Walker Minton
About Walker Minton
Walker Minton is a jazz musician and freelance writer with a lifelong interest in scent. He lives in North London with his partner and two sons. Walker was shortlisted in the 2008 Jasmine Awards. walker_minton@yahoo.co.uk
12 found. Showing stories 1 to 12, with most recent first.
Double Deckers, Disappointments and Excellence
01 August 2009 Columnists
Front seats on the top deck of a London bus are always in demand. Every time I climb the stairs and turn the ninety degrees at the top, I hope one of them is free. Sitting there seems to be one of those rare pleasures which never diminish with age, the incredible unwieldiness of the vehicle distilled into that one small area, making it somewhat like a fairground ride. In every other seat, the journey is mundane but here it is a rollercoaster of just missed tree branches and building corners....
Time to get serious
02 June 2009 Columnists
When the going gets tough in real life and especially when I am reminded of mortality, wearing fragrance may be thought to be trivial. Not for me. While it is definitely not the most important thing for me to focus on, the unavoidable reality of smell in itself it becomes more earnest, more serious and substantial along with everything else. At times like these, I am reminded of visceral, non-cerebral, bodily reality. I wish for the smell of reassuring natural things rather than that of ideas, echoes or shadows of nature. I crave the soft complexity that brings feelings of comfort and solidity rather than recognisable and impressive constructions of building bricks; all sharp edges, straight lines and uniform components. I avoid the superficial; trivial smells are for trivial times (or times so serious that triviality itself becomes a serious commodity, but fortunately I have not lived through war). With life in normal proportions, a perfume interacts with all aspects of life, fears, anxieties, stresses, the bad parts as well as the good....
Book Review: The Perfect Scent, a year inside the perfume industry in Paris and New York
05 May 2009 Columnists
Part boardroom drama, part pop psychology, this is a book about perfume business meetings and the characters who attend them. With a strong journalistic style and an informed and opinionated perspective, Burr conjures a moist narrative from the desiccation of the money-go-round and manages to share a little knowledge along the way. ...
Britain’s Jermyn Gentlemen
01 April 2009 Columnists
Sometimes the most interesting journeys are very short ones. A wander down Jermyn Street behind Piccadilly, London is no exception. Trumpers, Floris and Czech & Speake all have shop fronts there; much of the quintessential British perfume tradition is available in the space of a few yards. ...
Bay Rum
08 March 2009 Columnists
Uncomplicated, traditional, masculine and long overdue for a comeback, the infusion of bay combined with rum and spicy clove has a clarity and directness which makes it the antithesis of most fragrances. Wearing it today, it reminds me of my Father, long gone. He never wore it but he did take me to the barber shop on Saturday afternoons......
An Interview with Mandy Aftel
23 December 2008 Interviews
Mandy Aftel is a woman of many talents and achievements. She has written “Essence and Alchemy- A Natural History Of Perfume” which is essential reading for the perfume enthusiast and contains fascinating insights into raw materials and perfume structures as well as excellent contextual history with wonderful historical illustrations. She has, among other things, written about Brian Jones, set up the Natural Perfumer’s Guild, and composed and launched her own line of liquid and solid natural perfumes under her Aftelier label.
We spoke on the telephone across the ocean one Thursday, evening for me, lunch time for Mandy. I am especially grateful for her continued good humour when we spoke later than arranged due to my failure to properly check the time difference.
...Skye
15 December 2008 Articles
Having recently returned to London from the Isle of Skye in the West Highlands of Scotland, I thought it was past time I purchased some Skye cologne from Geo F. Trumper. It had been on my mind while I was there, though I had found none to buy. I examined the notes on the Trumpers official site; they list rosemary, geranium, ylang ylang and musk but state it is made with eleven essences. I wondered what the other seven could be and why they may not be listed. Perhaps a fine extract of midges? Averted by the punishing price increases over the last few years from my favourite purveyor of barbershop goodies, I turned quickly to a well known auction website and made my deal. I sat back and awaited its arrival, eager to stretch out the memory of my trip which was fading fast in the smog....
How I Think I Smell
21 August 2008 Articles
I like the smell of perfume. A simple timeless pleasure of things that smell good. However, like many things, once I start to think about a little, the simplicity has a tendency to evaporate at the speed of citrus top notes.
The complexity starts with a problem of over indulgence; I am fortunate enough to possess many bottles. The catch is that with the rich diversity in my cupboard comes a very modern dilemma: options are too many, criteria too few (or to put it another way: which shall I wear today and why?)
...Clarins and Porsche Design Launch “The Essence”
13 June 2008 Industry News
In keeping with their brand identity of diverse technical luxury design items Porsche Design have announced the launch of their new fragrance named “The Essence". True to their heritage of using innovative materials it is built around a new fresh smelling molecule designed especially for Porsche Design by Anne Flipo and Bruno Jovanovic named Arctical. This provides a striking cold metallic accord which is tempered by aromatic notes and warm woody tones...
Lavender
28 April 2008 Articles
Creed Royal Scottish Lavender is my favourite fragrance but I cannot wear it anymore.... Lavender is quite possibly the perfume note I enjoy most of all. It takes a very interesting position in the mix, straddling the top and heart notes, not as effervescent as most citrus heads but lighter than most floral hearts....
Relatives
28 January 2008 Articles
My nephew has a bottle of Jules by Dior. Or perhaps he has two. He may have several stashed away, I'm not sure. I have great memories of wearing Jules in the 80s. Sweet boozy citrusy aldehydic leathery manliness in a bottle. A mist of highly composed chemical potion encapsulating the tail end of modernism. However, I didn't see it like that at the time....
Scented Summer Travelogue
05 November 2007 Articles
In his first atmospheric piece for Basenotes, Walker Minton parts the falling leaves of November to allow us a peek back towards a wet and fragrant summer, in which he rediscovers old loves and finds new delights in unexpected quarters....
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