Paper Passion Perfume

Günter Grass, Tony Chambers, Karl Lagerfeld, Gerhard Steidl, Geza Schoen — 2012

Paper Passion Perfume captures the unique bouquet of freshly printed books. Designed by boutique perfumer Geza Schoen in close consultation with Gerhard Steidl and in collaboration with Wallpaper* magazine, the perfume expresses that peculiar mix of paper and ink which gives a book its unmistakable aroma, along with the fresh scent which a book opened for the first time releases. Schoen spent days in the depths of the paper-filled Steidl headquarters in Göttingen, sifting through books, papers samples and inks, to find inspiration for a perfume that is true to books, wearable, and which ages well in time just like a good book. It took Schoen seventeen trials to preserve in his words, the right balance between the smell of paper as such and an enjoyable perfumistic aesthetic. The elaborate packaging of Paper Passion Perfume does more than justice to the perfume within. The packaging is a real book with a hidden cut-out compartment in which the bottle sits. The first pages of the book contain texts on the pleasures of paper and the Paper Passion project by Nobel Laureate Günter Grass, Karl Lagerfeld, Geza Schoen and Wallpaper* Editor-in-Chief Tony Chambers. The end product is a unique perfume, an homage to the luxurious sensuality of books and in Karl Lagerfelds words, the silent smell of paper. Geza Schoen, born in 1969 in Kassel, has worked for nearly twenty years as a perfumer. He enjoyed professional success at a young age when he won the pitch for the first Diesel fragrance in 1994, while still in his education. While working for Haarmann & Reimer, which later became Symrise, Schoen travelled to Paris, New York, Singapore and Buenos Aires, researching perfumery in local markets. He launched his Escentric Molecules series in 2005, after Schoen was introduced to British branding expert Jeff Lounds and his friend graphic designer Paul White, and This Company was formed. Schoen is currently working on a series of fragrances called The Beautiful Mind, inspired by women admired for their intellects.