Perfume.Sucks: Radical transparency and resurrected scents
Swiss perfumer Andreas Wilhelm started perfume.sucks to give new life to scents he had created for others, but that had never been launched. With over 30 years of experience in scent creation, he has built a solid catalogue of scents, both for others and for his own brand, perfume.sucks. “I always wanted to create things that make others smile and feel good,” he says. “ I like radical transparency and the brands allow me to showcase all my trials created for other houses but that haven’t been chosen by the brands.”
With perfume.sucks, these creations live on in a new shape: a collection of scents that span everything from the tempting gourmand Love, to the fresh Blue, and experimental creations such as the gasoline-scented Fuel, as well as Wealth, where the scent molecules around freshly minted banknotes were analyzed to create a perfume centered around that particular accord.
When asked about the common thread among his perfumes, Andreas explains: “I believe I am like a chameleon, but some people say I am kind of a rebel and that every creation has a certain hook to keep it interesting even after years of wearing them. I think the scent creates itself if I look at it.”
Andreas’ conceptual thinking is apparent in many ways. When we ask him what his personality would smell like, for instance, he says it would smell like a rainbow: “it carries all the colors and it spans over the horizon, also a rainbow is impossible to catch.” Years as a perfumer have shaped his thinking about perfume and scent memories. “There are so many,” he says, “ but due to my professional perfumer training, nowadays it’s more linked to scent concepts and ingredients rather than nostalgic memories.” Still, one scent memory still stands out – newborn children. “I still get goosebumps, as that scent lets me travel back to the birth of my own lovely kids.”
His inspiration arises on its own, but develops in collaboration with his clients: “Inspiration is in every breath I take, basically,” he says, “but perfumers are like donkeys: we need a carrot to follow. Usually this carrot comes from the client.” When he creates a scent, he starts with brainstorming. This is followed, as he describes it, by a “very unromantic” process in which he creates the formulation of the fragrance and ensures it suits the target audience. “Mixing the formula and evaluating it is like the proof-of-concept stage. Possible iterations then follow until I feel this amazing little spark.”
It’s more than clear that this is a spark lit in the creations of perfume.sucks. With this house, we discover a variety of playful, experimental, beautiful, and well-composed scents that captivate and inspire. Curious? Explore them all on Sniph! Which ones will become your new favorites?