Beauty FUTURE OF FRAGRANCE

EAUX EX MACHINA

Your favorite scent may have been created by a computer. Is the erfumers often use analo- composition. Francis Kurkdjian believes fragrance industry gies to describe their craft. perfumery, at its heart, is storytelling. ready for artificial Calice Becker, the nose And that may be one reason he’s wary of behind Dior’s famous a recent development in fragrance: the intelligence? P J’adore, likens her work use of artificial intelligence. to that of an architect. Ste- On a recent Friday evening, the co- Are you? By phen Nilsen, who created Vera Wang founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian Jennifer Goldstein Lovestruck, thinks of it as writing music: calls from a Paris café to explain. Oui, He groups single fragrance notes into he knows of several fragrance compa- chords—or accords, as they’re called in nies that use AI. And oui, he’s smelled

the business—and arranges a finished some of those creations. He remains ARCHIVE. CHUNG/TRUNK JAMIE BOTTLE:

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unimpressed. “So far, I haven’t seen any- Because Philyra wasn’t programmed thing unusual, daring, or striking,” he says. with tradition or emotion, it never had “Without the human, all you get is a blend.” a mentor to instill “the way things are Another analogy: “If you told a machine done.” For example, it selected fenugreek HIGH-TECH you like blue, red, and pink, and then you seed, which perfumers often avoid be- asked the machine [for a painting], you cause it’s tricky to work with, as well as a would never get a Mondrian!” frothy, milklike aroma from Symrise’s fla- SCENTS But what if an AI-created perfume vor division. “I wasn’t even aware of the Cutting-edge technologies can take an aroma “snapshot” of living could be more than a simple blend? In note,” Apel says. “When I saw that hap- plants and endangered natural 2017, the Brazilian cosmetics company pen, it really hit me: This was a unique elements to replicate their O Boticário decided to find out. It ap- approach.” O Boticário tested the AI scents (without destroying them in proached IBM Research to help design fougère and ended up bottling it. The the process), giving the fragrance two perfumes using only artificial in- scent, called Egeo on You, launched in world a sustainable boost. telligence. The idea was gimmicky, sure, 2019, along with a machine-made femi- but O Boticário thought a tech-forward nine counterpart called Egeo on Me. If creation might appeal to millennials. the number of Brazilian vloggers talking At the time, IBM Research lacked about it on YouTube is any indication, the data about fragrance, so it tapped a Ger- scents were a hit. man fragrance house, Symrise—which But would it be possible for a com- has a database of over 1.8 million aroma puter—or a human, for that matter—to formulas for everything from perfumes design a perfume that’s universally be- to toothpaste flavors—to help build a loved? Unlikely. Even if an AI program program that could teach itself how to were able to factor in all of humanity’s compose fragrances. “We called it Philyra, unique preferences and arrive at a few

Ellis Brooklyn Salt Eau de Parfum, $105, ellisbrooklyn.com Reminiscent of sea salt–covered skin in summer, this fragrance gets its musky “It was like watching a young quality from a lab-born (and vegan) version of ambergris, a dried whale by-product perfumer at work. It was remarkable.” prized for its subtle, earthy scent.

after the Greek goddess of perfume,” says “most-liked” notes, it wouldn’t be able to David Apel, a Symrise senior perfumer blend them into a scent completely au- who worked on the venture. tonomously. As experts working with AI Once Philyra was up and running, the are quick to point out, it’s the interaction team refined the algorithm by layering in between human and machine that drives “success criteria,” such as what’s popular the creative process. “It’s something we in the market. But the additional intel use. It doesn’t use us,” Apel says. didn’t simplify matters: Philyra was still That said, data-driven innovation is spitting out thousands of potential for- hot in fragrance right now. Last year, the Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb mulas. “We had to feed her some seeds,” Swiss fragrance and flavor developer Dew, $115, viktor-rolf.com says Apel, as if talking about a beloved Givaudan launched a system called Car- The tech-created note of a delicate, dewy pet. The “seeds” included types of per- to, which Becker, one of the house’s lead rose lies at the heart of this sparkling floral, fumes that were popular with younger perfumers, compares to the CAD pro- anchored with a creamy musk base. customers in Brazil. That reduced the grams architects use to render designs. output to a thousand options, including It’s beautiful to see it in action. When 12 top choices. Apel reviewed the for- Nilsen, a Givaudan senior perfumer, se- mulas line by line, ordering samples of lects aromas from Givaudan’s database, ones that looked promising. “At one point, they appear on a large touch screen as I recognized [Philyra] was developing colorful circles, which he can arrange a very nice fougère structure,” he says, and resize. Then the software works out using the industry term for herbaceous, the math, adjusting the amounts of each mossy scents. “Then I watched Philyra note so the potency is balanced. At the change the citrus and aromatics, and try moment, Carto doesn’t have a feedback out combinations in the same way a per- loop to learn and grow, as some AI algo- fumer would—if you had all the time in rithms do, but what it lacks in sentience the world.” He was, in essence, watching it makes up for in efficiency. The touch a machine do his job. Rather than feeling screen is linked to a robotic compound- Prada Les Infusions Rose, $160, prada.com This floral blend features a bouquet threatened, Apel says he was hooked. “I ing machine that can whip up samples of botanicals—neroli, galbanum, and saw an evolution, like watching a young in seconds. “It’s amazing, because you roses from both Turkey and Bulgaria—

