Perfumer

At the most rudimentary level, a perfumer must have a keen knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and their smells, and be able to distinguish each one alone or in combination with others.

The job of the perfumer is very similar to that of flavourists, who compose smells and flavourants for commercial food products.

[4] Givaudan, International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) and Symrise operate their own perfumery schools, but students must be employees and recommended by their managers.

Most perfumers are employed by large fragrance corporations including Mane, Robertet, Firmenich, IFF, Givaudan, Takasago, and Symrise.

They proceed to work with the customer, often with the direction provided by a panel or artistic director, which guides and edits the modifications on the composition of the perfume.

This process typically spans several months to several years, going through many iterations, and may involve cultural and public surveys to tailor a perfume to a particular market.

A mockup of a 'perfume organ' (lacks a weighing scale). The organ is traditionally where a perfumer works on the composition of various perfumes. However, samples are now weighed and blended by technicians in larger flavour and fragrance companies.