Roja Dove

Last updated

Roja Dove
Roja Dove at The 20th Anniversary Party for 'How to Spend It' at Corinthia Hotel, London, UK - 25 November 2014.jpg
Dove at The Corinthia Hotel London, UK - 25 November 2014
Born
Roger Bird

(1956-09-25) September 25, 1956 (age 67)
Sussex, England
Occupation Perfumer
Years active1981–present

Roja Dove (born Roger Bird, 25 September 1956) [1] [2] is a British perfumer [3] [4] [5] whose fragrances are sold at department stores worldwide. [6] [7] Born and raised in Sussex, South East England, his career in perfumery began in 1981 when he joined the French perfume house Guerlain, working there for 20 years before leaving to set up his own companies RDPR and then Roja Parfums. [8] [6]

Contents

Early life

Dove's interest in fragrance was sparked at an early age when his mother kissed him goodnight; as she lowered her head to kiss him, he was aware that her fragrance lingered in his room long after she had gone, keeping the image of her cocktail dress and the kiss alive. [9] [10] This interest developed whilst Dove grew up, as a teenager he spent his money purchasing small bottles of scent and was impressed that the tiny containers could contain such an overwhelming effect. [10]

Following his school days, Dove went up to University of Cambridge to study medicine.[ citation needed ] Whilst studying there he celebrated his 21st birthday with a visit to the Guerlain Boutique on the Champs-Elysées. It was then that he started working at Joshua Taylor's, a Cambridge department store. He worked in the male fashion boutique of Taylor's known as the Peacock.[ citation needed ] Following this, Dove dropped out of university to pursue a career in perfumery and with Guerlain. [11]

Time at Guerlain

In Dove's enthusiasm for learning more following his trip to the Guerlain boutique, he frequently wrote to classic French perfumers requesting information and experience. Eventually, pestered but impressed by Dove's interest, Robert Guerlain offered him a position. In 1981 Dove was recruited into the Training and Public Relations Department where he began to consolidate a professional understanding for the industry. Dove remained with Guerlain for nearly 20 years; after a number of years he was given the position of Global Ambassador, the first non-Guerlain family member to be given the role. [11] He was dubbed "Professeur de Parfum". [12]

RDPR Limited

After two decades with Guerlain, Dove left the house to set up his own public relations firm RDPR Limited, with a head office based in his hometown of Brighton.[ citation needed ]

The Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie

In 2004 the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie opened on the sixth floor of Harrods in conjunction with Urban Retreat. "Physically, it is going to be a sensual haven… Silks and satins, lots of glass, mirror and crystal, as well as the black lacquer, give the salon the air of an exotic boudoir". [9]

Since it opened in 2004 the Haute Parfumerie has stocked scents from many famous and unfamiliar brands including Tom Ford, Caron, Lalique, Xerjoff, Dior, Atelier Flou, Clive Christian, and Grossmith.[ citation needed ]

Dove received requests from customers to smell ‘Roja Dove’ creations. Previously, in 2002, Dove joined names like Manolo Blahnik in donating prizes for the annual Terrence Higgins Trust fundraiser, the perfumer created a bespoke scent for the highest bidder contained within a Baccarat crystal presentation bottle. In 2005, Dove drew inspiration from this event and created a range of semi-bespoke fragrances for customers of the Haute Parfumerie to purchase; however these scents come without bottles, names, and with only enough liquid to make 50 of each. [13]

Other work

Within the perfume industry itself, Dove has been actively involved with The Fragrance Foundation, The Jasmine Awards and The Cosmetics Perfumer Retailers Association.[ citation needed ]

Dove has written for a range of titles including Vogue , The Times , Vanity Fair , and Wallpaper on subjects such as perfume, celebrity fragrances, classic favorites, or even the ‘Smells of London’. [14]

Dove has also given lectures and spoken at charity events for The Barbican, [15] The Science Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2010 Dove worked closely with the Victoria and Albert Museum for their exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, which ran from 25 September 2010 to 9 January 2011, where he created an accompanying fragrance named ‘Diaghilev’ and gave an evening lecture upon 1920s Parisian society and perfume. [16]

