indie or even mainstream perfumery. TAG will have much more to say about this as the May 11th deadline approaches, but yesterday, this open letter from The Different Company‘s Creative Director Luc Gabriel was posted on Ines’ blog All I am – a redhead. If you’re interested in further reading, I strongly recommend Kafkaesque’s excellent post, as well as Persolaise’s template for an open letter to the EU Public Consultation, as well as Perfume Shrine‘s eloquent post on the coming IFRA/EU restrictions. This post was reblogged with the kind permission of Ines and Luc Gabriel.* 

Save the independent perfumery

March 19th 2014 – We are perfumers, perfumeries, brand owners. We drive our energy towards creating olfactory beauty and each of us is a key part of this amazing process that turns components into olfactory emotions, futile for some, of the essence for us and our clients.

The recent proposals made by the European Commission, if they become law, threaten to destroy fine perfumery as we know it, an art slowly built for centuries by creators and craftsmen and part of our cultural common good.

This destruction will end up in modifying formulas of mythical perfumes, in restraining the freedom of using key ingredients that are absolutely necessary for a creative high end perfumery (some of these components being used for centuries in our fragrances), in losing a unique know-how and in destroying thousands of jobs.

Our goal is to have our line of work recognized by the institutions and the general public as it is and always have been: a collective cultural good, a pillar of our history, an art which contributes to the beauty of the world.

We want to have the concept of Freedom recognized along the concept of Safety and Precautions and have perfumers free to create, brands free to develop and customers free to choose, our profession being already widely regulated.

Eventually, we intend to inform the general public and the institutions on the reality of our business and our products and communicate as widely and transparently as possible so that they make their choices fully aware and informed.

If you share our values and wish to contribute to saving a perfumery in danger, thank you for signing this manifest. We will inform you on a regular basis about the actions taken and we might also ask you to contribute to the ”think-tank” and our actions.

Truly yours.

Luc GABRIEL/The Different Company infoatthedc.fr – François HENIN/JOVOY

Send to sanco-cosmetics-and-medical-devices@ec.europa.eu