Original version

BBC Four

BBC 4

Perfume

Ian Denyer

Perfume: Episode 2: Bottling the Memory

Documentaries

Factual

Bottling the Memory

Episode 2

Episode 2: Bottling the Memory

BBC Four - Perfume, Bottling the Memory

A look at how three of the world's top perfumers go about their business.

How three of the top perfumers - Christopher Brosius, Hermes's Jean Claude Ellena and principal of the Parisian school, Jean Guichard - go about their business.

Perfumers are molecular chemists and sensual creatives who seek to trigger pleasurable memories and associations through our most primitive sense. We follow three different types of perfumer - or nose - to find out how they do it and what it takes to become one. 

Jean Claude Ellena is in-house nose at French brand Hermes. We spend time with him in his studio in the woods, musing, sniffing and then creating a fragrance inspired by a secret garden. American Christopher Brosius is the Proust of perfume, a punk star with a mission to create scents that that can speak to us of times past - whether through the smell of tomato leaves or musty books. Jean Guichard is the principal of the Parisian school for noses. There are more astronauts than there are perfumers - so how does he spot the right stuff in students who may not be aware they have it?

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

BBC Four logo

Series going inside the multi-billion-dollar business of the global perfume industry

Series going inside the multi-billion-dollar global perfume industry, following the stories of perfumers, scientists and marketing gurus on their quest to win over the next generation of consumers

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Perfume

Episode 2: Bottling the Memory

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Four

About BBC Four