Ron Winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, has been a perfumer and teacher for more than 46 years. Throughout his illustrious career, he has managed to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactory and emotional visions. As a teacher, Winnegrad has shared his multisensory lens with others, inspiring them to explore the realm of fragrances. Winnegrad became famous in the 1970s after creating iconic fragrances such as Love's Baby Soft and Lagerfeld Classic. He has developed numerous successful fragrances over the years, including Balenciaga Rumba, Giorgio Armani Armani and Clinique Simply Clinique. As director of the New York School of Perfumery at International Flavors & Fragrances, he has trained innumerable perfumers and fragrance evaluators, leaving an indelible mark on the industry. Rather than following traditional approaches to perfumery, Winnegrad developed a unique method for teaching fragrance students how to identify odours. He created a map of “cities” and “streets”, which represents a flowchart guiding students through different olfactory options, eventually leading them to a base note such as amber, oakmoss or musk. His mantra, “Don’t think, just smell”, encourages students to rely on their intuition and memory when exploring aromas. Winnegrad’s workshops on synaesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another, further show his innovative approach to teaching. Unable to relate to the musical aspects of perfumery due to lacking an ear for tone, Winnegrad began associating colours with odours, awakening the neurons in his brain and fostering a deeper understanding of fragrances. To help students and enthusiasts develop their sense of smell, Winnegrad recommends doing smell exercises. By taking short, superficial inhalations of various aromas from bottles at 30-minute intervals, people can train their noses to identify odours without fatigue. Winnegrad also advises being more mindful of odours throughout the day, smelling food before eating it, and paying attention to the aromas in different places. Ron Winnegrad’s career as a visionary perfumer and dedicated teacher has impacted the fragrance industry. His unique approach to perfume creation, focused on synaesthesia and intuition, has helped pave the way for a new generation of perfumers. Through his innovative teaching methods and extraordinary creations, Winnegrad has left an indelible mark on perfumery.