Givaudan Evaluator Interview – “A Very Sacred Bond” Paula Cantuaria

In the first part of this article (which you ought to read before this one; please click here), the focus was on a Givaudan evaluator with several years’ worth of experience on her CV. This instalment features someone who certainly isn’t new to the profession, but isn’t quite a veteran either. Paula Cantuaria – half-American, half-Brazilian, with a childhood that saw her split her time between Washington DC and Rio – has been based at the multi-national firm’s New York office for just over a year, but that’s not where her relationship with Givaudan began…

Paula Cantuaria: I was based in Givaudan Singapore for five years. It’s such a dynamic market and region, and it’s very unique. When you’re developing out of Singapore, you’re not developing for Singapore, but rather for the surrounding countries. So that was always a very interesting approach to development.

Persolaise: How did you get into the perfume industry?

PC: I graduated from university with a degree in chemistry and a minor in philosophy, oddly enough. I ended up going into the pharmaceutical industry in the USA as an analytical chemist. But I realised that in my down-time, I was researching a lot about how you make shampoo, and how you create the fragrance for shampoo. How did the chemistry between the base and the fragrance work? So I realised that I had to turn this into my career. I started poking my head around and I stumbled upon the Chemists Corner, a website by Perry Romanowski about being a cosmetic chemist. At first, that’s what I thought I wanted to be. He told me of a small school called ISIPCA, in France. So I said, “Fantastic. I’m going.” And that’s what I ended up doing. In the last eight years, I’ve been travelling for either grad school or for work. So now I can relate to many different cultures. I spent two and a half years in Europe and about five and a half years in Asia. 

P: Were you always clear in your head that you wanted to become an evaluator?

PC: When I started at ISIPCA, I really thought I wanted to do cosmetic chemistry, and create skin care. I quickly realised that, while it’s incredibly interesting and very scientific and chemistry-oriented, there wasn’t much romance to it. There wasn’t the art. It was very heavily dependent on the left side of the brain, and much less so on the right side. And I just didn’t feel as if I fit entirely there. That’s when I discovered fragrances, where there was this really special bond between science and art. The bond between chemistry and dreams. It enchanted me. 

P: Do you share any of the stories you so often hear from people in this industry about being obsessed with smells and perfumes from a young age?

PC: No, absolutely not. To be honest, I even joke with my mother about it, because I always find these stories so beautiful and romantic and charming. And I turn to my mom, and I say, “I think the reason I’m in the perfume industry is because every time we would visit a city, you’d say, ‘What’s that smell? It’s so bad!’” We were always talking about bad smells, thinking about trying to find a fragrance solution for these bad smells around us. 

P: But you said that much of your childhood was spent in Rio, Brazil. Perfume is an important part of Brazilian culture, right?

PC: Absolutely. But it was so common, that it was just part of life. It was something that you did when you woke up and put on after you took a shower. And then after your second shower of the day, you put it on again. You put it in your bed. You put it in your hair. You wore it to sleep. It was just a way of life. So I never saw it in a special light. It was really only when I understood this marriage between science and art that I fully understood what this magical world is all about. 

P: How did you end up becoming an evaluator?

PC: That was coincidence and luck. I was offered an opportunity in Singapore for the position. I’m very passionate about this industry, full stop. At first, I didn’t really understand the role, but now I eat, sleep and breathe it. I adore being an evaluator. The constant interaction with the perfumer — that sacred bond. And the interaction with sales and marketing and regulatory and application and the lab — all of that. You have to be able to read and communicate with all sorts of different people, to translate consumer language to perfumer language. It’s about being able to read other peoples’ energies. 

P: When you first started, you must have been in the position of needing to instruct people with much more experience and knowledge than you. How did you navigate that particular territory?

PC: That’s where intuition plays a part. It’s about walking in and being able to read the room. Being able to read the person through the energy they’re giving. Yes, it’s challenging. And I would say that in the early days, it was even a bit intimidating. It’s an old industry, and in a lot of ways, it is still very traditional. To be able to navigate those waters when it’s one of your first few days can be quite intimidating. 

P: How do you move from a position of liking perfume, in a personal sense, to evaluating it objectively, in relation to a brief?

PC: I think that’s a process that you live with and learn every day. Today I’m better than yesterday, and tomorrow I’ll be better than today. It’s hard to remove your personal preference, and hone in to what the market likes, and what the client likes. And that’s where you really, really need to know the market, to know your consumer. Not what they’re saying they want, but really digging deeper and knowing what they need. 

