Bottling the Memory

Perfumers are molecular chemists and sensual creatives who seek to trigger pleasurable memories and associations through our most primitive sense. This programme follows three different types of perfumer - or nose - to find out how they do it and what it takes to become one. Jean Claude Ellena is in-house nose at French brand Hermes. He spends time in his studio in the woods musing, sniffing and then creating a fragrance inspired by a secret garden. American Christopher Brosius is the Proust of perfume, a punk star with a mission to create scents that that can speak to us of times past - whether through the smell of tomato leaves or musty books. Jean Guichard is the principal of the Parisian school for noses. As there are more astronauts than there are perfumers, how does he spot the right stuff in students who may not be aware they have it?, Behind the scenes of the perfume industry. A look at how three of the world's top perfumers go about their business to find out how they do it and what it takes to become one.