“The perfume has to be your best friend”, says David Benedek, founder of BDK Parfums
He’s young. So young that it is almost hard to believe that he has already made some history in the perfume business. I talked to David Benedek, the founder of BDK Parfums house about the dream of having a perfume library, the new fragrances launched in Romania (where he has some roots) and… about how the perfume of the future is going to look like.
BDK Parfums are available on www.beautik.ro.
More about the perfumes and the history of the house, on https://bdkparfums.com/en.
Let’s talk about these fragrances presented here, tonight…
Well, I will tell you first why did I came to perfumes. My grandmother and my grandfather couldn’t have the job they were specialised in (my grandfather was a lawyer) when they left Romania and arrived in Paris. So, my grandmother took aesthetic lessons and she was interested in this field. In one day, she asked my grandfather to buy her a perfume and then he had this idea to have a perfume boutique in Paris – at that time, there were not so many perfume shops in Paris. The shop still exists today and I have always been surrounded by perfumes. Therefore, after my Economic studies, I studied at French Institute of Fashion and I took some perfumery classes. And here we are – BDK Parfums includes two lines: Parisian and Oriental. The Parisian collection is an inspiration from the women I met on the streets of Paris and the Oriental collection is inspired by raw materials around which I have created the entire formula.
What is the special material you put in these perfumes?
Oud, tuberose, jasmine. BDK Parfums intends to create a French encyclopaedia of perfumery. 🙂 The first perfume is called Bouquet de Hongrie and is a tribute for my mother; it is a aquatic floral perfume.
What is your first memory related to a perfume?
When I was a child, I used to go every summer to Corsica. The mixture between the woody smell of trees and the floral scent of all the beautiful flowers there… I think this is the most strong olfactive memory for me. For example, in Pas ce Soir (probably the bestseller of the BDK Parfums) I mixed sandalwood with jasmine. For Tuberose Imperiale I mixed tuberose and jasmine, between back notes we could find cashmeran, vanilla, patchouli and on top pink pepper and Egyptian geranium.
And what was the most unusual note that you used in your creations?
Saffron. In Oud Abramad. This is not an easy perfume: it is very spicy, smoky, but at the same time is very dry and very chic. Another unusual material is davana, a little Amazonian tree, used in Wood Jasmine (in this one I also used different types of jasmine). I am in the lab at the creation of every perfume. I am not a “nose”, but I will work in the lab with “the nose” to create the formula.
What is the most difficult part when you have your own perfume house? To create the product, to promote it or…?
Selling it. You have to find the public to understand your creations. BDK has been launched two years ago in Paris and I am happy that I have found my public. Many of them are women (80%), from 15 to 80 years old. But I would never say that a perfume is for men of women. You have to be free and to choose something that speak for yourself.
3 things that can you ruin a perfume would be…
The quality of the raw materials must be good. Than, it depends on the PH of your skin; you have to find the perfect scent that will fit your skin. And you have to be confident wearing this perfume, you have to be confident in you and you have not to be afraid of wearing something, you have to be master of your life and the perfume has to be your best friend, to be part of your personality.
What do you think that the perfume of the future will be like?
Now, in perfumery you have raw materials and synthetic materials. And I think that the synthetic molecules make the raw materials to bloom, make them more intense. I don’t think that in the future will be about only chemicals. For me, the perfect perfume will be a combination of raw and synthetic.
What is next for BDK Parfums?
We are launching two new perfumes in September. One from Parisian line – it will be called Rouge Smoking, a tribute for Saint Laurent, based around cherry notes. And one from Oriental line, Crème du Cuir – with pineapple, vanilla notes and some white leather…
David Benedek & Alina Aliman
Photography: Nini Radulescu
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