perfumer at work. It was remarkable.” don’t have to do as many trials and use that smells freshly bloomed. OF THE DESIGNERS. COURTESY PERFUMES: AND PRADA & ROLF, VIKTOR ELLIS BROOKLYN,

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up the oil for the samples and the bottles,” Becker explains. “For example, before Carto, it may have taken me a hundred trials to create a muguet note—but now, with Carto, it takes one.” Like many other consumer compa- nies, the fragrance industry is coming to terms with its environmental impact. Producing perfume uses natural raw re- sources and creates greenhouse gases and chemical waste, and the finished products are a major source of air pol- lution. (Volatile chemical products, in- cluding perfume, contribute as much air pollution as petroleum emissions from vehicles, according to a study published in Environmental Science and Technology in 2018.) One example of progress can be found at Firmenich, another Swiss fragrance house. Its AI program, Muse, can reengineer a formula to make it more eco-friendly, explains Odile Pelissier, Firmenich’s vice president of creation, development, and innovation. If, say, a formula calls for a large dose of sandal- wood oil, which is currently under threat in many countries, the tool’s data might suggest substituting DreamWood, a pro- prietary natural compound genetically engineered to have a similar smell. But just because more fragrance de- On a busy Saturday at the start of goal isn’t to simplify perfume shopping velopers are using AI doesn’t mean you’ll New York Fashion Week, Stephanie or mechanize the creation process—or hear about it. Pelissier explains that some Roccia, 42, was one of the first custom- even to match every human with a signa- Firmenich clients don’t want to publicize ers in line to try the program. She pulled ture scent. It’s to help people learn. So far, that their perfumes were created with AI. up the Algorithmic Perfumery website she says, the process seems to bring peo- “Fragrance is about emotion, and it has a on her smartphone and got to work on ple together, encouraging them to share very intimate human quality,” she says. the first step, a questionnaire to rate her their samples and find things they have “Some consumers don’t want a thing cre- personality traits (realist versus dreamer, in common. Oddly humanizing, consid- ated by a machine touching their skin.” intuitive versus analytical). Next, she ering the means. Some innovators are more open. stepped over to a display of seven per- “If you want to get philosophical, and Sommelier du Parfum puts an AI-driven fumes to evaluate her preferences and many people in the AI space do, then tool in the hands of customers, literally, assess how she perceived these scents. think of it this way,” says Frederik Duer- with its smartphone app. Log in, answer As she plugged in her responses, the inck, founder of Algorithmic Perfumery’s personality questions, share the names of program collected data to look for pat- parent company, Scentronix, and the fragrances you already wear, and a chat- terns: Were more-analytical people fond program’s inventor. “Whatever comput- bot will suggest new scents you might of woodsy aromas? Did dreamers tend er programs we humans create are really like. (A sample box of five costs $15.) toward citrus? Were young women as just an evolution of the human form.” The Dutch brand Algorithmic Per- enamored with fruity florals as market- Not to worry: We won’t be entering fumery takes things a step further, let- ers would have you believe? the matrix anytime soon. If anything, the ting customers create bespoke perfumes When she was finished, the program Algorithmic Perfumery program seems with an AI-driven computer program combined the results to create three to be learning more slowly as it gathers and a special “fragrance printer” located sample fragrances it thought Roccia more data. “We test multiple creation al- in Breda, Netherlands. In February, the might like. She watched a small glass gorithms simultaneously, and sometimes brand hosted an event at the Ace Hotel vial travel along the conveyor belt, stop- at the end of the day, we’ll see the data in New York City, where it re-created ping beneath a dozen or so ports to col- favoring one algorithm. We get really its lab in miniature. Along one wall, the lect droplets. In five minutes, she had excited because we think we’re getting team set up an 11-foot-long version of her samples. closer to a 100 percent success rate,” he the printer, featuring 38 large glass ports Would one become her absolute fa- says. “But then new data comes in, and filled with liquid aromas—some clear as vorite perfume of all time? That might we’re back to square one. Humans have water, others ranging from pale yellow to be the wrong question to ask. Algorith- moods and emotions; they’re fascinat- dark amber—suspended above a convey- mic Perfumery’s cofounder and head of ing—and unpredictable.” Much like a

or belt wired to a computer. scent creation, Anahita Mekanik, says the great perfume. ANSON CALL). BY JOHNNY MILLER (STYLED CLOSE-UP: BOTTLE

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