P: Where there any smells you didn’t like at the start of your career?

PC: Oakmoss. The first time I smelt it, it was a bit like dirty socks to me. But today, I find that a touch of moss transforms a fragrance. It makes something that was two-dimensional, three-dimensional. I also found ambers and musks challenging, because it was hard for me to smell them, to be very honest. Today, they’re my absolute favourite raw materials. 

P: You’ve lived and worked in many different parts of the world. Have you encountered any culturally-based differences between the way people perceive different scents?

PC: Yes, definitely. That was most apparent when I was at ISIPCA. There were twenty students on my programme, from all the different continents. They loved sweet fragrances. But I loved crisp, green florals, aldehydic fragrances, chypres, things that were very fresh, very clean. And this was because I grew up in Brazil, which is very hot and humid, so we take lots of showers, and pride ourselves on feeling fresh and clean all day long. That drove my preferences.

P: It’s been said that the evaluator is the midwife of perfumery. Would you agree?

PC: I do agree. It’s a very sacred bond. It’s very unique. I once heard an interesting analogy, which I think is humorous. If this was a movie set, the sales person would be the producer, the perfumers would be the actors – the true artists – and the evaluators would be the directors. It’s a very collaborative process. It’s a give and take relationship. We almost share a brain at times. I had a perfumer tell me that I’m part lion tamer and part psychologist. 

P: How do you define a good perfume?

PC: Gosh! It’s a fragrance that has a memorable and unique signature. Something that can connect people together. Or it can be something that re-connects you to someone at a distance. From a structural perspective, I think that the sky’s the limit. There’s no perfect structure. It’s really about the needs of each specific brief. 

P: Are there are any projects you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

PC: A lot of players are looking at new formats. I’ve had some interesting briefs where you have to have two separate fragrances which, when they come together, create a whole new fragrance. I think that’s a very modern concept. It brings in a lot of aspects of gender fluidity. 

P: Have you ever been tempted to become a perfumer yourself?

PC: At this point in time, I’m really thoroughly enjoying being an evaluator. The team here is phenomenal. The perfumers are fantastic. You really are their true partner. There’s a true collaboration. To have the honour of knowing the artist’s palette, to see it — it’s as if you’re with Picasso. That’s a unique thing that only an evaluator has access to. 

P: What trends do you see coming in perfumery?

PC: We have been seeing more requests for gender fluid, or gender-less, fragrances. I’m very proud that it’s moving in this direction, because it was one of the very first things that I was taught when I was introduced to this industry. A fragrance doesn’t have a sex. It’s not masculine. It’s not feminine. You wear the fragrance — you decide what the fragrance will be. It’s about your skin. 

P: What trend would you most like to see, personally speaking?

PC: I would love aldehydic chypres with green floralcy to return. Thinking about the original Miss Dior — that was my absolute favourite fragrance of all time. 

P: Do you ever try to stick those sorts of notes into your perfume projects?

PC: Absolutely! When I get a brief, the first thing I do is brainstorm. And sometimes I approach the perfumer and I say, “What if we look at Amarige? Let’s look at Brut. L’Air Du Temps. Let’s look at the originals and bring them back and modernise them.” They were such special fragrances that had such an impact on society. 

P: What’s your view of market tests?

PC: I certainly find them very interesting. One of my favourite things is to be in the field, to be in the consumer’s home, to listen in on focus groups. I prefer home-use tests. I do believe that the consumer needs a chance to live with the fragrance. Allow the fragrance to tell you its whole story, including its last whispers. 

P: But do you breathe a sigh of relief when a client says they won’t be doing any market tests?

PC: I’m neither here nor there. In Singapore, I was often in the field, with the consumers. And I find that you need the ‘face time’ with them to truly understand their needs and wants, and to fulfil their wishes. I’m not against them. I don’t think they’re the end all and be all, and I do find it frustrating when they’re treated as such. Nothing is black and white. 

P: And finally, what sort of impact does this job have on your personal life?

PC: There’s nothing I can really take home with me. I check in on emails. It’s funny how it bleeds into my personal life. I get some strange looks from people when I first meet them and I say, “What are you wearing,” and they automatically look at their clothes. And I say, “No, what shampoo did you use? What fragrance are you wearing?” And when I say, “Can I smell your hair?” they look at me as though I’m a little bit weird. But I love it.

Persolaise

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