James Peterson of Brooklyn Perfume Company

Profile: I have always followed my current obsession to the detriment of everything else. My first monomania, which took hold when I was six, was collecting leaves, but the real craziness began when I was 12 and got a chemistry set for Christmas. One thing followed another (including two important Science Fair wins) until before long I had my mother going down to the chemical supply company and buying me such goodies as potassium cyanide and hydrofluoric acid.

James with his sister

I pursued chemistry at U.C. Berkeley, but after a series of difficult financial circumstances, was forced to drop out. Eventually, I saved enough money to circle the globe, mostly by land. Near the end of my 6-month trip (I worked my way west starting in Japan) I arrived in France and was enchanted by the way people ate. At lunchtime the restaurants were packed with happy people eating three-course meals and sharing bottles of wine. It’s hard to imagine—this was 1975—what food in America was like. Large cities might have had a staid and sclerotic French restaurant or two, but for the most part we lived in a culinary desert. (Example: When I first moved to NY in 1979, it was impossible to find an espresso outside of Greenwich Village.)

In Carcassonne France, James is on the far right (he spent 3 weeks picking grapes) 1970s

I opened a French restaurant in New York. While we were open for four years, it was a difficult life. The rewards were artistic, but not financial. We were well reviewed. In Gourmet Magazine the critic said that we “may be the most creative restaurant in New York.”

James Peterson Sauces Classic and Contemporary available on amazon.com

I wrote a large book about sauces, which won Cookbook of the Year from the James Beard Foundation. I’ve written 14 more books and have won six more of these prestigious awards. I taught myself photography, an exacting but fulfilling process, so I could shoot the pictures for my cookbooks. (Now everyone thinks they can do their own photography with their phones.)

Real ambergirs from Jame's collection

One morning I was reading a book about 16th century Italian cooking when I came across mentions of ambergris and musk. Before it occurred to me that musk is unethical, I obtained a small sample from India and immediately recognized the smell of my mother when she’d get back from a party—this was in the fifties–and the top and middle notes had disappeared. Ambergris is whale excrement–no ethics problems here—that floats on the sea for nobody knows how long. I located some in New Zealand and tinctured it in alcohol in my kitchen. I started fooling around. I bought some aroma chemicals and applied them, in layers, directly on my skin. One afternoon I did this with an aldehyde at 100% and made the whole house smell for days like cheap perfume. Fortunately for my skin, I changed methods.

James' collection of REAL ouds

One thing followed another until I spent a fortune on my “organ” which contains almost 600 chemicals and naturals say nothing of a large quantity of ambergris tincture. I think it was Franz Klein who said that art was about the careful taming of accident. I am constantly training my nose so I’ll recognize accidents when they occur.  This is the technique I used for making the four scents carried by Brooklyn Perfume Company—I would start with one aroma and think, “hmm, what will go with that” and continue building until various accords and aromas came into focus.  I have been very fortunate to come up with aromas that people seem to like.

Brooklyn Perfume Company Perfume Organ

On American perfumery: In recent years, America (and, strangely, Brooklyn) has witnessed a resurgence of old-fashioned crafts. Many niche brands have expanded the art and have brought about new aromas and the aromas of the past.  Most commercial perfumes are but shadows of my mother’s Guerlain Vol de Nuit and my aunt’s Shalimar.   As I familiarize myself with modern and classic creations, I start to understand the whole context of perfume making. The French seem to like something “dirty” in their perfumes while Americans prefer a clean effect. However, this is beginning to change as Americans are now drawn to a little funk. Americans, always iconoclastic, are experimenting with heretofore unexperienced aromas.

Because I am new to the scene, I’ve had relatively little feedback about my work. My impression, though, is that the standard, commercial perfumes are sorely lacking. While I have no blanket objection to aroma chemicals—I consider them essential—that’s not all I want to smell. What I want is a natural to be the star with aroma chemicals serving as backups and exaltants. Essentially, I work on making something that people want to wear. The aroma of naturals inspires me to duplicate them as accurately as possible in my lab and make these aromas commercially viable. It’s easy to add naturals to a simple base and declare the mixture a perfume but, in fact, the primary perfume material (in my case, oud, amber, musk, and sandalwood) must be placed, like a diamond, in an appropriate setting.

Nathan Oliviera (Left) Cobalt Dancer 2001 and Runner 2002. You can see the difference in style. Cobalt dancer was created before 9/11

My favorite American artists:  Cy Twombly and Jackson Pollock are high on the list with Basquiat in there too. For more representational work, I like Nathan Oliveira. I choose them in part because of my interest in fractals. Fractals (think how the surface of a leaf, with its tiny veins, resembles the arrangement of rivers seen from an airplane) occur primarily in nature, but great artists (including wine makers and perfumers) create their own. When one of Pollock’s artist friends told him to base his works on nature (even if remaining abstract), he said “I am nature.”

–James Peterson, Perfumer and founder of Brooklyn Perfume Company

Thanks to James we have a draw as follows for US readers we have a choice of 30 ml ($150) Amber, Oud, Musk or Sandalwood OR a sample pack of all four. For our international readers James is offering a Sample pack to one reader anywhere in the world.  Only one reader will win. To be eligible please leave a comment with what you found fascinating about James Peterson and your choice of fragrance. Draw closes Feburary 26, 2015

Please like CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery and your entry will count twice.

Brooklyn Perfumery is sold at Twisted Lily which is the exclusive stockist of the line

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