Ernesto Collado
Ernesto Collado had a career as a theatre actor, director and contemporary artist until the disease phantosmia robbed him of his sense of smell in 2014. A self-taught botanist, he embarked on a quest to heal himself through daily walks in the countryside of his native Empordà in Northern Spain. Today he is an environmental activist, educator and accidental perfumer who pours his indefatigable creativity into creating 100% pure, natural scents inspired by the landscape as a way to help people reconnect with their environment and with nature through their sense of smell.
Photography by Justine Robineau
Portrait photography by Anna Pla-Narbona
Film by Michaël Diot
Excerpts from Issue 9 of Faire
“It made me aware of how important and vital the sense of smell is in order to be in contact with the chemical world. And everything is chemistry. Our sense of smell is vital for getting us in touch with the world in a way that no other sense can do. It connects us to the core of things.”
“Next to someone like Jean-Claude Ellena, the nose for Hermes, I feel like this little guy who just knows about plants from being here, walking and exploring the land, and being curious. I’m not academic at all. I just try things and follow my intuition.”
“I believe rules are made to be broken. I have always been anti-academic. When I was studying, I was always a pain in the ass, asking the wrong questions (if there is such a thing as bad questions). I believe that curiosity is so much more important than preparation and education. Curiosity keeps us young. It keeps us luminous and bright”
“People have this idea about perfumers. They imagine that I might sit down and say, ‘Today I’m going to make a perfume that evokes the scent of leather.’ I don’t work like that. I never make a perfume out of the blue – it’s always because I fall in love with a particular place or experience.”
You can find more information on filmmaker Michaël Diot @micha.diot or on his website.
