The Artisan
The Story of to children's cough syrup
Kenny Kramm (1960-2016) was not a traditional perfumer in the luxury fragrance sense, but rather a flavor chemist and pharmacy innovator whose work transformed the experience of pediatric medicine for millions of families. The son of a pharmacist, Kramm grew up immersed in the family business, Center Pharmacy, in Washington D.C., eventually joining the operation as a business manager in 1992. His life pivoted dramatically when his daughter Hadley, born severely premature, developed disabilities including cerebral palsy and required multiple daily doses of phenobarbital, an extraordinarily bitter anti-seizure medication that she would routinely reject, spit out, or hold in her mouth for extended periods. Desperate to help his daughter, Kramm began experimenting with candy flavorings mixed into the medication, systematically testing dozens of combinations on his own tongue before each trial with Hadley. After rejecting at least ten options, his daughter finally accepted a banana-flavored version, marking the first time in months Kramm felt he had regained some control over his family's circumstances. He and his pharmacist father then expanded their work, developing dozens of pediatric-friendly flavors including bubble gum, grape, watermelon, and sour variants, offering these custom additives to other families through their pharmacy. While Kramm never received formal perfumery training, his work in gustatory and olfactory masking represented a unique branch of scent work, focusing on making bitter, medicinal compounds palatable rather than crafting luxury fragrances. His innovations demonstrated how understanding the intersection of taste, smell, and psychology could improve human experience in profound, everyday ways. He passed away in 2016 at age 55 from complications following an infection.
Philosophy
Kramm believed that the science of making unpalatable things acceptable could have as much impact on human welfare as any luxury creation. His approach centered on empathy and observation, arguing that truly understanding how a patient experiences medication whether through the tongue, nose, or emotional memory of taste was the only way to solve the problem effectively. He resisted the notion that simply covering up bad flavors was sufficient, instead advocating for combinations that worked with the underlying chemistry of medications rather than against it. His philosophy emerged directly from sleepless nights watching his daughter struggle with necessary medicine, and he brought that parental desperation into his work, describing the moment Hadley accepted the banana-flavored phenobarbital as feeling like he had reclaimed some power in a situation that had stripped his family of control. While traditional perfumers seek to create beautiful scents, Kramm's mission was to make the unacceptable tolerable, viewing medicine refusal not as behavioral stubbornness but as a sensory problem requiring elegant solutions. His methodology prioritized function over artistry, yet the creativity required to mask powerful drug compounds with food-grade flavorings demanded deep knowledge of both chemistry and human perception.
Creative Approach
Kramm's work operated in the intersection between gustatory and olfactory science, though his creations were designed for ingestion rather than inhalation. His signature approach involved layering sweet, familiar flavors to create a sensory distraction that overwhelmed the bitter receptors triggered by medications like phenobarbital. Banana emerged as his most famous success, a choice driven by his daughter's preferences rather than any particular ingredient expertise. He developed dozens of additional flavors including bubble gum, grape, watermelon, and sour formulations, each requiring extensive testing to ensure they masked medicinal bitterness without interfering with drug efficacy. His flavorings had to work within strict pharmaceutical constraints, avoiding chemical interactions with the medications they accompanied while still delivering strong sensory impact. Unlike perfumers who build accords around specific olfactive themes, Kramm's style was fundamentally problem-solving oriented, selecting ingredients based on their ability to override specific unpleasant notes rather than creating pleasing compositions for their own sake. His work prioritized immediate palatability over lingering fragrance, making his creations more akin to culinary solutions than traditional perfumery.
At a Glance
1992
34+ years of craft
Signature Style
“Kramm's work operated in the intersection between gustatory and olfactory science, though his creations were designed for ingestion rather than inhalation.”