The Diary of a Nose by Jean-Claude Ellena

Author:Jean-Claude Ellena
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780847840434
Publisher: Rizzoli
Published: 2013-01-21T22:00:00+00:00

Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Thursday 22 April 2010

Craft

In the space of five years every single person involved in developing the perfume collections has been replaced. These people, with whom I shared a vision, and who were in charge of our work strategy, have all left their jobs. I find this disconcerting. Within a company employees don’t stay long in a particular job. It is true that a position can, by its nature, foster a need for change because, after a while and despite the variety of the work, tasks become repetitive, producing a feeling of boredom and a loss of interest.

Apart from the economic problems relating to salaries, changes produced by the constant remixing of personalities are probably a simple way of taking a fresh look at things. Without wishing to negate this, I do think that such a quasi-quantitative vision should be replaced by a more qualitative approach based on improving the value of the job; based, in other words, on apprenticeship and skill development.

As a perfumer, I do not have an actual job, but I practice a craft, one that involves knowledge, know-how and skill. And yet that in itself is not enough: in order to continue to exist and to practice my craft, I have to keep re-inventing it and not just repeat any old recipes.

Unlike a ‘proper’ job, which is quantifiable, a craft is always extending its field of operations, pushing the boundaries of the craftsman’s abilities ever further. Inventing means renewing, growing.

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