Perfumer from Russia, vision-impaired, composes scents with audio inspiration as guide
A SENSORY JOURNEY: Discover the Magic of Blind Perfumers at Moscow's Pure Sense
Stepping into the lab of Moscow's Pure Sense, blind perfumer Alexander Yashin, a 31-year-old philologist and ethnographer, offers a smile as he inhales a new sample. With a nose that's as tuned as a virtuoso's, Yashin crafts unique scent symphonies like none other.
Yashin and two other blind perfumers form part of a four-person team at Pure Sense, a fragrance brand based in Moscow. Founded five years ago, the company's inclusive atmosphere, fostered by its forward-thinking founder Ekaterina Zinchenko, has been instrumental in allowing these creators to truly shine.
"Inclusion is about everyone being able to do what they are good at," Zinchenko, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, explains, pointing out the lab's white-vial-lined shelves, which Yashin refers to as his "perfume organ."
For the blind perfumers, perfumery is like music, with separate elements, or notes, and combinations, or chords. Each fragrance that they compose is the final harmony, brought to life by their heightened senses, particularly their olfactory abilities.
Yashin, like the other blind perfumers, has an extraordinary ability to detect the tiniest nuances in scents, compensating for his lack of sight with his nose. It's this sensitivity that allows him to create complex and emotionally resonant compositions that evoke vivid experiences.
His unique creative process stems from a rich tapestry of memories and cultural narratives, a product of his ethnograhpy background and his time with a traveling folk music ensemble. Perfumery, for Yashin, is an art form that demands a lifetime of learning.
Zinchenko pulls no punches when it comes to celebrating the diversity of her catalogue and her employees' unique compositions. "What's important for me as an entrepreneur is that (the perfumers) all have their own character and their own fragrance style," she explains.
With her company eyeing international expansion, Zinchenko is taking their distinctive methodologies to the global stage, championing sensory diversity as the hallmark of artistic innovation in fragrance development. After all, who better to teach us about the beauty of the world than those who experience it through their heightened senses?
- Alexander Yashin, a 31-year-old blind perfumer with a tuned nose, creates unique scent symphonies at Moscow's Pure Sense, a lab where he refers to his materials as his "perfume organ."
- The team at Pure Sense, including Yashin and two other blind perfumers, have an extraordinary ability to detect the tiniest nuances in scents due to their heightened senses, particularly their olfactory abilities.
- Founder Ekaterina Zinchenko, a 29-year-old entrepreneur, celebrates the diversity of her perfumers and their unique compositions, highlighting their character and fragrance style in Pure Sense's inclusive atmosphere.
- As Yashin's creative process is rooted in a rich tapestry of memories and cultural narratives, he views perfumery as an art form that demands a lifetime of learning, stemming from his ethnography background and time with a folk music ensemble.
- With international expansion planned, Pure Sense is taking their distinctive methodologies and championing sensory diversity as the hallmark of artistic innovation in fragrance development on the global stage, showcasing the beauty of the world through their perfumers' heightened senses.
