Alex Wiltschko

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.

I went to school for neuroscience at the University of Michigan, and then realized that there is a subspecialty of neuroscience called olfactory neuroscience, so people who want to figure out how the brain processes smell. And the most people who study that are at Harvard.

I went to school for neuroscience at the University of Michigan, and then realized that there is a subspecialty of neuroscience called olfactory neuroscience, so people who want to figure out how the brain processes smell. And the most people who study that are at Harvard.

So I went to Harvard and realized after many years of doing science there that actually we don't really know how smell works at all. We're making progress. We're learning things. But a simple question, let me draw a molecule on the whiteboard like we're in chemistry class. Can you look at that molecule and tell me what it's going to smell like? Will it smell like apple or cinnamon or anise or what?

So I went to Harvard and realized after many years of doing science there that actually we don't really know how smell works at all. We're making progress. We're learning things. But a simple question, let me draw a molecule on the whiteboard like we're in chemistry class. Can you look at that molecule and tell me what it's going to smell like? Will it smell like apple or cinnamon or anise or what?