Call it the primal scream of perfumery. Coumarin was the first fragrance molecule that allowed perfumers to break away from the past and venture into modern abstraction. First used in the groundbreaking perfume ‘Fougère Royale’ in 1882, this synthetic wonder heralded a new era of artistic expression. Named after ‘kumarù’, the word for ‘tonka bean tree’ in the language of the Tupi, an indigenous people in the Amazon region, coumarin is not only the original source of modern perfumery, but also remains an important fragrance ingredient in the perfume industry.
The fragrance: original modernity
To revive coumarin and express its original modernity in psy_cou, Frank Voelkl had to free it from its compulsive desire for sugar in order to release its deepest soul. Instead of focusing on coumarin's almond-like aroma, Voelkl concentrated on the true nature of the fragrance molecule: the smell of freshly mown hay. Cool, tingling juniper berries, cardamom and creamy palo santo wood, used as incense in sacred Ecuadorian rituals, illuminate rural hay bales. Extravagant saffron finally sets the fragrance ablaze, releasing the roasted aromas of coffee and the smoky notes of incense and oud, unleashing psy_cou's most primal instincts. Like souls, perfumes are created from shadows and light.
The perfumer: Frank Voelkl
A consummate cosmopolitan whose first calling was diplomacy. Born in Germany and now based in New York, Frank Voelkl grew up in the Netherlands and France. He discovered the scents of nature on his grandfather's farm in Germany. During his teenage years in Paris, he was magically drawn to the world of fine perfumes and spent all his weekends in a perfumery on the Rue de Rivoli, where he happily sniffed his way around. But it was Tahiti, his wife's birthplace, that inspired him to create his first fragrance composition in 1997: Tiaré by Chantecaille. Frank, who has been working for Firmenich since 2005, creates fragrances in terms of colours, melodies and musical movements. In his fragrance compositions, he strives for ‘perfect imperfection,’ because for him, it is precisely these flaws that create beauty and emotion. For Nomenclature, he created adr_ett, efflor_esce, lumen_esce, holy_wood, para_íso and psy_cou.
