CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery: Dannielle Sergent of COGNOSCENTI +You’re In the Know Draw

 

 

Dannielle Sergent

I am a California girl born to an intelligent, elegant, free spirited mother of Italian and Hungarian descent. I was shaped by a frugal Berkeley youth, a passion to create and an early subscription to Vogue. I have always been an artist; my medium has just varied over the years. As a painter, illustrator, architect, designer, and now perfumer, each required a distinct knowledge base, and provided unique opportunities to innovate.

 

 An example of Dannielle's Art

I realized early on that I needed to satisfy both the rational and creative parts of my brain to fully flourish. After studying painting at UC Berkeley for the first few years I turned my attention to architecture. I completed my graduate work in architecture and painting at Univ. of Texas at Austin, and returned to the Bay Area to start my career. My professional portfolio includes Residential, Civic, Interior and Retail projects. I found a real affinity for retail design, where the importance of the brand story called for something greater than a beautiful “box”. This idea became very useful when starting COGNOSCENTI.

 

Dannielle at 9 years old

Although I have the smallest nose in the family, mine has always been the most sensitive. I remember lying in my bed as child and being able to tell what the weather was like outside by the smell of the room even before I opened my eyes. If it was foggy outside the dampness would enhance the ferns, the dirt would smell wet and slightly musty, and the small patch of concrete would be covered with snails that I thought from a distance smelled like fatty mushrooms. If it was hot and sunny, the ferns would be sharper and the pavement smelled hot. The lemons and the roses next door would come out making the air heavy in the freshest way.

Dannielle with her mom

Although my mother was a bit of a hippie she wore Chanel No 5, and kept a full bottle in her leather clutch purse with a pack of cigarettes and Doublemint gum. I can’t think of one without the other. It was an interesting mix: luxurious, accessible, fun and a bit tough. I started wearing perfume myself when I was 12: Hibiscus oil from the Body Shop (now Body Time), then Babe at 13 and Cristalle shortly after it was launched. I wore mostly Cristalle for 20 years but also wore men’s fragrance too. Maybe it was the tobacco and leather scent from my mother’s purse that made me want more than traditional women’s fragrances could offer. It still influences my scent preferences today.

 

Dannielle's studio

I woke up one morning in 2010 and decided that was the day I was going to become a perfumer. I researched classes online and found one the next day with Yosh. There was one spot left and it was an enlightening experience. After that first class I threw myself into the world of perfume. I read everything: Aromatherapy, Botany, Chemistry, Perfume Criticism and Composition, articles, online blogs and fiction. I sourced materials from all over the world, smelling each regional variation and trying to train my nose. I started blending with naturals but the following year added a few synthetics to increase the palette of materials. It felt initially like I wasn’t given all the colors I need to paint with. Yosh was kind enough to give interim feedback and continues to be a source of personal inspiration to me. She opened the door to perfume creation and I ran through it.

Louise Nevelson

Favorite American Artist: I have too many to count. The most influential to me early on were Helen Frankenthaler and Louise Nevelson. Both took simple materials and created beautiful and powerful abstract works of art. The passion of the turpentine saturated paint in Frankenthaler’s work and the refined complexity of the scrap wood in Nevelson’s taught me that luxury and elegance were not dependent on expensive materials.

I visited Marfa, Texas in 1990 for Donald Judd’s birthday party and fell in love with his work for the same reasons. Simple materials extremely well crafted define luxury. With COGNOSCENTI I seek to elevate the raw materials from simple to sumptuous.

On American Perfumery: It’s a unique and exciting time to be an American perfumer. Thanks to aromatherapy pioneers, small perfumers like me have access to knowledge and raw materials that didn’t exist a decade ago. I love that the American perfumer is taking these tools and crafting unique blends infused with their beliefs, influences and personal history. They aren’t working from a predetermined script; they are creating the path themselves. It’s a pioneering spirit guiding each perfumer’s distinct creative vision. And the stories behind their brands and the new scents they are creating are compelling customers to find their own paths and expand beyond their original scent borders. It’s inspiring and I’m trying to smell them all.

