The Best Dutch Fragrance Secret

Hello, Fragrant Friend 👋,

Did you know? Many initiatives (fragrance.drama, Wisemoor, Perfumer Archive) provide GC-MS reports and formulas for accords and bases — used for learning, reference, and creating “dupes.” The Institute for Art and Olfaction offers a reference database to help interpret them.

🗓️ Contents of this Issue

1. Note Worthy: Alcohol from CO2, nostalgia scents, and fact-checking
2. Story: Our Walk with Chester Gibs
3. Quiz: Annindriya Evergreen
4. Fragrance Spotlight: Ylang-Ylang

Note-Worthy 🔎🌸

Givaudan and LanzaTech are partnering to create fragrance ingredients from renewable carbon, converting industrial emissions into ethanol. Xyrena makes avant-garde, nostalgia-infused scents (like the American Psycho fragrance). And the Perfumery Code of Ethics launched a fact-checking system to provide journalists with reliable information.

Story: Chester Gibs 🚶‍♀️

An interview with Chester Gibs, an Amsterdam-based perfumer and visual artist (and, later, New Niche’s first perfumer). Growing up in a mixed Dutch-Indonesian household surrounded by spices and incense, he came to perfumery in his late 30s after graduating from art academy. A synesthete, he “thinks in colours” — a musky, animalic scent might evoke purple.

His debut fragrance for Annindriya, Walk with Me, embodies duality and movement — fresh and spicy (lime leaf, bergamot, cardamom) transitioning to a warm, creamy base (ylang-ylang, coconut, vanilla) with a hint of leather. He praises Annindriya’s philosophy of transparency and crediting perfumers.

Annindriya Collection

Walk with Me by Chester Gibs; Vetiver Rain by Christophe Laudamiel; Seekwood by Spyros Drosopoulos; Orris Soyeux by Francesca Bianchi; Tipsy Tuberose by Meabh McCurtin.

Fragrance Spotlight: Ylang-Ylang 🌼

Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata) is an exotic tropical flower with long yellow petals, primarily grown in Madagascar and the Comoros (also Indonesia and Ghana). Its complex, multifaceted scent produces floral, spicy, fruity, solar, creamy and woody notes depending on the distillation stage. Madagascar produces ~35–40 tonnes annually; essential oil is ~$150/kg. Valued in aromatherapy for relieving stress.