Dr. Prakash Narayanan
Dr. Prakash Narayanan spent two decades at Givaudan, the Swiss fragrance house, where his training in analytical chemistry became his defining advantage. Rather than approaching scent purely through artistic intuition, he learned to map aroma molecules with scientific precision, isolating the precise compounds that make a jasmine absolute smell like rain-soaked petals versus sun-dried ones. His work at Givaudan's Vernier facility placed him among a rare breed of perfumers who could articulate exactly why a fragrance worked, dissecting the chemistry beneath the emotion. After retiring from the house, he returned to Bangalore and became a mentor at the Centre for Perfumery Studies at Hindu College, where he now trains the next generation of Indian noses. His influence extends beyond the lab and classroom, having collaborated with international fashion houses on fragrance collections that brought his scientific rigor to a broader audience.
The signature
How Dr. composes
Narayanan gravitates toward natural materials that reward close attention. He favors ingredients with complexity that reveals itself over time: warm woods, resinous bases, and floral absolutes that shift from top note to drydown. His analytical training makes him particularly precise with accord-building, constructing small details that most noses might not consciously register but certainly feel. He tends toward compositions with structure and intentionality, avoiding excess in favor of clarity. When working with Indian materials like oud or vetiver, he treats them not as regional curiosities but as world-class ingredients requiring the same rigorous study as any classic component.
Philosophy
What drives Dr.
Narayanan believes that great fragrance begins with understanding what nature actually contains, not what we imagine it to smell like. His analytical background taught him patience with raw materials, pushing him to study ingredients across seasons, origins, and extraction methods before committing them to a formula. He approaches each fragrance as a hypothesis, testing how individual materials interact at a molecular level before building compositions that feel effortless. For him, perfumery sits at the intersection of science and poetry, and neglecting either side produces something hollow. His work seeks to make that invisible chemistry felt by the wearer.