Making perfumery inclusive

This is something Sarah wrote when talking about the book she has been working on. It explains one of the main reasons she wrote it, and it got me thinking about how inclusivity is so much better than exclusivity.

“Perfumery is unlike other arts and crafts, in that the wider industry does not encourage lay people to take it up as an interest. Several brand owners and senior perfumers are on record recommending the opposite - that we ought to give up and leave it to the experts. This book is for people who have ideas they would like to turn into perfumes, but do not yet know how. As I’m asked about this every day, I decided that it would be a good idea to put it all in one place. It really can be difficult to make the exact aroma that you want, but it’s possible to make something that smells wonderful and is safe to wear right at the beginning.” - Sarah McCartney

Exclusive is a term often used in the perfume and other luxury or high-end industries. You’ll see it on sales and marketing copy all the time; its job is to make the buyer feel special, more important than others, and like they managed to get their hands on something that very few others did. But really, exclusive is the opposite of inclusive, meaning leaving people out.

And the thing is, if you consider the angle many ‘luxury’ brands take when talking about exclusivity as something that is unique and gives the buyer their own individuality, it’s nonsense. Taking handbags as an example, there is a selection of ‘exclusive’ brands that I see often, too often for me to feel that the person carrying one has unique or interesting taste.

A quick search tells me that industry experts estimate that between 8 and 10 million Louis Vuitton bags are sold annually. Not very exclusive. Which is fine; we should all buy what we like (as long as it’s ethical), but let’s not pretend.

If someone is truly looking for something that’s unique and fits their personality, I believe an artisan or independent brand is much more likely to offer that, while also being much more likely to share a message of inclusivity.

You’re also much more likely to pay significantly closer to the value of what you’ve actually bought, rather than an added exclusivity tax.

The other thing, which Sarah was talking more about, is that the luxury side of the perfume industry, which is the part people see most, doesn’t encourage people to get involved and give it a go in the way that happens in many other creative fields. The big players in this £50 billion to £76 billion global perfume industry aren’t eager for it to become common knowledge that, if you give it a try, you might enjoy it and, over time, become rather good at making nice-smelling things.

But as we are interested in making enjoyable and beneficial things more accessible, we’re not keen on the idea of exclusivity. This is why Sarah runs perfumery workshops, has Scenthusiasm, her perfumery community on Patreon, a YouTube channel with hundreds of free films, and now a perfumery book on its way out. We’ll tell you more about how to get it soon.