It was 45 years ago in a college lab just out of New York City where Vince Kuczinski had an epiphany. As a titration tediously trickled through the glassware, the young chemistry student was struck by a paralyzing fear.
Kuczinski recalls, “It was like a bolt of lightning hit me. I just suddenly thought, am I going to do this for the rest of my life? I love chemistry, but I just didn’t have that passion.”
Determined to see if chemistry was the problem, Kuczinski took a giant leap. After securing a leave of absence from college, he answered an ad for a lab technician role at a local fragrance company.
“I had no clue. I thought fragrances were made in France! I only thought of colognes and perfumes—I had no idea all of these other products had fragrances, too.”
Just weeks later in a lab in Manhattan, Kuczinski found himself making his first compound at IFF, one of the world’s largest fragrance companies. After meticulously following the perfumer’s formula, adding and mixing a simple but precise assortment of ingredients, Kuczinski blotted. When the feminine and voluptuous rose scent unfolded, he was hooked.
“I just put these materials together and now it smells like a rose. I was fascinated by that. It was chemistry, but better.”
For the full article, please check out the Perfumer & Flavorist+ June 2022 issue.
