SUMMARY

The Australian Fragrance Project aims to create a collection of fragrances for men and women. It's main focus will be sourcing (and if they don't exist, creating) Indigenous perfume ingredients and using these to make a unique range of fragrances for sale to the public.

BACKGROUND

Currently, large perfume houses have an army of perfume chemists who isolate fragrant chemicals and blend these together to form mass produced fragrances. There's also many semi professional and amateur perfumists who use both chemical and naturally sourced ingredients to create their own personal fragrances. The Australian Fragrance Project will focus on using predominantly native perfume ingredients to create distinctly Australian fragrances. There will be no compromise on quality however. I'm not interested in creating anything that represents tacky Aussie export merchandise such as using eucalyptus oil in everything.

Givaudan, IFF, Firmenich, and Symrise are the large fragrance and flavour houses. These companies are predominantly based in the US and Europe and the top 10 players accounts for over 70% of the market. In contrast, this project will use the Australian brand to focus on a niche market similar to the locally owned Arabic fragrance industry which grows, sources and makes perfumes that are distinctly Arabic.

Australia has a very highly regarded chemistry industry and this project's aim is to spur the creation of an Australasian fragrance and flavour industry. There is no reason why we shouldn't have one already.

THE PROJECT CURRENTLY

I've done lots of research into native species that could and are already used in fragrance production. The list if very long. Most critically, I need to purchase a steam distillation apparatus to experiment with steam based extractions and also find a super critical CO2 machine which I can lease or rent. I have 3kg of Huon Pine that I got from Forestry Tasmania that needs to be distiller ASAP (smells great btw). I also have a contact at IFF who is a senior chemist there and is guiding me through production on a technical level. A sample from the list of just the wood species of interest include:

Acacia acuminata Araucaria cunninghamii, Araucaria bidwillii, Araucaria heterophylla, Aracaria heterophylla, Araucaria woolemia nobilis, Agathis atropurpurea, Agathis microstachya, Agathis robusta, Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii, Santalum Spicatum, Callitris Intratropica, Lagarostrobos franklinii, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus dives, Eucalyptus radiata, Eucalyptus smithii, Eucalyptus Globulus, Eucalyptus Polybractea, Eucalyptus Citriodora, Leptospermum perersonii, Melaleuca quinquenervia, Melaleuca ericfolia, Meleleuca alternifolia, Eucalyptus Calophylla, Acacia Omalophylla

Then there are flowers, fruits, leaves, and roots which can also be included. Its a very long list. The point is however, there's quite a few native species essential oil suppliers already out there. Primarily, I'll use these first and then progress on producing my own samples of the less common species which aren't readily available.

OBJECTIVES / GOALS

Start-up Purchases required

Glass pipettes, beakers and other glassware including vials for storage approx $200

scientific grade balance / scale (around $1000)

Collection of native essential oils and absolutes. These are incredibly expensive i.e. up to $300 for 5ml of oil (oud wood). If you need a general sense of prices of these oils, they can be found at www.seoc.com.au. I'm estimating at least $500 to $1000 for enough to start experimenting with. Naturally there will be some wastage during the testing phase.

Purchase of fragrance grade ethanol, neutral oil, water and fixatives to cut the oils and stabilise the fragrance. Approx $300

Steam distillation apparatus - I really need this to help with lowering costs so I can make my own oils in small quantities. 5L size will do initially and it needs to be a closed system with temperature control features. Approx $500 - $1000 depending on the model.

Note: wish list - Any extra funds will be used to fund experimental C02 extraction batch, the purchase of higher grade equipment, purchase of a larger range of essential oils, the purchase of a climate controlled fridge to keep the oils (some are very volatile and can explode at high temperatures) and purchase of books, reading materials (subscription to Journal of Essential oil research) that can further my skills.

TIMELINE

June - Purchase all equipment needed for base production. Create website and associated imagery, packaging etc.
June - September - Experiment with production and hopefully create one Fragrance for Women and one for Men that will smell great!
October - Arrange packaging and produce in mass quantities to post out to you all!

EXTRA FUNDS

I'm not one for wasting money. I've set a very modest target for funding intentionally, but this is the lower end of what would be the ultimate funding needed. All extra funds generated will be used in a transparent manner and used to further my skills which will hopefully translate into better fragrances for you to purchase in the future. If anyone knows of organic chemistry contacts and or labs that I can use or rent that would be great too. Send me a message. I want to hear from you!

That's pretty much all I can think of…Please help me out!