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It's not every day that professional athletes find their way in the cosmetics industry, but this is exactly what has happened to Ben Gorham, the creator of Byredo.
Born in Stockholm, where his Canadian father was working on his doctorate, Gorham as a child he loved basketball, but never thought would be a natural inclination.
"My parents were low. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but when I was 16, I really grew up fast, and suddenly my parents came only in the armpits,''he says, laughing. As a young adult, began playing basketball in a competitive, first in the United States, where he attended college and then professionally in Europe. But despite being a native of Sweden, Gorham was never able to get a European passport and, after a legal battle that lasted several years, left sport. "I thought: How long can I do this? Now about money and not sport. "
Looking for alternative markets, he enrolled in art school. "I was determined to explore my creative side," he says. It was during a dinner at the time, when he was 27 years old, he met the famous Swedish perfumer Pierre Wulff, was fascinated by his work. "I thought for a while 'time after our meeting, then I contacted him and we talked about the creative process. "
Gorham was particularly fascinated by the connection between scent and memory. "I remembered the smell that my father wore when I was a kid,"he says. "I told Pierre that smelled like the essence of green beans, and he was able to tell me what perfume it was. It 's a bittersweet memory for me, because my father left me when I was six or seven years, but I wanted to recreate the scent in a modern way. "
Shortly after that conversation, Gorham went to Chembur, the birthplace of his mother out of Mumbai, India, which he found filled with aromas of spices and incense. "The journey has brought every kind of memory, largely through smell, " he recalls. "This was the spark for me. I wanted to create a fragrance that would evoke those feelings. The beginning of the project was very self-indulgent. I did not think so commercial, but I enjoyed it so much I felt the need to create a corporate structure so I could continue to do so. "
Gorham discussed his ideas with some small companies, which in turn blended perfumes. Then he led them to Wulff, who told him that something had not worked at all and so I hooked up with two top perfumers, Jerome Epinette, New York, and Olivia Jiacobetti in Paris. Gorham helped develop his first fragrance for Byredo, an overdose of green notes based on those memories of her father. "I knew nothing, " she admits. "And I was surprised at how the process has been rapid. It took seven months and has really satisfied my emotional criteria.''
In the next two and a half years, Gorham has created four other flavors, and in 2006 launched the collection in Paris Byredo: Green, Chembur, Pulp, Noir and Gypsy Rose Water.
In 2008, took it to Barneys New York and became the second best-selling collection of the shop. Shortly after Blanche has created for his girlfriend, Natasha, after the birth of their child. He recently collaborated with Acne Jeans on a candle called Lilla Nygatan No.23, and is currently working to create a fragrance with the company of art and design M / M Paris.
"A lot of people say that the tulips have a fragrance, so this is a fantasy based on the idea of a tulip,''he says of her perfume Tulipe.
Translate his emotions into fragrances is something like Gorham, and although between inspiration from childhood memories and other personal inspirations, some things are off-limits for its commercial enterprise. "I've changed my mind after my daughter was born, " said Ines, a year. "I'm much calmer, not so restless, and I find a lot of joy in seeing our creative progress, but I never promised not to create a fragrance for her. The latest in chronological order, dated October-November 2010 for Byredo produmi was M / mink. A simple and unusual scent, very strong character. The Eau de Parfum is inspired by three particular images: a block of solid ink purchased in Asia, a photograph of a Japanese teacher practice their daily exercises in calligraphy and a great formula that utopian Mathias Augustyniak, one of the founders of M / M, had drawn on traditional Korean paper. "
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