What does the aroma of plants say?
- To this question, just over a year ago, Eli Díez came to create the “Gaua Perfumes” project in Rioja Alavesa. It caused pain, especially because of the scents that can come out of plants, and because of our ability to relate them to our senses and emotions. “When I was young my family sold perfume, perhaps that’s where curiosity and desire emerged,” he says. Far from industrial perfumery, Diez is experimenting with nearby plants and is immersed in a process of experimentation.
Ten works in ethnobotanical perfumery: “We call ethnobotanical perfumery the traditional extraction of aromas as it has always been done. It is made with the plants of always and is intimately linked to the culture of a people,” he explains. Ten extract the flavourings by distillation, maceration or tincture and use them in different products, such as personalized perfumes, incense and brumas. “In the case of personalized perfumes, people bring me some perfume that they like, but they want something more natural, made with native plants… we try to achieve something similar, together,” he says.
At each time of the year the plants are collected in the forests of the area, giving rise to aromas that work as a base. “Last year I made a base with thyme and rosemary, another with the aroma of the country’s hot wine, roasted chestnuts…” Alavés tries to collect the smells that surround him in his day to day, and sometimes the idea of creating a new smell from the cultural festivities. “At the Mañen festival held in these areas, lavender is burned every year. For a few weeks ago I created a perfume based on this custom: I took the lavender, put it in indigenous olive oil and added other aromas from that lavender aroma”, explains the process.
Strong smells in the small workshop
In industrial perfumery they hardly use plants in perfumes. “It is true that with industrial perfumes we have become accustomed to very intense smells, which smell less and leave no lines of this kind,” says the artisan. However, natural flavourings, along with the smell of plants, also collect their properties and each of them influences differently. “In the case of rosemary, for example, it has properties for memory and awakening, for which the smell itself helps,” he adds.
In Laguardia, Diez has set up his small workshop in the winery of his house, where in addition to creating his own perfumes, he offers training and workshops, increasingly interested in the activity. The perfumer has explained to us that the instruments are quite simple: fire, alcohol, boats, a small copper wire… “More than machinery, you have to be patient in this activity,” he says. “In addition, in a small perfumery like ours, you cannot work with large quantities, as in each age plants change and, therefore, also the aromas we generate,” he concludes.