With regards to new initiatives, in 2007 Dove teamed up with BA Highlife Shop, the British Airways onboard retail publication for duty-free products, as their regular fragrance expert. Then in 2009 Dove began to work with World Duty Free to create an online resource to help the user discover their ideal scent; www.discoverfragrance.com (currently out of business). Shortly after Dove collaborated with The Macallan Scottish whiskey house where the perfumer created a new way of experiencing whiskey; using an odour profiling technique referred to now as The Macallan Aroma Box. [17]

List of collaborations

Roja Parfums

Following on from his bespoke fragrance experience Dove decided to present his own fragrance range. Initially referred to as ‘The Trilogy’, Dove created a scent for each female fragrance family; Oriental, Chypre, and Floral, entitled ‘Enslaved, Unspoken, and Scandal’ accordingly.[ citation needed ]

In 2011, the existing Roja Dove line became Roja Parfums.[ citation needed ] Simultaneously, following two years of research, the first Roja Parfums candle 'Neroli' was released.[ citation needed ] The same year Roja Parfums was introduced to the Black Hall Perfumery in Harrods, alongside fragrance houses such as Chanel.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grasse</span> Subrefecture of Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, France

Grasse is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the commune had a population of 50,396.

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Perfumes can be defined as substances that emit and diffuse a pleasant and fragrant odor. They consist of manmade mixtures of aromatic chemicals and essential oils. The 1939 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Leopold Ružička stated in 1945 that "right from the earliest days of scientific chemistry up to the present time, perfumes have substantially contributed to the development of organic chemistry as regards methods, systematic classification, and theory."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Patou</span> French fashion designer (1887–1936)

Jean Patou was a French fashion designer, and founder of the Jean Patou brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guerlain</span> French perfume house

Guerlain is a French perfume, cosmetics, and skincare house which is among the oldest in the world. Many traditional Guerlain fragrances are characterized by a common olfactory accord known as the "Guerlinade".

Parfums Lubin is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. Its early history is linked to the high society of the Napoleonic era, and its products became the imprimatur of haute couture, and indicators of fashion and social hierarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Giacobetti</span> French perfumer

Olivia Giacobetti is a French perfumer. She has an independent line called Iunx and has also created fragrances for Diptyque, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Guerlain, and Hermès, among other lines. She is particularly known for a refined style as well as innovation such as her novel use of fig in perfumery, popularizing the note beginning in the mid-1990s. She is among the perfumers who became prominent in a late-20th and early-21st-century turn toward the "nose" behind the scent and independent lines that foreground these creators, a shift away from perfumes sold by fashion labels or celebrities in other fields.

Bertrand Duchaufour is a French perfumer. He has had a prolific career, beginning in Grasse at Lautier Florasynth and continuing for a number of fragragrance firms as well as working independently and as the house perfumer for L'Artisan Parfumeur. He has drawn praise for niche perfume creations as well as mainstream hits.

Jean-Claude Ellena is a French perfumer and writer. He served as the in-house perfumer at Hermes from 2004 and 2019, prior to the appointment of incumbent Christine Nagel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy (perfume)</span>

Joy is a perfume created for Parisian couturier Jean Patou by perfumer Henri Alméras in 1929. It is considered to be one of the greatest fragrances created and is a landmark example of the floral genre in perfumery. It is no longer produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Parquet</span> French perfumer (1856-1916)

Paul Parquet (1856–1916) was a French perfumer and joint owner of Houbigant. Called the "greatest perfumer of his time" by Ernest Beaux, he is widely regarded as the founder of modern perfumery for having pioneered the use of synthetics in works such as Fougère Royale. His bestselling perfume, Le Parfum Idéal, was described by Robert Bienaimé as a “masterpiece of fragrant equilibrium, harmonious and of good taste as shall never be surpassed”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shalimar (perfume)</span> Guerlain perfume

Shalimar is a perfume originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1921 for French perfume and cosmetics house Guerlain. In production continuously since 1925, Shalimar is currently a flagship product for Guerlain.

