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Ineke Rühland

Dutch-Canadian Ineke Rühland is a San Francisco-based perfumer. In 2006, she launched her own brand, INEKE.

Ineke, tell us a little bit about yourself, and your brand, INEKE. What made you want to launch it?

I have dual citizenship, Canadian and Dutch, and before launching my own line I worked for 12 years in various European countries for Quest, the fragrance supplier that is now part of Givaudan. I originally worked on the business and marketing side, but was drawn to the role of the perfumer, and retrained by going to ISIPCA, the perfumery school in Versailles, in the late 1990’s.

After moving to San Francisco, a wonderful city that unfortunately has no fragrance-supply industry, I decided it would be a good time to start my own business. Having my own line lets me use both my perfumery and marketing skills, and is a good fit with my strong independent streak.

What influences you as a designer?

Perhaps my strongest influence at the moment is my scented garden. Since moving to San Francisco, my husband and I have become very enthusiastic gardeners, and we have collected a lot of unusual scented plants. I am becoming quite good at replicating their scents – it helps to have my lab in my home office so that I can continually go between the two to compare my trials. My latest fragrance, Evening Edged in Gold, uses two night-scented plants that we grow: Angel’s Trumpet (brugmansia) and Midnight Candy (zaluzianskya capensis). They were strong enough to stand on their own, no other floralcy or sweet notes required.

How can we recognize one of your fragrances? What are, in your opinion, their distinguishing characteristics?

I would say that my preferences tend toward the fresh and clean, although my latest fragrance is actually quite dense and warm. It’s a goal of mine to remain versatile and try to work in different directions. Above all I would say that I have a predilection for florals. I often think the flowers that can’t be distilled are the ones that smell most interesting, so a continuing challenge for me in the future will be replication. If I had to choose a single raw material that I couldn’t live without, it would be hedione, the ultimate “floralizer” that brings flower oils and absolutes to life.

Do you think that being a woman influences the way you create… and if so, in what way?

I honestly don’t see gender as being a major influence on my work. On the other hand, ideas for women’s fragrances do come to me more easily. I still like creating men’s fragrances, but my take is more “how would I like a man to smell” rather than what a man would find attractive for himself.

What other designer’s fragrance(s) do you wish you had created? And why?

My first pick would have to be Bulgari Eau parfumée au thé vert by Jean-Claude Ellena. It’s beautifully balanced, entirely refreshing and delicious, perfect for a summer day. I remember when it arrived in our office in Paris in 1992, and everyone swooned. It’s one of those scents that moved the marketplace, adding something new to the cologne structure. My runner-up would be Ambre Sultan by Chris Sheldrake for Serge Lutens, which I find completely alluring on a man (although unfortunately, I can’t wear it myself). My second runner-up would be Jacques Cavallier’s Stella, a perfect rose/peony.

How do you envisage the future for fragrances? Do you have any hopes for the future?

I hope that perfumery will become much more than just an extension of some “lifestyle brand”. My big hope for the future is that perfumer will get out in front of the curtain as creators, rather than remaining hidden in the background. I think the consumer is ready for this, and in fact it looks inauthentic and hollow when a clothing designer or celebrity takes credit for a fragrance’s creation. With lines like Frederic Malle’s Editions de Parfums putting the perfumer’s name on the bottle, people are starting to realize that there is a profession called “perfumer”, and that neither clothing designers nor celebrities are actually in the lab mixing up fragrances. I think it is a compelling story for companies like Chanel and Hermès to be able to talk about their in-house perfumers. I would also welcome some more perfumer-owned niche lines like my own – there is strength in numbers!