Dannielle Sergent, Perfumer and Founder of COGNOSCENTI

 Until Senior Editor Tama Blough emailed me that COGNOSCENTI was a line to 'note', I had never heard of Dannielle Sergent. Tama reviewed her perfumes (read Tama's reviews here) after discovering them when they debuted at the First Artisan Salon in San Francisco, July 8, 2012.  I wrote Dannielle and requested samples of her three fragrances. I called her immediately. We chatted and I learned we shared a common art and branding  background as well as wearing Cristalle early on. Dannielle  explained why she numbered her fragrances instead of naming them- so that the wearer would have no preconceived notion or expectation. Trying to capture the DNA of her brand, I used the word simplexity…they are at once complex, well structured yet easy to wear and adaptable. We are not the only ones impressed by this line…COGNOSCENTI  won five gold medals including  Best New Product, Best Ingredient Combination, Best Aroma, Most Unique, and tied for Most Seductive. COGNOSCENTI joined Yosh and 40notes as the three official fragrances of the 2012 Taste Awards (Best in Salon)  and as the "Official Luxury Fragrances" of the 4th Annual TASTE AWARDS in Hollywood. –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief (I am wearing 19 as I am typing…)

Now, CaFleureBon readers are "in the know."

 

 

 

Thanks to Dannielle, we have a reader's choice of a 50ml  of 1, 16, or 19 for a draw. To be eligible, please leave a comment with the fragrance you would like to win and what you know about Dannielle Sergent. (Currently, COGNOSCENTI is not available for sale on Dannielle's site or at any retailer, so the winner will really be in the know. Draw closes August 16, 2012

 

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

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63 comments

  • Linnea Wiedeman says:

    I would like to win scent #1
    Danielle Sergent has been a painter, illustrator, architect, designer, and now perfumer,

  • It’s interesting that she works with Yosh and gets inspired by “simple materials and [creates] beautiful and powerful abstract works of art.”

    I’d like to try No. 19. Thanks for the draw!

  • I would love to win #19!

    Danielle has an impressive sense of smell – I love that! I have a very sensitive nose myself, and I can relate to her in “smelling” the weather. And what a fantastic and varied amount of life and career experiences to draw from! I’m very excited to check this new perfumer out. 🙂

  • I would like to win #16. What I learned about Danielle is that she has taste in perfume that appeals to me, her being influenced by the smell of tobacco, leather and Chanel 5 that emanated from her mother’s purse resonates with me as does her looking to mens perfumes for something different from what is traditionally offered to women.
    I also loved her recollections about how she could smell the weather outside as a child and know what it would be like before she got up. I sounds like she has a gifted nose.

  • I would love to win #16… 19.. man so hard to decide! But Lindenblossom + Frankincense and myrrh? Ok 16 =)

    I always enjoying learning about perfumer’s scent memories as it is always very vivid and specific and reveals alot about the things they gravitate towards. Chanel along with smoke and doublemint, I bet it smelled real good~

  • I find it fascinating that as a child Danielle could tell the weather outside
    by the smell of the room! I may have to try that myself.I would love to win #16.It has a very unusual combination of notes

  • Very nice description: ” If it was foggy outside the dampness would enhance the ferns, the dirt would smell wet and slightly musty, and the small patch of concrete would be covered with snails that I thought from a distance smelled like fatty mushrooms. If it was hot and sunny, the ferns would be sharper and the pavement smelled hot. The lemons and the roses next door would come out making the air heavy in the freshest way. ”
    I am mostly impressed with No. 19 that would be my choice. Thx

  • It’s interesting that she won five gold medals at the First Artisan Salon. I believe her teacher Yosh also won for her fragrances.

    I’m having a hard time choosing between 16 and 19! I guess I will choose 19 based on Tama’s wonderful review.

  • An interesting article on a perfumer who would seem to have a bright future. I enjoyed learning about her love of American artist Donald Judd and the lesson that simple materials if they are well crafted define luxury
    I like the term the editor chose to explain Cogniscenti ..simplexity
    My choice would be 19 which sounds lovely
    Hope the site goes live soon

  • amberosmanthus says:

    I think it is amazing that Danielle and Yosh both won gold at the SF Salon. I think it says something about the talent these two women share and it seems Yosh was the perfect mentor to bring out Danielle’s best in perfumery. I would choose #16 and hope to smell all three fragrances at some time in the future. Thank you for the article and the draw.

  • Danielle ‘s transition through life through various creative jobs to being a perfumer is amazing and almost a natural one.
    I would love to win No. 19..
    Thank you for the draw.;

  • I find it amazing how she has always been able to guess the weather outside without even looking out of the window, just by smelling!
    I would like to win Scent No. 1, the combination of notes sounds very interesting!

  • What I now know is that Danielle wore one of my all time favorite vintage fragrances-Cristalle-for 20 years. Her fragrances won quite a few awards recently in SF so she has been on the radar for me. I would be thrilled to win any one of the three (and I LOVE that she numbers them so we have no preconceived notions) but if I am forced to choose I would go with no 16.

