Exploring the Limitless Art of Fragrance: An interview with David Benedek, Founder BDK Parfums

In celebration of the highly anticipated release of Vanille Leather, the enchanting new fragrance by BDK Parfums in collaboration with Master Perfumer Dominique Ropion, we had the pleasure of sitting down with David Benedek, the visionary founder and creative director behind the brand.

Join us as we delve into his captivating creative process, his remarkable journey in the fragrance industry, and his profound personal connection to the world of scents!

When was the first time you fell in love with the idea of fragrance and scent?

I have no distinguished memory of the first time I considered my future in fragrance. Growing up in a family who was so deeply involved in the world of perfumery, fragrance was always part of my life.

Was the fragrance industry something you were captivated by from an early age due to your family’s history in the industry? Did you feel any pressure in joining the industry?

I remember smelling the latest launches and the classic compositions at my family's workplace, so it always felt a very natural world for me. When I announced the idea of launching BDK, my friends were extremely excited.

Instead my family, while supportive and touched by my inspiration of extending the legacy in the world of perfumery, met my idea with more cautiousness. But as they saw the project developing, they understood my vision and became extremely proud of my achievements.

What was it about the industry and creating your own fragrance label that you were particularly excited by?

The power of always beginning with a white paper, an empty canvas, and seeing how it progresses into forming a story through the collaboration with the perfumers is always that something excites me. I am always highly inspired by perfumers and how humble they are, and each project is so uniquely collaborative. For example, It was deeply inspiring to witness Dominique's colorful creative process when working on Vanille Leather.

How important do you think your education in fragrance and expanding your knowledge in this area are in terms of helping you develop your brand?

I wish to continue to learn and grow in the industry. Currently, I have been learning a lot with the perfumer, the laboratory, and the evaluator. I also gained valuable knowledge during my master's degree when I trained with the team at Givaudan for one year. I aspire to continue learning from experts and be given more time to learn and create. That's why I always say I am not a perfumer; I'm a creative director who is deeply involved in the creative process and learns from the perfumer, the expert. The collaboration between the perfumer and myself is crucial in creating a beautiful scent.

What area of the world of smell are you most excited by?

I'm mostly excited to learn more about the ingredients that excite me. Although I already know around 300 raw materials, I wish I could learn more because there are countless molecules that I'm not yet aware of. Having a broader knowledge of the ingredients would make it easier for me to imagine scents. When I imagine a scent, I always associate the ingredients with materials and colours because when I was younger I used to do a lot of painting. If I knew more molecules and raw materials, it would be easier for me to imagine scents and push my creativity even further. I'm super picky so to have a wider range of options in my mind would help the creative process. It's important to acknowledge that the learning process never ends. As a brand founder, I feel a strong connection in the joint adventure of creating a scent with the perfumer, and working with them allows me to grow even more.

With the amount of ingredients and creative explorations you can make with a fragrance, is it hard to know when to stop? To know when the scent is complete?

This is maybe the most frustrating part of working on a new project. It's awful when you have to select the final blend. Unfortunately for my team, I always second guess right before launch thinking “oh no it’s not the right version” because I really want the best for the consumer. I’m always stressed at the end of a new project, but funnily enough not during its selective process!

BDK Parfums often takes inspiration from characters, movements and silhouettes, but how do you find the experience of translating these physical, real appearances into something more abstract like a scent?

I don't find it very difficult as it comes naturally to me. Of course, I’m drawn to the ingredients and materials of fragrance, but I’m an observer, I like to look at how people behave, walk, talk... There’s something that comes naturally for me in the way I can express these images and write the formula with the perfumer. The challenge for me is always creating something different that doesn't look like something we have already seen while maintaining the creativity behind BDK and it's modern DNA. This is the challenge as you have to be abstract, but not too much, so that people can find your fragrance interesting and understand it at the same time. It's all about interpretation. We all have our own story, our own feelings, our own experiences, our own scent memories and olfactory perceptions.. .my end goal is to find a balance between shared experiences, and something special to the individual.

BDK Parfums emphasises the idea of creating fragrance experiences ‘halfway between fantasy and reality’ - do you feel this sense of freedom when creating a scent and your brand in general?

My personal answer is that in perfumery, anything is possible. This is what I really like. When I think about it, I get emotional because I never felt more free than when I started BDK. There are endless possibilities and no rules, you can create whatever you want. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But at the end you are really the one that can create a purpose for the consumer through a scent. And this is something that I don’t think you can find in other industries. While it’s still a scientific industry with some restrictions, you don’t have any boundaries in creativity. Everyone in this industry is curious to see what is next.

How do you approach creating a fragrance?

Sometimes it’s one raw material that I like to explore.
I have explored one tuberose, one tonka, one oud, one jasmine – the starting point in those cases was the raw material itself but in other times I have no clue about what raw material I’m going to explore, and it’s really the story that guides me to the final key ingredients. With Vanille Leather and Crème de Cuir, it all started by discovering an accord from the perfumers. With Vanille Leather, I was presented this vanilla accord by IFF, I fell in love with it, and then I met Dominique Ropion who was the creator of the accord, but I never planned that fragrance creation and encounter.

Describe BDK Parfums in a nutshell...

Contemporary. Sensual. In French we say ‘Gras’- the scents are round but with nuances. I like that our BDK fragrances have a recognisable DNA, but that they also bring out nuances for the individual consumer once applied on the skin.

Your brand covers various themes through collections... Can you tell us more about the purpose of these collections?

I work with collections as not every fragrance has the same purpose. For example in the blue bottles, the Azur collections, I really wanted to talk about the Mediterranean sea, the saltiness, the joy of the beautiful day. It helps me a lot with my creative process to have this harmony between the big collections and the inner collections. Having studied fashion, I took my knowledge of this world to the world of perfumery, and approached fragrances as a reinterpretation of fashion collections. It allows me to explore all the possibilities I can imagine in perfumery.

What fragrance from your brand means the most to you and why?

Bouquet de Hongrie. It was my first creation. When I was young I was always surrounded by women. My father was travelling for work so I was surrounded by my sister, my grandmother, my aunts, my mother. Even if all BDK Parfums are gender neutral, I really wanted to create a fragrance that all the women in my life could wear. It also means a lot to me as it was the only perfume creation of mine that my grandmother was able to smell. The name means Hungarian Bouquet as she used to speak Hungarian. Thanks to this perfume, I have the feeling that she is still with me anywhere I go. Even the packaging is a homage to her, having her name on the fragrance box.

This is how I want my brand to work: with authentic, and true stories dear to me.

As BDK continues to grow, what is one thing that you are looking forward to?

I’m opening my first boutique in Paris at the end of November. For me it will be the opportunity to bring to my customers the BDK experience. So my team and I are imagining a real retail experience, how you enter the shop, how the customer feels with each fragrance. With this opening, I want to feel a stronger link with my customers and really look out for them. I would look for artistic collaboration, I would love to associate the brand with artists, painters, musicians. I see another dimension that could be linked with brand. So I would like to push the creativity in this dimension.

What is your scent memory?

The scent of the skin of the person I am sharing my life with. I know that scent so well, and it makes me feel like my partner is always with me.