Perfumes de Dominique Moellhausen

“Perfumery is the most abstract form of art, where the artist who creates a fragrance does so using the palette that consecrates their own feelings and images. And the viewer/beneficiary can interact with it in different ways, thanks to the emotional richness unleashed by the artwork. Discover how my creative soul, which initially manifested itself in poetry and painting, can find its perfect expression by playing with aromas”.

Raised in an open and multicultural international environment, Dominique Moellhausen experienced the fascinating variety of fragrances and developed a unique sensitivity to all ethnicities and cultures around the world.

Dominique was born in Milan on 9 March 1992, to a Paraguayan mother of Dutch origin and a German father.

THE EDUCATION OF A FREE SPIRIT

Dominique Moellhausen likes to call herself a “traveller of life”, always looking for something new and happy to enjoy every moment of the journey. Her home is the “here and now”, an inclination that also stems from the cosmopolitan nature of her family. From childhood, Dominique travelled around the world with her father Anthony, the president of the family company, and studied and speaks four languages: Italian and Spanish (mother tongues), English and French. After specialising in modern languages at school, she lived in London and Paris to study International Affairs and Business. Once she graduated, Dominique decided to consolidate her perfumery vocation at the Grasse Institute of Perfumery, the prestigious international school of perfumery. Together, Dominique followed a coherent path of study for a young woman with inherent artistic talents, raised in the Moellhausen family, which has more than 50 years of tradition in the fragrance industry.

PERFUME AS A GLOBAL COMMUNICATION CODE

Dominique is Perfumer and R&D Vice Director at Moellhausen. She believes perfume is a global communication code, capable of speaking different languages depending on the nose that smells it, triggering emotions that change according to personal experiences. A sensitivity Dominique developed also through her years as a “free spirit” between Paris and London, through her travels and her lively curiosity. She carries out these explorations by immersing herself every day in novelty and diversity, driven by the desire to get to know more and more the tastes, trends, habits and culinary preferences of the various cultures and ethnic groups.

ARTISTIC TALENT

Dominique loves painting, poetry and, above all, the composition of fragrances: “This is the form of art and expression that I truly feel as my own. When I realised how my thoughts and my need to create artistic works could be expressed through such evocative and powerful means, I fell in love. I believe that through their own research, a perfumer can tell a story and, at the same time, keep a secret. I find this an extremely beautiful and intimate ability”.

FASHION AND PERFUME: A DEEP UNDERSTANDING

The relationship between fashion and perfumery is a captivating topic, which Dominique investigates not only for professional reasons, but also due to a preference for understanding the psychological aspects of modern life. “Through fragrance, we express the most intimate and subtle concept and image of ourselves, which could also be read differently from how we conceive it; through fashion the message is more direct and much stronger”. According to Dominique, perfume is sincere because “we cannot lie or disguise our personality… we will always choose a perfume that we unconsciously like…”. And she adds: “We would never use a perfume whose scent we do not like, just because someone we think is great wears it…”.

A WORLD OF INSPIRATION

For Dominique, everything can be a source of inspiration: a person, a dish, a landscape, a single ingredient, and even an adjective, a book, a story. “Depending on the brief I am given, I start creating or focusing on the aromas evoked by the story. If the received brief begins with a concept, a tale or images, I start with that narrative… with words that translate into raw materials. If I receive a brief that requires specific raw materials, my greatest effort is to link them together, with the aim of developing traits of harmony and contrast. It is my starting point. From there, I begin to design a fragrance that the customer/buyer will fall in love with and that I must feel completely as my own”.

OBJECTIVITY AND CREATIVITY

Objectivity is Dominique’s strong point. “Personal taste should not interfere with the creation of fragrances; I always seek to maintain the right balance between artistic originality and the needs of the client, who must get what they truly want and, although sometimes the temptation is strong… I cannot let myself be carried away by my creativity, losing sight of the goal”. Thanks also to teamwork, well-structured business processes and the several decades of experience at Moellhausen, Dominique is able to create and choose the fragrance that best fits with the brand’s context, and that best communicates the brand’s message and identity, never letting herself be distracted by her own personal taste.