“We can get it right immediately or spend years. Another (perfume soon) launching has taken 5.”
-- Frederick Bouchardy, Joya

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The thought has definitely crossed my mind. Especially when I linger (sometimes a bit too long) near a barista’s coffee grinder. Or stroll ever so slowly by a freshly mowed lawn. Or as I raise my hands, cupping fresh spring soil, to my nose over and over again, I wonder -- just how does one capture scent, so transformative yet elusive, and THEN get it into a bottle?

As Frederick Bouchardy, founder of Brooklyn-based fragrance and design studio Joya, notes, the process of making perfume can be almost instantaneous, or require an instinctual back-and-forth that takes literal years to complete. And a lot of it depends on with whom -- and what -- you’re working.

Together with Free People’s product developer, Christine, Frederick crafted our newest fragrance, LOU, through a seemingly immediate foundation of LOU’s essence, which is woody/citrus-y/floral, to boot. Though the specific details of its creation can’t be fully disclosed, this dream team was kind enough to share a few insights into the birth of their newest collaboration.

HOW DID LOU COME TO BE?

“Free People and Joya have worked together closely for 4 years now, so we have gotten well past the point of understanding each other's styles by now,” says Frederick. “We have even established a kind of common language, which is difficult to do when it comes to fragrance. We collectively decided that it should be all natural and, for clarity and ease of communication, made from materials of the earth only, not ones that are ‘naturally synthesized.’ So, our palette was limited, but constraints often cause creators to distill a design to its true essence.”

“We dreamed of creating a scent that encompassed the essence of Free People, basically aspiring to capture ‘free spirit’ in fragrance form,” adds Christine. “This endeavor resulted in LOU.” LOU’s creation took a lot of time, finesse -- literally years. Frederick’s self-described tendency to “be free, directional and reckless” however, may have worked in his favor. “LOU was more about reviewing raw materials together -- and then me experimenting with the structure in the background,” he says.

Coupled with patience and instinct, Christine and the team navigated through 52 modifications via the Joya lab until they got it right.

WHAT MAKES LOU SING?

That would be the ingredients, first and foremost. But, in the case of LOU, they’re referred to as "ethereal oils," what Frederick astutely describes as “an old-school fragrance term that evokes classic, vintage and -- more practically--simpler production methods.”

For LOU’s foundation, the team drifted toward dry, smoky guaiac wood. And benzoin, which is a beautiful, syrup resin, has been used as incense for centuries. Not very well known but subtly sweet. White flowers (jasmine, neroli) form the delicate, classic heart notes, and the team played with the top notes over time, changing the kinds of citrus, adding more, finally adding a touch of pink pepper. (Want to learn more about top/base notes? Start here.)

The color of LOU reflects all of these components -- very resinous, kind of raw. The citrus and spice adjustments were mostly meant to smooth and round the raw factor, to maintain LOU’s point of view but soften the edges some. Once the balance of “ethereal oils” was in place, Christine and Frederick fine-tuned Lou’s levels of water and sugar cane alcohol, the oils’ carriers. Its final formula was then subjected to stability and safety testing, and then placed in clear bottles so that LOU’s warm, amber-y glow truly shone through. And voila...

The glow of a perfume, vintage in both scent and perfumery methods. A fragrance for everyone.