Attention all perfumers – you could be in the running to win $10,000 for your ‘nose’.
In partnership with the American Society of Perfumers, Quintis Sandalwood, has launched a global competition for perfumers of all experience levels to reimagine the ancient botanical of Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) within a fragrance.
Two prizes will be awarded – the Global Winner will receive $10,000 and the Emerging Talent award for a perfumery student or junior perfumer will receive $2,000.
The new fragrance competition is part of Q-Lab, Quintis’s centre of education and creativity for sandalwood, and is open to fragrance masters and junior perfumers.
The Sandalwood Reimagined competition aims to elevate the role of the perfumer, celebrating the creative perfumery process.
Participants will use Indian sandalwood oil (Santalum album), an endangered fragrance material in the wild that is now readily available through sustainable cultivation in Australia, which has helped to see its resurgence in perfume formulations in recent years.
Sherri Sebastian, Vice President at American Society of Perfumers, said: “We value technique, craftsmanship, and the ability to transform artistic ideas into masterful fragrances, so for this competition our independent judges will be looking for submissions that demonstrate these skills along with a unique expression of sandalwood.”
Danae Christensen, Market Innovation Manager at Quintis Sandalwood, said “perfumers have the chance to be recognised as a world leader in fragrance creation”.
“We encourage entrants to have a spirit of curiosity, unbound by constraints, to reimagine the future of this precious botanical. When creating this competition, we removed the normal parameters of a commercial fragrance brief, like consumer profile and budget, and instead are encouraging participants to use Indian sandalwood as their muse.”
Perfumers will need to create an Eau de Toilette supplied as a base, featuring a minimum of one per cent Quintis plantation-grown Indian Sandalwood oil. Along with the perfume creation, all entries need to be accompanied with a Statement of Creative Intent, providing an outline of the nature and ingredients of the base formulated.
An independent panel of fragrance masters chosen by the American Society of Perfumers, who have collectively worked with major fragrance companies like Givaudan, Firmenich, IFF, and Mane, and have created fragrances for iconic brands like Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren, Coty, DKNY and Maesa, will decide the top 10 finalists by evaluating blind, judging creations on blotters and skin.
The winners will be announced at the World Perfumery Congress in Miami in 2022.
Entries must be received by the March 31, 2022.
To register, visit www.quintis.com.au/q-lab.