Article republished from December
Paradise is not a literary invention, it is not even a religious concept. Paradise is a reality on this planet, some people have found it during their life and they have chosen to show the Wonderland to others. One of the guardian angels of this magnificent land is Roman Kaiser. He will be remembered as one of the most important figures in the universal history of perfumes and his works represent for me the fundamental moment when the perfumer became aware of the secrets of scent and the mysteries he was trying to understand since the beginning of this art.
His works published over the years by Givaudan and the desire to share a lifetime of intensive research in the living scents of our planet are a milestone in the fragrance history. They are as important as the first treaties dealing with the alcohol and plant distillation several centuries ago and the first Gildemeister voluminous work on essential oils (followed by Guenther). These belong to the very rare category of "revelation books". Roman Kaiser is a scientist and like the chemists who revealed the structure of a molecule years after it was discovered, he reveals the scents of nature. This is a huge challenge for the next generation of perfumers because from the small European garden of rose, jasmine and violet, here you have almost the whole spectrum of beautiful scents on this planet and how nature constructs emotion. In terms of art this is like the theory of colors in the XIXth century and the Gestalt in the XXth century.
The new book launched in Paris at Givaudan is a voluminous opus called "Scent of the Vanishing Flora
". It is the paradise lost of our race dedicated to those plants that became very rare and almost extinct in the past 100 years. It was Dugald Stermer who in 1995 wrote a fantastic book with lavishing illustrations called Vanishing Flora: Endangered Plants Around the World - that lead to this unusual and fundamental research at Givaudan. Roman Kaiser explored the entire planet looking for plants that have not been reported by botanists for a long time, while in the past they were abundant in their original place. He traced them back in botanical gardens around the globe and in unusual places. With the ScentTrek he provided Givaudan an impressive library of scents and new molecules and some of them are described with their exact composition in Scent of the Vanishing Flora.
". It is the paradise lost of our race dedicated to those plants that became very rare and almost extinct in the past 100 years. It was Dugald Stermer who in 1995 wrote a fantastic book with lavishing illustrations called Vanishing Flora: Endangered Plants Around the World - that lead to this unusual and fundamental research at Givaudan. Roman Kaiser explored the entire planet looking for plants that have not been reported by botanists for a long time, while in the past they were abundant in their original place. He traced them back in botanical gardens around the globe and in unusual places. With the ScentTrek he provided Givaudan an impressive library of scents and new molecules and some of them are described with their exact composition in Scent of the Vanishing Flora.Humans proved to be the most veracious predators on the Globe, many plants have disappeared, landscapes have changed, perfumes have been mutilated by IFRA and artistry has been reduced to ashes by L'Oréal, P&G, Unilever,etc. Also, many plant collectors have contributed to the disappearance of flowers in the natural habitat (orchids are the most known example).
The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives.
Since the late XIXth century Givaudan has been synonymous with science and art, creating outstanding products through research and sensibility. I'm thinking of the great products discovered and proposed to perfumers as captives since 1910, the amazing compositions in the 30's, the aesthetic school at Roure which produced several masterpieces of the XXth century. After decades of high impact molecules, Givaudan dedicates now a part of its efforts to nature - new ingredients of the outmost quality. The project presented by Roman Kaiser and exposed in his book has started in 2000, while in 1999 the International Botanical Congress stressed out the significance of endangered plants. He evaluated 9200 plants, made an analytical investigation of the scent for 2700 (520 are endangered species) and prepared the scent reconstitution for 590 (74 are endangered species).
From the 520 endangered scented species he investigated, 267 are described in the Scent of Vanishing Flora. Their analytic composition is presented at the end of the book in a voluminous compedium of headspaces.
. Their analytic composition is presented at the end of the book in a voluminous compedium of headspaces.During the lecture given at Givaudan headquarters, Roman Kaiser presented to us a selection of scents he reconstituted after years of studying the scents of the vanishing flora.
I will discuss them tomorrow in detail
Roman Kaiser
Roman Kaiser studied chemistry at Winterthur Technical College, and in 1968 he joined the Givaudan Research Centre in Dubendorf near Zurich as a fragrance and flavor chemist. His work at Givaudan has focused on investigating and reconstituting essential oils, absolutes, and similar natural products, as well as synthesizing natural scent components; since 1975 he has worked primarily on the investigation and reconstitution of all types of natural scents using 'headspace' techniques including complementary analytical methods.
Published works & links to Amazon:
The Scent of Orchids: Olfactory and Chemical Investigations
Meaningful Scents Around the World: Olfactory, Chemical, Biological, and Cultural Considerations
Scent of the Vanishing Flora
Roman Kaiser
Roman Kaiser studied chemistry at Winterthur Technical College, and in 1968 he joined the Givaudan Research Centre in Dubendorf near Zurich as a fragrance and flavor chemist. His work at Givaudan has focused on investigating and reconstituting essential oils, absolutes, and similar natural products, as well as synthesizing natural scent components; since 1975 he has worked primarily on the investigation and reconstitution of all types of natural scents using 'headspace' techniques including complementary analytical methods.
Published works & links to Amazon:
The Scent of Orchids: Olfactory and Chemical Investigations
Meaningful Scents Around the World: Olfactory, Chemical, Biological, and Cultural Considerations
Scent of the Vanishing Flora
His latest book takes the reader on a journey through many biodiversity hotspots, all of them home to endangered plant species. It has been endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity, linked to the United Nations Environment Programme, which was created to join forces in tackling the loss of biodiversity. The book (400 pages) is published by Helvetica Chimica Acta Publishers, Zurich.
1. Introduction to the ‘Scent of the Vanishing Flora’
1.1. Extinction of Species and Monitoring Endangered Species
1.2. Investigating the Scent of the Vanishing Flora
2. Illustrating the Scent of the Vanishing Flora
2.1. No More Existing in Nature
Article from december (new fragrance book)2.2. Ten Icon Species of the Vanishing Flora
2.3. The Scent of ‘Living Fossils’
2.4. A Brief Look into Rainforests and Associated Biotopes
2.5. Hawaii’s Vanishing Flora
2.6. The Cape Floral Kingdom, a Closer Look at One of the Hotspots of Biodiversity
2.7. Endangered Conifers
2.8. Endangered Cacti
2.9. Endangered Species of My Home Country
2.10. Some Additional Protected and Endangered Species
3. The Icon Family of the Vanishing Flora: Orchidaceae
3.1. Orchids of the American Tropic
3.2. Orchids of the African Tropic
3.3. Orchids of the Indo-Australian Tropics and Subtropics
4. Analytics
4.1. General Remarks
4.2. Equipment Used
4.3. Compositions of the Presented Scents
4.4. Synthesis of New Compounds
Index
Acknowledgement
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
