Puredistance SHEIDUNA. The perfect marriage between Sensuality and Style. Interview with Jan Ewoud Vos and Cécile Zarokian.

Puredistance SHEIDUNA. The perfect marriage between Sensuality and Style. Interview with Jan Ewoud Vos and Cécile Zarokian.

1. Why did you decide for oriental genre in Sheiduna?

Jan Ewoud: We like to have a range of perfumes, that are all different an oriental was missing in our collection, so we should have an oriental and at the same time all our perfumes should have the same base - the same DNA of Puredistance, so I told Cécile, if you create something, people should not have the feeling that they are walking souk.

Me: Souk?

Jan Ewoud: Yes. Souk is the market place if you go to middle east, where the smell is very strong and the smell is everywhere, so in Puredistance we don’t want to be everywhere so it should be kind of an elegant oriental and like cross over between Parisian elegance and the mystery and sensuality of the middle east. And I approached Cécile, because she has good reputation, a good name, but also she is fully independent, she lives in Paris, she is French. If I am looking in her eyes, she is from Armenian descent, that’s something exotic, that’s something special, so I thought she could be the right person to understand this concept.

2. Will Sheiduna be the queen of the chessboard?

Jan Ewoud: Hmm, that’s a good question... Normally if you play chess, you have 10 or 20 minutes to make a move, so maybe I need 10 or 20 minutes to think about it because „Antonia “is in a way the queen on herself, its my mother, so she is the queen, hmm.... I would say... maybe there are two queens on the chessboard, because definitely the rest of them doesn't qualified as a queen a she dedicated to be queen but  Antonia is the master queen (laugh)

Me: But where there are two queens, there is always a problem.

Jan Ewoud: But we have two chessboards (massive laugh)

Me: Perfect!

3. There was some postcards at the beginning...

Jan Ewoud: Not only in beginning, I made a series of postcards and the briefing was... I met Cécile in Paris in September last year, I asked her to take notes and I said: Sheiduna is quite easy to communicate to you because a lot of it is in its name. I invented this name and I registered „Sheiduna“. The sound of this name tells me a lot. „Shei“ in middle east - Sheik - is a title of a ruler of Abu Dhabi or Dubai... His wife is - „Sheika “So that’s a reference to imperial majesty in the middle east. „She “- as female; and „duna“ is the dunes, is the female form of dunes in the desert and to me the feeling when I was in Moroccan desert.

4. So you have been in desert dunes. The real experience. How was it?

Jan Ewoud: Yes, I was in a desert alone with a model and we couldn't see anything, I was shooting photos (note: J.E. Vos is also professional photographer) and the sun was coming down and there is this tranquility and at the same time sensuality because its warm and you see the shapes of dunes, it’s like female curves, so it’s the ultimate sensual thing, but not sexual - very sensual, very elegant. So dunes are in the name.

In prose, In poetry you have cadence - tac-tac, tac- tac, it is very important - the word „Seduction “in English has the same cadence like „Sheiduna“. Se-duction - Shei-duna. Same rhythm. All this I explained to Cécile and I said: I want this to be sensual in the way that French actresses sometimes can be sensual without being like... Pamela Anderson like sex-bombs, but for example like Marion Cotillard, the French actress. She is very special and intriguing and sensual. It’s very hard to say why and it’s not like she is a big this or big that, she is complex. So all this notes she took and after that I said that the rest of the briefing visually, I will send your every week to your house a postcards.

5. How many postcards did you sent?

Jan Ewoud: Six. And after the six I made a big poster with all the cards together, you know. I write it with ink, small parts, very small statements. And then the front of the postcards illustrated visually the colors and sensuality. 

Jan Ewoud Vos , Nele Tammiste and SHEIDUNA.

One thing is important with this new release, that I want to tell the world: Hey, this is the 100% independent, we go for authenticity, we go for individuality, we have a perfumer Cécile with the same - she has a very tiny lab, not fancy, not big, it's not a big corporation, but it's 100% hers and she is 100% independent, so she is the perfect match to communicate: hey, we are a small, but we do things by hand and we do things beautifully. That written postcards is something vintage, but something very authentic, especially today with e-mail, twitter etc. so easy to do things, but writing a postcard with ink is really the old way and to me it's a statement like Cécile, something really done by hand.

Me: I really like old style, real paper, ink and so on.

Jan Ewoud: Me too.

