Raw materials, natural or synthetic, are at the heart of perfume composition. Their knowledge touches on the fields of botany, science, regulations\u2026 and of course olfaction. In late 2019, two students from Isipca launched ScenTree, an online tool for classifying and providing information on these ingredients, aimed at professionals in the industry. Originally a simple final-year project, ScenTree is now becoming a reference for anyone who wants to better understand the ingredients in perfumery, those used but also those produced or distributed. We wanted to take stock with Maxime Baud, who is now in sole control of the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What has happened since the founding of ScenTree two years ago?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were two decisive events: the departure of Thomas, the co-founder, who left the company in June 2020, and the health crisis. I am now the only one managing the project. Therefore, I had to learn to be on all fronts while having a job on the side, since all the income is dedicated to optimizing the project. This forced me to review priorities and focus the project on the most important aspects, even more so with the health crisis. But I am supported in the IT part, and I was lucky to be surrounded by good advisors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did the successive lockdowns influence your work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To grasp its importance, it is necessary to understand how ScenTree is built. The ingredients are arranged according to their olfactory family, each of which represents a branch of the tree. It is the descriptors \u2013 spicy, iodized, zested\u2026 \u2013 that form the different branches. When I create a profile to record<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a new ingredient, so I must assign these olfactory descriptors to it; but perceptions are very personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To best mitigate this subjectivity, I organize assessment sessions in the Cinqui\u00e8me Sens coworking space. Unfortunately, with the restrictions in place, we were only able to hold three instead of the planned twenty. Therefore, I was unable to add the desired number of ingredients to the database. On the other hand, this allowed me to work on the existing lists: with 560 ingredients, there is plenty to work with! It\u2019s a labor of love that allows us to consolidate and optimize the database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What were the major developments that the site has experienced?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two hundred ingredients have been added, which is 40% of the site\u2019s content. But more importantly, I have integrated and consolidated the data from IFRA, adding the regulations for each ingredient sheet, which was a big undertaking. New categories of information have also emerged, such as the detection threshold for synthetic materials. Many IT developments have been made to facilitate access to the site; some pages have been added, such as the news page. But thanks to financial support from partnerships, new features will soon be available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can you give us an example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main evolution will be the ability to create your own account on the site, with the goal of being able to modify the classification so that it best corresponds to everyone\u2019s perceptions. For example, if I have classified the bergamot in the hesp\u00e9rid\u00e9 and green category, but a user perceives it more as a floral aspect, they will be able to change their place in their classification, which will only be accessible to that user. The others will not be affected by this change. This important and highly requested feature is planned for the first half of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you proceed to identify new raw materials?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is done as discussions with the companies progress. Some send me a sample of their materials \u2013 others don\u2019t know that they can do that. It will then be evaluated during the sessions. I may also be interested in a particular material \u2013 ylang ylang, for example \u2013 and to be able to make comparisons during olfactory sessions, I then request samples from the different suppliers. This allows me to be more precise in my descriptions and thus more objective in my classification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you know who the main users of the site are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are mostly women, aged between 18 and 30, mainly from France and Europe, and in the vast majority of cases they are working in the industry. But we have a wider audience on social media, such as our Instagram and Linkedin pages: we publish exclusive content there, including many \u201cfun facts\u201d about the ingredients. They offer a different reading of molecules, allowing you to understand perfumery in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are your various ongoing partnerships?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have forged partnerships of various kinds with important players in our industry. From the very start of Scentree, we received the support of Cinqui\u00e8me Sens, which provides us with its coworking space in the 7th arrondissement of Paris for the evaluation sessions of raw materials that I regularly organize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Isipca, of which I am a graduate, has also supported me, both through financial aid and through the teachers who help me complete the database when they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another essential aspect of the site\u2019s life is its ability to fund its development. The current model of ScenTree thus relies on the paid promotion of raw material producers on the product sheets they distribute. This is also what will allow for continued access to free content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would also like to thank the company Quosentis and its founder, Julie Rochon, who was the first to trust us. She is already present on thirty-some products and we have just renewed our partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help me with this marketing, I am now working with the advertising agency Nez, specifically with Dominique Brunel. It was ultimately a fairly logical move, since Nez was the first media outlet to support us, and its team is in regular contact with the composition houses and raw material suppliers. This allows me, on my part, to focus on the classification itself and on the new features of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nose is also a lever for ScenTree\u2019s communication and opens up new opportunities for it. Thus, for the first time, we are partners of the Beautyworld Dubai exhibition which will be held next October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What can I wish you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wish that ScenTree becomes the benchmark for the ingredients in perfumery, that it can be perceived as a tool that is both professional, educational and collaborative. With a richer database, strong visibility offered to ingredient producers and more interaction between users, I would like ScenTree to become a \u00absocial Wikipedia\u00bb of perfume raw materials!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Journalist: Jessica Mignot<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mag.bynez.com Country: France<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Les mati\u00e8res premi\u00e8res, naturelles ou synth\u00e9tiques, sont au c\u0153ur de la composition des parfums. Leur connaissance touche au domaine de la botanique, de la science, de la r\u00e9glementation… et bien s\u00fbr de l’olfaction. Fin 2019, deux \u00e9tudiants de l’Isipca lan\u00e7aient ScenTree, un outil en ligne de classification et d’information sur ces mati\u00e8res, \u00e0 destination des professionnels de la fili\u00e8re. \u00c0 l’origine simple projet de fin d’\u00e9tudes, ScenTree est en passe de devenir une r\u00e9f\u00e9rence pour tous ceux qui souhaitent mieux conna\u00eetre les ingr\u00e9dients en parfumerie, ceux qui les utilisent mais aussi ceux qui les produisent ou les distribuent. Nous avons voulu faire un point avec Maxime Baud, d\u00e9sormais seul aux commandes de la plate-forme.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualites"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1837,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/1837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinquiemesens.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}