  • I found Danielle’s story interesting, and her mention of Vogue.
    I would love to win No. 19!

  • She seems such a free spirit! An old girlfriend of mine also wore Cristalle, beautiful fragrance. I would like to win No 16.

  • Scented Memories says:

    I didn’t know abaout Danielle that she has a background in painting and architecture.
    I would like to win No. 16.

  • Great to see some new faces in the perfume industry, and ones doing so well. I would love to win Scent No.16, as I absolutely love the scent of tomato leaf.

    It’s nice to know about her previous artistic endeavours which included visual arts, architecture and retail design. Perfumery is just another art form she has added to her repertoire.

    I also loved her reasoning behind naming each and every scent with a number, as a means of avoiding customer expectations.

    Very interesting woman!

  • It’s so amazing that as a child Danielle could tell the weather outside by the smell of the room! And she does seem like such an interesting person.
    I’d love to win No. 19, though all of her creations seem lovely.

  • Such a lovely story. I don’t know her sign but she sounds so familiar.
    It is interesting knowing she has a rational sde and creative part and she needs to satisfy both. That duality always makes life interesting and the creative process brings unusual beauties.

    I would love to try all her fragrances. Every fragrance has an interesting twist. My first choice would be 16.

  • What an interesting story.
    I have learned that Danielle can take simple materials and make something more than the sum of its parts.
    That to me is true art.
    I would love to sample no.1

  • I really like her paintings! I like the architectural qualities she gave to the flowers. I would love to try 16 — I love tomato leaf and linden! Thanks for the draw. 🙂

  • After reading this fascinating profile, I feel that I “know” that Danielle is very intelligent and grew up in an environment that fully supported her artistic and creative endeavors. Her quest for knowledge that covers such a wide realm of the creative arts comes through in the article as a passion that has driven her life. I’d love to win #16.

  • Danielle likes to wear men’s scents, and looking at the ingredients in each of these perfumes, I feel she may have captured this. My first pic would be #16, but they are all tempting!

  • Sue B Honey says:

    Didn’t “know” Danielle until this article. Thank you for the introduction.

    Would be hard to choose between 16 & 19, but I think I would go with 16 – the tomato leaf sounds so intriguing!

  • I love that even as a child she led with her nose. I also appreciate that she had a hunger for intellectual as well as creative pursuits. I am excited to try Cognoscenti. I would like to win #19.

  • Farawayspices says:

    I was interested to learn about Danielle’s background in architecture, and I loved what she had to say about this exciting time in American Perfumery.
    I would love to win number 19

  • I loved hearing about the everyday items her mom kept in her purse (Chanel No.5, pack of cigarettes, and DoubleMint Gum). Those mundane items become so meaningful when put together, for they elicit strong memories years after.

    Number 16 sounds gorgeous. I love clary sage!

  • Fascinating to read of being able to smell the weather! She sounds like a fascinating person, and I can’t wait to be able to try her perfumes!

    I would like to win…. #16? #19? Such a hard choice! #16.

  • I was drooling on #16 since I’ve heard about it from Tama’s reviews! This is such an exciting scent.

    I knew that Dannielle was a wonderfully creative perfumer from what I’ve heard before, but I did not know a lot of personal stuff. A Berkeley native, super witty and such an artist — what’s there not to like?!

  • Thanks for the draw! I would love to win Scent no.16. I like the fact that Danielle always had creative pursuits like painting, design, architecture. I like her paintings with their mix of mathematical precision and wild nature in bloom.

  • It’s interesting that Danielle was inspired by a visit to the Judd Foundation- someplace I have always wanted to go. I would like to win No. 16. Thanks!

  • I find it amazing how she has always been able to guess the weather outside without even looking out of the window, just by smelling.
    I would like to win Scent No. 1.

  • i met dannielle at the recent perfumers salon in san francisco recently. she was very warm and approachable. it was interesting to learn more about her. she really is motivated—starting in 2010 and having her line in production already. i like her perfumes in spite of the fact that they are partially natural. i liked her perfume #1.

  • No. 1 and No. 19 sound sublime. If I must choose one, I’ll go with No. 19 – Warm Carrot. I was touched by the Chanel No. 5/cigarette/leather/doublemint scent memory and I love that Dannielle is a fellow San Franciscan. And we share a mutual friend Quinn M! That’s how I first heard about the line – Quinn sang Dannielle’s praises on Facebook.

  • I would like to win number 1. Well, I don’t know a lot about Dannielle, so all in this article was new for me.

  • So many people I admire seem to have backgrounds in architecture, just like Dannielle. It’s getting weirdly beyond coincidence at this point.

