If you seek training in fine perfumery and do not work for a major perfume company or have access to the French ISIPCA, there is only one place — worldwide — where you can find a professional course in fine perfume creation and that is PerfumersWorld, founded by English perfumer-educator Stephen V. Dowthwaite.

Located in Bangkok, Thailand, PerfumersWorld has long offered perfumery training to selected students — about 50 in each beginners class; about 12 in advanced classes. But it is their home study Foundation Course that has probably done the most to establish their international reputation. There are no prerequisites for this course, a background in chemistry is not required (or expected!), and all necessary materials are included in the package — materials students will use to create their own first perfumes!

Click to enlarge image Perfumer - educator Stephen V. Dowthwaith teaching a student by The ABC's of Perfumery perfumery training method in Thailand.

The PerfumersWorld Foundation Course is not an "educational kit" with a few dropper bottles and instructions that let you mix up a handful of fragrances following step-by-step instructions out of a book. The PerfumersWorld Foundation Course introduces you to The ABC's of Perfumery — a highly effective perfumery training method developed by Mr. Dowthwaite in his work with students who spoke a number of Asian languages, yet were all familiar with the English alphabet.

In The ABC's of Perfumery, each letter of the alphabet stands for an odor group, 26 in all. To illustrate each odor group, Mr Dowthwaite has created a "Fleuressence^®" (their registered trademark) base, and a 10 gram bottle of each of these bases is included with the Foundation Course. Using these bases, the student learns the effects of mixing perfumery materials and how, you might say, apples plus apples can come out tangerines. While intuition in creative perfumery is important, a knowledge of materials is vital, and this knowledge can only be gained by working with perfumery materials. A perfumer becomes a perfumer in much the same way an artist becomes an artist: by adding a working knowledge of media to the ability to mentally visualize the sought after result, which, in the case of perfume, is a fragrance.

The Foundation Course has two aspects and two important resources. Using the 26 bases that come with the course, you learn to begin making perfume — real perfume that you can bottle and sell. The Perfumer's Workbook — a computer program that can assist you in perfume creation — helps you develop your original fragrances, both with the 26 bases you receive with the course but also, if asked, by suggesting additional materials that can give your fragrance more "depth" and help you more closely achieve your fragrance goal. The ABC's of Perfumery's and The Perfumer's Workbook are your two great resources. (The Perfumer's Workbook includes a database of over 500 perfumery materials, with suggestions on how and when you might consider using them.)

The first "aspect" of the Foundation Course is, of course, your hands-on introduction to perfume creation. By the end of your first session, you will have compounded a fragrance that, as you will see, could not have been predicted (by you, at this point) from the bases you used to make it. If you fall in love with perfume creation, the knowledge gained through the Foundation Course will be your beginning in perfumery. Perfumery itself will be a constantly unfolding journey.

The second aspect of the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course is the academic side — the ten lessons you will download from the PerfumersWorld website after receiving your student id. These lessons greatly broaden your understanding and appreciation of the many elements of perfumery, of categories of materials used in perfumery, of how natural materials are obtained and processed, and how some of the technical problems that confront perfumers in the commercial world are overcome. The lessons also include some "fun" projects and some projects for the "junior perfumers" in your family. Study is required and exams are given!

I took the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course in 2005 and it now seems like that was centuries ago, as I've learned so much since. My "rate of creation" has been one finished, commercial fragrance a year and I'm currently working on a men's fragrance which is giving me a lot of trouble because I'm working on something a bit unusual. Lately I find myself putting more effort into current projects and doing more testing and experimenting as I go along because (aside from any chance to make money), the thrill is always in the next fragrance, the one which is still just in your head. When you've worked with the ABC's of Perfumery, I'm sure you'll understand.

The PerfumersWorld Foundation Course includes all of this:

10 blocks of online lessons, each lesson block requiring that you pass an exam before you can gain access to the next block of lessons. (All exam questions come from the lessons themselves.)

Click to enlarge image Contents of PerfumersWorld Foundation Course kit.

26 perfume bases, created by PerfumersWorld to teach you creative perfumery by their "The ABC's of Perfumery" method. Using these bases you can create an unlimited number of original fragrances. The "Z" letter in the PerfumersWorld alphabet stands for "Zolvent", a non-alcoholic solvent which can be used in place of ethyl alcohol (which is NOT supplied with the course), so that you can start creating finished fragrances immediately.

The Perfumer's Workbook — perfume creation software on a CD that, in my opinion, is worth the price of the course by itself. While easy to use, this software is complex in its features and it allows you to build a fragrance — on your computer screen — that you can then tweek for top notes, heart notes, base notes, or odor type, or cost, or "depth" or "smoothness". The software will also show you how long your formula will last on a test blotter and it will also suggest substitutes for the materials you are currently using, thus helping you to become familiar with new perfumery materials. The Perfumer's Workbook includes a database of over 500 perfumery materials, both naturals and synthetics. If you decide you want to try some, they are available in quantities as small as 10 grams by mail from PerfumersWorld. Read more about The Perfumer's Workbook.

Click to enlarge image Shown above are A Short Introduction to The ABC's of Perfumery and The Perfumer's Workbook, your two essential perfume creation tools.

A Short Introduction to The ABC's of Perfumery — an illustrated, 56 page book which explains The ABC's of Perfumery perfume creation system, the use of your 26 bases, and the use of The Perfumer's Workbook software. This book also includes 32 formulas you can created immediately using your 26 PerfumersWorld bases. Read more about A short introduction...

Finally, along with the 25 bases plus non-alcoholic "Zolvent" to make perfume, the kit includes 5 small mixing pots in which to mix your perfume, and 2 packages of smelling strips and two perfume bottles, so you can not only mix perfume right away, you can also bottle it!

You can start making perfume within an hour after you have received your kit.

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