For Christopher Chong, creating a perfume is like “Bottling art and emotions”. As he celebrates his 10th year at the realm of Amouage, his journey continues, and Azyaamode had the great pleasure to meet him in Oman at the launch of the brand’s newest fragrance, Figment.
Since there’s always a story behind every Amouage perfume created by Chong, this novelty is no exception. Our interview with this unconventional creative director led us to discover the idea behind Figment, its creation process and what sets the brand’s perfumes apart from all the rest!
As the creative director of Amouage, how do you set the perfumes you create apart from other brands?
Amouage has its own DNA. What makes it different from other brands? This is where the creative director comes in. The creative director has his own style and his own DNA. Amouage’s DNA is opulence and richness, while my DNA is about the mystery, about the unpredictable and about telling a story. So when you merge the two together, you create a brand that is quite strong.
Does your culture inspire you to create the fragrances?
If you smell Amouage it will remind you of Paris, the Western culture and fragrances from the 1920s and 1930s. Our style of formulating a fragrance is inspired by that great era and the generation of perfumery.
Is there a signature ingredient that you use in your perfumes?
It depends on the formulation and what I want to create. In the past, I always used Frankincense and the best comes from Oman. So I used that kind of smokiness and richness as my inspiration. But now I always use a kind of resin to create that richness. The base is always very rich, sultry and opulent.
What is Figment and what inspired you to create this fragrance?
Figment is the third chapter in the second cycle which is the theme of “Portraits of Life.” Simply put, Figment comes from my imagination. I have traveled quite a bit and have seen a lot of places. That said, there is one place I always dream of visiting and it is Bhutan, also known as the land of happiness. I have never seen it in reality, and maybe I don’t want to, because I fear reality will ruin the beauty of how I imagine it to be. In addition to travel, the opera is also my passion. So I imagine a scene where these two worlds come together, and it begins with me somewhere in the Middle East, on the Opera stage, and the stage is set to take me to Bhutan, my imaginary Bhutan. There, everything is so amazingly beautiful where ancient and antique broidery fly, overlapping each other, and creating a picturesque broidery garden. And then, Figment is born.
Tell us a little bit about the composition of the fragrances.
The men’s fragrance was inspired by the hologram representation of Bhutan, of how my mind and my imagination perceived it. I use sandalwood as the key ingredient, because for me it is the most clear, spiritual, transparent kind of ingredient and the best sandalwood comes from India, but since it is endangered, we use the second best, which comes from Sri Lanka. It has this kind of creamy undertone and it is smooth.
I wanted to represent my imagination of Bhutan, so the perfume opens with lemon and pepper. It is a very clean and translucent scent that smells like the mist that you see, and then it takes you down to smell the richness of the earth with the sandalwood and the stones used to build houses. Then it dries down to the patchouli. For the women’s Figment, I wanted to do something to represent the beauty and the mystery of happiness. For me, tuberose is a very mysterious ingredient because it blooms at night. So I decided to use tuberose as my key ingredient. And so I begin with a light opening and use pepper to go into that white floral heart with tuberose as my key ingredient. I have jasmine sambac from India, and then I have something called Lisylang, which is an extractive from Ylang Ylang. I also did not want this to become a spicy fragrance, so I used a flower called Cassia. And then the fragrance dries down to the rich base of the patchoulis. But overall, the tone of this fragrance is opulent, rich, grand, majestic and sweet.
Who are the men and women who would wear Figment?
The man is someone who likes to travel and embraces all cultures. The woman is worldly. She travels a lot but she has a great career and when she comes home, she is also a great mother.
What is next for Amouage?
We are releasing something in September. However, next year I will reveal the story of my childhood, which is a major source of my inspiration.
Mirella Haddad