Daniel Vaudd is a perfumer residing in London. Daniel Vaudd changed his name from Kenlee Daniel. A certified Cosmetic Scientist, Daniel trained under evaluative perfumer John Ayres, the Director of the UK Fragrance Foundation, who taught him clarity and structure of perfume and how to refine his abilities. Soon, he was asked to become the Global Colour Cosmetic Researcher for a major multinational, developing new and individual colours, as well as fragrances, for their cosmetic ranges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osmothèque</span>

The Osmothèque is the world's largest scent archive, a leading international research institution tracing the history of perfumery, based in Versailles with conference centers in New York City and Paris. Founded in 1990 by Jean Kerléo and other senior perfumers including Jean-Claude Ellena and Guy Robert, the Osmothèque is internationally responsible for the authentication, registration, preservation, documentation and reproduction of thousands of perfumes gathered from the past two millennia, archived at the Osmothèque repository and consultable by the public.

Patricia de Nicolaï is a French perfumer who works as the head of her own perfume company Parfums de Nicolai. She is also a member of the technical committee of the French Society of Perfumers and the president of the Osmothèque scent archive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Guerlain</span> French perfumer (1874–1963)

Jacques Edouard Guerlain was a French perfumer, the third and most famous of the Guerlain family. One of the most prolific and influential perfumers of the 20th century, over eighty of Guerlain's perfumes remain known, though certain estimates suggest he composed some four hundred. Among his greatest fragrances are L’Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsouko (1919) and Shalimar (1925). Though his work earned him universal renown, a considerable fortune and honours such as that of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Guerlain avoided public attention, never once granting an interview. As a result, relatively little is known of his creative process or personal life.

Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud is a French perfumer formerly with the Swiss fragrance and flavor company Firmenich, who currently works for Louis Vuitton of the LVMH Luxury Group.

Mathilde Laurent is a French perfumer. After studying perfumery at ISIPCA in Versailles, Laurent began her career as an apprentice to Jean-Paul Guerlain. She went on to work at Guerlain for 11 years. Since 2006, she has been the in-house perfumer for Cartier, creating perfumes like Baiser Volé.

Ernest Daltroff, was a French perfumer and the founder of Parfums Caron in 1904.

The Grand Musée du Parfum was a Paris perfumery museum that operated from December 22nd, 2016, to July 6th, 2018.

Alberto Morillas is a Spanish perfumer. He is a master perfumer at Swiss fragrance and flavor firm dsm-firmenich, where his notable creations have included Calvin Klein CK One, Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò and Marc Jacobs Daisy. He has an independent line called Mizensir.

References

  1. ↑ Fernández, Sandra; Vilches, Isabel; Gisbert, Laura (21 July 2017). "Roja Parfums y La Cure Orchidée Impériale Black de Guerlain, así se hace la cosmética de lujo". Expansión (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "The Macallan partners Roja Dove, arguably the world's finest nose, for Edition No.3". Luxury Insider. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  3. ↑ Binns, Katie (8 July 2018). "Fame & Fortune, perfumer Roja Dove: I never get sniffy about working long hours". The Sunday Times. ISSN   0956-1382 . Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  4. ↑ Carvell, Nick (24 August 2017). "Roja Dove, the man who made a career out of smelling superb". British GQ. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "What does your perfume say about you?". BBC News. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  6. 1 2 Davis, Maggie (13 February 2008). "Smells of London". Time Out London. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Retail locations". Roja Parfums. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Greenwood, Helen (7 December 2010). "Roja Dove is making sense of scents". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  9. 1 2 Van Der Post, Lucia (September 2004). "Genius With A Bottle". Financial Times, How To Spend It.
  10. 1 2 Van Praagh, Anna (27 April 2015). "Perfume expert Roja Dove: I can't travel on the tube". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  11. 1 2 Paton, Elizabeth (2 October 2016). "Roja Dove, a Master Tailor (of Scent)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Bywater, Michael (31 August 2010). "Scents and sensibility: the history of perfume". The Independent. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  13. ↑ Schofield, Diane (24 June 2009). "Roja Dove Interview". Sniffapalooza Magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  14. ↑ Davis, Maggie (13 February 2008). "Smells of London".
  15. ↑ "The Seduction of Smell". The Barbican Website.
  16. ↑ Pearce, Antonia. "Roja Dove". The Luxury Channel. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  17. ↑ "The Macallan with Roja Dove". www.notcot.com. 10 April 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.