Russia by Way of Paris: Sulékó 03/04/14 17:44:54 (6 comments) by: Sergey Borisov It happened that after 1917, most of the perfumers who worked in Russia had emigrated from the Soviet Union. The most famous example is French perfumer Ernest Beaux (Rallet, Bourjois, Chanel), of whom we Russians are still so proud. After the nationalization of the perfume factories, Soviets continued to produce colognes and soaps—not as a luxury item (the proletariat does not need any luxury!), but as an element of hygiene and for proletarian holidays. For 70 years the development of Soviet perfumes has lagged behind that of the world. After Perestroika, Russiab perfume factories either switched to cheaper mass perfumes, or were bought by giants like Procter & Gamble or Unilever, for the manufacture of their products. Modern Russian perfumery consists of some self-taught natural perfumers (Anna Zworykina, Anna Gerasimova, Alla Guter, Natalie Svetlaya, Yan Frolov), or re-imported Russian brands from other countries, like Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince. At the New York exhibition Elements Showcase, we found another great example of Russian perfumery—French perfume house Sulékó. Sulékó's art director, Anastasia Sokolow, kindly agreed to answer my questions in an e-mail interview. Anastasia Sokolova, founder of the house Sulékó Serguey Borisov: Dear Anastasia, Thank you for your time you will spend with Fragrantica readers. First of all, why did you choose perfumery to reveal your Russian roots and pay tribute to Russia? Seems like Russian literature and poetry, Russian ballet and art are more well-known for their quality in the world. Great Russian perfumery was not on the world map for about a century, since Ernest Beaux and Alphonse Rallet left Russia… Anastasia Sokolow: I guess that my Russian roots have remained very alive and active despite the fact that my family was compelled to leave Russia after the Revolution. Both my parents are of Russian descent. I went to school in France; I was lucky to travel a lot, in particular to the United States, and be exposed to a variety of cultures; but I also went to Russian school on Wednesdays and the family always maintained Russian traditions, the language and celebrated all the major holidays. I loved the Russian folk tales which my grandmothers would read me at night. I loved the illustrations by Vasnetsov and Bilibin; I loved to color the copies of these illustrations made by my grandmother such as Vassilissa Prekrasnaya, Zolotaya Rybka or BabaYaga; later I read Russian poetry and discovered the Russian painters beginning with the Peredvijniki and Kouindji, Krymov, Aivazovski, Levitan, Shishkin, Larionov, Gontcharova (many Russian artists of the beginning of the 20th century are buried in the Russian cemetery near Paris). A few years at the ballet school opened my mind to Russian classical music. And obviously this exposure opened up my mind to Art and to Beauty in general, both of which bring people closer over and above their differences and their frontiers. I am not a painter, a musician or a ballet dancer but I know how to share my ideas, my emotions through scent; slowly the urge to share this way of living led me to reflect on the best way to do this; this is how my roots came into play. When I decided that I had to put my passion for fragrances to work; I created Sulékó. Sulékó’s premise is that a fragrance is a reflection of one’s personality; it is also a vector, which conveys feelings, emotions, secret messages. Sulékó seeks to help men and women to rediscover themselves and better understand who they are and what they want or can be no matter where they come from. And this view, in many ways, did exist in Russia in the world of Russian fragrances before the Revolution, in the days of Ernest Beaux and Alphonse Rallet; sadly enough, after 1920 Russian fragrances were all forgotten despite the fact that they were recognized to be the best of the best. Serguey Borisov: Before you discovered perfumery, what had you planned to do as a career? Anastasia Sokolow: After my baccalaureate, I joined the EM Lyon Business School. At that time, I wanted to be a Financial Analyst … I liked the idea of analyzing companies, learning about their strategies and the environment in which they were evolving in order to see if financially and strategically they were a good investment. My mother had serious doubts about that path and thought that the Beaux Arts would be more fulfilling for me ... A couple of years later, facing a mathematics test to get an internship at a major bank, I realized that this was not for me … It is also at that time that my passion for Beauty (which later crystallized around perfume) took over! I decided to start my own company and to try to combine the two sides of my personality—the analytical side and the artistic side! Serguey Borisov: Where did you spend your childhood years? Are there any perfume-related memories of your family that are still dear to you? Anastasia Sokolow: I grew up in Paris and I have so many wonderful scented memories from my childhood that it is hard to pick one! As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in an environment infused with Russian culture and traditions, and traditions often refer to the art of cooking! One of my favourite times of the year, was the preparation of the Easter celebrations. I helped my mother when she was preparing the koulitchi and Paskha—the traditional Easter “pastries,” and just thinking about these times triggers the bitter and sparkling scent of lemon peel, the sweet, soft, resinous smell of the vanilla bean, the scent of raisins macerating in rum and the marvelous smell of the koulitchi baking in the oven. Other souvenirs are connected to the south of France, where we would spend some time during the summer holidays. I have a very clear memory of our arrivals—as the doors of the train opened, I could feel the warm breeze filled with sun, the dry and aromatic smell of lavender and pine—the smell of vacation and summer! Serguey Borisov: When did you start your project and how did it go? Anastasia Sokolow: I started working on the project two and a half years ago; it was a new challenge in uncharted waters and I could not have done this without the support of my family. It was a lot of work, a lot of energy and it felt like being on a rollercoaster, with wonderful days when everything would roll and then horrible days when it seemed like I would never make it. I eventually launched the brand in May 2013. I was so happy that I was able to reach that point! I felt very lucky to be able to do what I loved most. Serguey Borisov: How you would describe your own position in Sulékó? Since you are not the perfumer, are you an owner, a muse, an art director, or an investor? What inspired you to start your perfume brand? Anastasia Sokolow: I am actually a mix of all of that! I am not a perfumer but I have spent years studying perfumes, scent ingredients and fragrance compositions, so I was able to work hand-in-hand with my perfumer. Also, I am not a ceramist but I draw and I sketch and therefore I was able to give directions to the artists I worked with. Funding was limited but I had unlimited access to one key resource: my energy. I started my own perfume brand because I thought that I could bring something new to the market. But I also wanted to promote a new approach; I wanted to reunite perfume and Art. In the beginning of the 20th century, Russian perfumers worked with the finest goldsmiths and ceramicists to create their bottles; their creations were very inspiring and I wished to reactivate that tradition. I decided to work with two contemporary ceramicists who would create the sculpture bottles as tactile and visual reflections of the fragrances. I also realized that the disconnection between the customers and their ideal fragrance is due to a lack of words. And when I read the book of Konstantin Weriguine, his childhood memories in Russia, where he explains that each perfume can be defined olfactively as a series of scents, it appeared to me that referring and using seasons should help people describe what they seek in a fragrance. Also, as I believed that a fragrance is also linked to emotions so I added an emotional side to each season. Actually, many poets use the metaphors of nature as it changes through the seasons to describe a state of mind. I ended up defining each season emotionally and olfactively and I designed four universes—the four seasons of Sulékó; all the Sulékó fragrances are and will be part of a season. Finally, I sought to open people’s minds to the idea that a fragrance does make people dream and feel emotions; to do so I decided to organize workshops. The workshops are designed as a journey through the four universes of Sulékó, a way to learn the language of scents and emotions, a way to discover the fragrance that matches one’s personality and state of mind. Serguey Borisov: Is there anyone or anything in your life that is a key inspiration for you? Any special motivation? Anastasia Sokolow: Through my logo, I want to pay tribute to Konstantin Weriguine who inspired me (the 'K') and to my family (the wing of the hawk).