Alex Wiltschko

Generation is, yeah. Generation is our... business to open up Scent Design to more people and to do that faster.

Generation is, yeah. Generation is our... business to open up Scent Design to more people and to do that faster.

Because David Senra is in your world, he has a few phrases that really resonate, which is like, the exit strategy is death. This is the last thing I want to do. I grew up in a town called College Station in Texas. Not too big, not too small. I got bit by the computer bug pretty early. So I started programming computers when I was like eight or nine.

Because David Senra is in your world, he has a few phrases that really resonate, which is like, the exit strategy is death. This is the last thing I want to do. I grew up in a town called College Station in Texas. Not too big, not too small. I got bit by the computer bug pretty early. So I started programming computers when I was like eight or nine.

Full-on computer nerd by 12 when I started collecting perfume. And I started collecting perfume because I noticed that people, when they put this invisible thing on them, would all of a sudden be treated differently by everybody around them, but within this little radius, right?

Full-on computer nerd by 12 when I started collecting perfume. And I started collecting perfume because I noticed that people, when they put this invisible thing on them, would all of a sudden be treated differently by everybody around them, but within this little radius, right?

So like, it just, it was this magic potion spell combination that when you just say it like that, almost is unbelievable, which is, can you spray an invisible thing on you that changes how people see you and treat you, for the better or for the worse? I just couldn't understand it. I had already felt a little bit like a social outsider, and I was trying to decode that.

So like, it just, it was this magic potion spell combination that when you just say it like that, almost is unbelievable, which is, can you spray an invisible thing on you that changes how people see you and treat you, for the better or for the worse? I just couldn't understand it. I had already felt a little bit like a social outsider, and I was trying to decode that.

Like, why are they popular, and I feel like I'm on the outside. And so I looked at the clothes, but it was the fragrance that really, like... It confused me to no end at first, but then it fascinated me. And so I started looking into fragrance and I found out what these kids my age were buying.

Like, why are they popular, and I feel like I'm on the outside. And so I looked at the clothes, but it was the fragrance that really, like... It confused me to no end at first, but then it fascinated me. And so I started looking into fragrance and I found out what these kids my age were buying.

It was Polo Blue, it was Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce, both fragrances that our master perfumer that we just passed designed many years ago. So it's completely full circle now. But then I realized there's not just two or three fragrances, there's tens of thousands. And it was like... discovering that movies exist and you can go into the movie theater and there's nobody watching the good films.

It was Polo Blue, it was Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce, both fragrances that our master perfumer that we just passed designed many years ago. So it's completely full circle now. But then I realized there's not just two or three fragrances, there's tens of thousands. And it was like... discovering that movies exist and you can go into the movie theater and there's nobody watching the good films.

Everybody's watching the popular films. And for me, this whole world opened up a fragrance where, I mean, I remember the first fragrance that really taught me that this is an art. It was Bulgari Black, which is frankly not like a very long lasting or particularly performant fragrance. It's like, it comes in a bottle shaped like a hockey puck and you spray it on, it lasts 45 minutes.

Everybody's watching the popular films. And for me, this whole world opened up a fragrance where, I mean, I remember the first fragrance that really taught me that this is an art. It was Bulgari Black, which is frankly not like a very long lasting or particularly performant fragrance. It's like, it comes in a bottle shaped like a hockey puck and you spray it on, it lasts 45 minutes.

But what it does is it unfolds in three acts, right? So the first smell is like the smell of screeching tires and rubber. And then within five or 10 minutes, it cools down to like of this vanilla rubbed on a leather chair. And then all of a sudden after like another 15, 20 minutes, there's like this smoky tobacco leather chair smoking room vibe.

But what it does is it unfolds in three acts, right? So the first smell is like the smell of screeching tires and rubber. And then within five or 10 minutes, it cools down to like of this vanilla rubbed on a leather chair. And then all of a sudden after like another 15, 20 minutes, there's like this smoky tobacco leather chair smoking room vibe.

And I remember the first time I experienced it, whoa, this fragrance changed. Has it gone bad? And then I just sprayed it again and again and again and watched this movie play out for like an afternoon. I was like, no, no, somebody made this. And this is the whole thing. The whole fragrance unfolds over time. And that kind of was the end of it for me. I got just completely hooked.

And I remember the first time I experienced it, whoa, this fragrance changed. Has it gone bad? And then I just sprayed it again and again and again and watched this movie play out for like an afternoon. I was like, no, no, somebody made this. And this is the whole thing. The whole fragrance unfolds over time. And that kind of was the end of it for me. I got just completely hooked.

The way that my brain works, I wanted to understand where it came from, how it was made, how the brain processes it the way that it does. I think if I was born in Southern France, maybe I'd be a perfumer, but I was born to two academics, and so I became a scientist.

The way that my brain works, I wanted to understand where it came from, how it was made, how the brain processes it the way that it does. I think if I was born in Southern France, maybe I'd be a perfumer, but I was born to two academics, and so I became a scientist.