4. Duna. Dune. Du-ne. Nu-de. Nude? Is there some nudity in this?

Jan Ewoud: Yees, also. And this, you can feel it, this is the first time we use this „chamois “leather and it's the feel of the skin. It's soft, so it's really sensual. Combination of feel and color.

Mary Gooding from Puredistance presents soft leather case of Sheiduna.

5. Was the cooperation with Cécile different than with the other perfumers before?

Jan Ewoud: It's always different, because the chemistry between two people is never the same. It was different and for me the challenging part, I knew, I could feel Cécile’s strong mind, strong will. But I also have a strong mind and strong will and what I see, what I picture, what I describe, if it would not be a good match what she sends, we will have a problem, because she could say - this is what I see. End of story!

We had a first version, which I really did not like, so I said: start all over again, and she did. Then I went to Paris, I was nervous, because I was afraid if I don't like it, we have a problem. Because I cannot say every time start all over again. Fortunately, when I smelled it, I was like - Ok! now it's more elegant, now it's more... Maybe I did not communicate well enough, I wanted to have this combination of French, elegant, Parisian with oriental. So for the first time it was too much oriental, suffocated, no air to breathe. Now in this (holding and pointing on Sheiduna) we found, if two strong minds love the same thing, it can be very good outcome of collaboration.

6. When you must choose one word to describe Sheiduna, except word Sheiduna, what word it would be?

Jan Ewoud: Italian „Raffinata “(refined).

7. Is there something more what you want to tell about Sheiduna? (Cécile just appeared in front of us)

Jan Ewoud: I think you should have a quick word with Cécile, because she can answer some things that I can't.

8. Me to Cécile: Okay, let's do it. Cécile, you present the new perfume Sheiduna, do you wear it now?

Cécile: Yes. I Am. (proudly)

Cécile Zarokian

9.  And what are your feelings about Sheiduna?

Cécile: Jan Ewoud asked me to work on a very feminine seductive fragrance. Oriental fragrance. It has some sexiness but not in the obvious way, something sensual, nice, sexual, but still elegant, sophisticated. He talked to me about the name Sheiduna and I am sure, that Jan told you about the meaning of this invented word and the sound, so that was also a part of nice creative process to work on something very feminine, round, smooth, comfortable and also original of course. And to be very long lasting too, because fragrances of Puredistance are very long lasting and that was also kind of the challenge. Sheiduna had to be to fit to brands DNA, to the brands image and still exploring the new territory, like an oriental fragrance.

10. You are quite strong in this oriental territory, like Tango, Fêtes Persanes, Mon nom est rouge and so on... Have you ever been in desert dune?

Cécile: Not really.

Me: You live in France, you live in Paris, but your background, your roots seem to be in orient.

Cécile: Yes, my origin is from Armenia. The only experience I have with the dunes is let say the French way, close to the ocean, but it's not exactly the same as the deserts. You know Dune du Pilat? So that’s my experience with the dunes.

(Note: Dune du Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area, France, 60 km from Bordeaux.)

11. You cooperate with a lot of brands, lot of people, personalities, was  it different in some way with Puredistance a Jan Ewoud?

Cécile: It's always different, it's one specific brand with a specific image, DNA and some values. It depends on the brief and also about the relationship. There must be some chemistry between personalities. It has to make a good fit, to match.

12. I will ask you the same question as I asked Jan Ewoud. Do you think that Sheiduna will be the queen of the chessboard?

Cécile: It doesn't really matter, I hope people will like it, enjoy it and of course I hope it's gonna be bestseller. 

13. Yes, it quite good stuff. Why 27% (perfume oil concentration) ? Due to longevity, sillage, balance?

Cécile: Yes, and also due to IFRA regulations. It's the highest possible concentration while maintaining the scent profile.

14. You are the perfumer, you know the ingredients, is there some special or main ingredient, which makes it Sheiduna ?

Cécile: Perfume is not just about raw ingredients, but I would say if you have to sum up the ingredients, it's a rose fragrance with lots of spices and also with an ambery deep base, based on incense, myrrh, benzoin, amber...

Me: Is there also orange flowers or neroli? I think I feel it there.

Cécile: Not exactly, it's a tangerine that can has this effect.

Me: Thank you very much Cécile. Thank you both for you time. Please, could you and Jan sign the card for me?

Ingredients: lemon, tangerine, blackcurrant, Bulgarian rose essence, geranium, clove, vetyver, patchouli, amber woody, incense, benzoin, myrrh, tonka bean, vanilla pods and musks. Perfume Extrait 27%.