    No. 1 starts with bergamot and fig, and that’s one heck of a way to start so that’s the one I most want. Thanks for the generous draw of an exciting new perfumer’s wares.

  • I think she sounds like someone with initiative who is open to serendipity–this quote says it all: “I woke up one morning in 2010 and decided that was the day I was going to become a perfumer. I researched classes online and found one the next day with Yosh.”
    I mean, wow.

    I would like to win 19 the most–earthy warmth.

  • Dannielle seems to be inspired as much by art as by nature, and has a confident yet open approach to sharing her experience creatively, through scent. She seems like she´d be a great person to have a conversation with! I´d love to try her 19. Thanks again for a fun draw!

  • Dannielle’s approach to art is very versatile and I love the way it lead her to perfumes. Also like that she uses mostly naturals with a few added synthetics.

    I would love to try no. 16.

  • I love her studies and art related background as well as her ability to smell the weather before opening her eyes! Congrats on winning also those prizes!!! no 16 is the one I like the most!!!

  • What an accomplished woman! I can relate to her comment about a mother who smoked and what her purse smelled like. Even though I have never smoked and don’t like smelling other people smoking, I am attracted to tobacco and leather scents. Love men’s scents, too. I would love to win Scent #16!

  • I know that Dannielle Sergent. won 5 gold medals in the Artisan Fragance Salon because I readed that at Cafleurebon, and this makes me very curious about her brand.
    I would liek to win #16, sounds amazing.
    Thanks for the draw!

  • #16 just sounds so intresting and has had me curious since her perfumes started being mentioned on Cafluerebon.

    I learned that she took lessons from Yosh ^^ as well as that she has an uncanny ability to smell the weather.

  • Dannielle’s love of non-traditional women’s fragrances was shaped partly by the scent of her’s mother’s leather purse mingled with tobacco- that sounds like the making of an amazing perfume! I share similar scent preferences, and #16 is the one for me. Thanks to all for this draw.

  • Well the fact that Yosh was her teacher is really cool, and her being a fan of Cristalle is a cool fact as well. American perfumery is alive with all these great talents.
    I would love to win # 16. Thanks.

  • I learned that Danielle has an unbelievably sensitive nose, to be able to smell the weather outside the window. That’s really amazing, I wish I could have that ability! I would like to win No. 19. Thanks!

  • a painter, illustrator, architect, designer and perfumer! How can you not admire those achievements !?!

    I suspect I would love all three perfumes but I will choose # 16. Tomato leaf and linden… mmmmm

  • “I woke up one morning in 2010 and decided that was the day I was going to become a perfumer.”

    Good on you Dannielle for following through.

    I would like to win Scent No. 16. Thanks!

  • Thanks to everyone for your interest in COGNOSCENTI .
    I love reading your comments; its fun to know you too! It appears that No.16 is edging out others slightly. I wear it often! Will be interesting to see which one wins in the draw.
    Thanks to Michelyn for the Profile; its a great honor to be included. Good luck to everyone in the draw!
    Appreciate the interest and support!!
    Dannielle

  • Very interesting article on Danielle. I like her quote about not have been given all the colors she needed to paint with.

    Oh gosh, which to choose? both #16 and #19 sound intriguing and yummy … flipping a coin and picking #16!

  • I enjoyed the article very much! I didn’t know anything about Cognoscenti or Danielle until now.
    It’s interesting to know that she has a mother of Italian and Hungarian descent, because I’m Hungarian too! And other thing that we have in common, I started wearing perfume at the age of 12 too! (It was Lancome’s Magie Noire. Not a girl-scent, but I loved it, only a little drop behind my ear.) I think Danielle is a very talented woman, so multi-faceted, I really adore her!
    I would like to win scent #1. Bergamot, Fig, Light Musk, Suede….must be wonderful!

  • I like that she wore men’s fragrances in addition to Cristalle when growing up!

    My pick is for #16.

  • Her nose is very good and she has really lived with fragrances with her nose. Oh, the all sounds nice, specially no 16 and 19, but I will choose no 19 at this time…

  • The carrot in No. 19 sounds divine! I’d love to get that if I win. I think it’s wonderful that she took a class from Yosh and is now launching her own perfume line. Very inspirational.

  • Wow, what a career path! I love how she’s done so many different artistic things in her life!

    I’m torn between #16 and #1, but I don’t have any good tomato leaf scents yet, so let’s roll the dice – go #16!

  • She is an artist for sure! Painter, illustrator, architect, designer and perfumer, that is very impressive! 🙂

    I would like No. 1!

    Thank you! 😀