R Tramble

Leonhardstrasse, Zurich

Thanks for making the move with me. There are a couple of reasons why I’m going with “R Tramble, perfumer” instead of sticking with “sapuna.”

A friend and I came up with “sapuna” when I thought I’d just focus on soapmaking. We took the meaning of “soap” in various languages – saboon (Arabic), sapuni (Bosnian), savon (French) – and came up with “sapuna.” If I only made soap, this would be fine. But as you’ve been reading here, I do much more. I want to leave the door open to create more than just soap. Throughout history, artisan perfumers have made not only soap and perfume, but other beauty and cosmetic products as well. I want to keep that tradition going.

Second, I think of perfumery as an art form. Visual artists sign their name to their work. “R Tramble” is my signature for my olfactory art.

The more I study and the more I create, the more confident I become. I’m ready to sign my name.

Third, another friend did a graphic for me and used “R Tramble.” I had to catch my breath when I saw it. The name, the imagery just looked right.

Fourth, I come from a line of folks who were sharp even when they didn’t have a penny to their name, which was most of the time. When you walked out the house, you’d better be looking good, sounding good and smelling good. My name is my family and my link to a time when presenting yourself at your best meant something.

So, this is where you’ll find me and my craft.

And this is where I truly feel like an artisan perfumer.

This delightful lunch I had in Berlin sparked my creative juices. Potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant – what perfume could I make using this dish as my ‘culinary muse’? Potatoes: Cepes absolute? Tomatoes: Not sure about that one. Eggplant: Hmmmm. Perfume Shrine has a long love letter to the plant, calling the aroma “smoky” but resigned to the fact that “(p)erfumers might not have succumbed to its charms yet”. Would choya nakh work? It’s made from roasted seashells. I have a small bottle of it stored away. It’s time to break it out.

So, what do you think? And how would tomato be represented?

_{Image: Q Hotel, Berlin}

That darned volcano wreaked havoc on my travel schedule. My flight to Berlin last Friday was cancelled, so I had to book it to the Hauptbahnhof to snag a ticket for the 8-hour journey.

I treated myself just this once to a first-class ticket, thinking that I would be able to get some shut eye. I was wrong. Lesson learned: Folks in first class are just as loud and ghetto as everyone else. They’re just loud and ghetto in business suits.

While in Berlin I visited a small perfumery (which used synthetics, not that there’s anything wrong if that’s what you like) and bought some samples to compare with mine. Just to make sure I wasn’t biased toward my perfumes (I thought mine were infinitely better, so there:-)) I had a non-perfumey-ish friend do a blind test, comparing a store scent with the one I made last week. Both had similar notes. The friend said that the perfume from the shop reminded one of a “hotel room” and that mine was “emotional,” conjuring up colors such as red and brown and thoughts of Asia and Africa.

I swooned.

I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that the thoughts I hold when I make a scent transfer.

I’m not sure if I’m getting it right, but at least I’m getting it.

By the way, if you requested samples, they’re going in the mail tomorrow.

I have an old copy of Perfumes and Cosmetics: Their Preparation and Manufacture by George Askinson. I bought it a while back, but just got the chance to flip through it tonight.

I found the most magnificent piece of perfume history tucked between the pages: an old full page article entitled “Musical Melodies in Perfumes? Science Asserts That the Fragrances of Nature Follow Laws of Harmony Which Correspond to Those of Music” from the 6 August 1922 edition of “The American Weekly” section of The Boston Sunday Advertiser.

That perfumes can be arranged in delicious melodies and harmonies was recently asserted by a scientist of the highest standing, Dr. Marston T. Bogert, professor of organic chemistry at Columbia University.

I’m going down for the count, so I can’t read the entire thing tonight, and my schedule is ridiculous until Monday. I must find time next week to dig into this. There are other little notes and newspaper clippings tucked away in the book as well.

I think my heart just skipped a beat.