Arabian Musk with its top notes of leather, tonkabeans and musk welcomes you as you enter the iconic Chandni Chowk outlet of Gulab Singh Johrimal House of Fragrance in Old Delhi. Set up in 1816, today it is run by Kushal Gundhi, the eighth generation perfumer who admits, “I literally think fragrance.” Blending a fragrance is both instinctive and intuitive, quite like composing music or meditating, believes the 31-year-old. “The notes themselves lead you through the formulation until it becomes whole,” smiles Kushal, who has perfected three of the world’s most prominent perfumery styles—Indian (the oldest), French and Arabic.
Fragrance, like music, is a reflection of the creator’s personality. Affable and gentle, Kushal has combined the ancient values of Indian perfumery and the refinement and class of western perfumery on a common platform through his hallmark blends. Specialising in ‘attar’ fragrance oils, creating blends comes naturally to him. “One shouldn’t be able to differentiate the notes which should dissolve into a third dimension altogether,” he says. His perfect balance of notes from varied fragrance families is in symphonic harmony. The immaculate toning down of even the heaviest notes such as labdanum and oud to compliment lighter ones is the young perfumer’s forte.
Request him and he is more than happy to take you through his three favourite fragrances—from the warm, dreamy, seductive and deeply evocative formulation of the Arabian Musk and White Musk Smoky, a sensuous western-style tobacco leaf, pink pepper number, to the Patchouli Blend which seems like rummaging through grandpa’s perfume drawer and stealing a few drops of his evergreen old-school aftershave and a collection of ouds from Oud Saffron that is a blend of amber, saffron, and oud, and Oud Nawabi, a softer oud offering with mid notes of rose, honey, caramel.
Besides, there is the floral Khalifa, a lighter interpretation with tuberose, vanilla and lemon, Benazir with a quintessentially devotional Indian floral notes, and Alishan, a bright, fresh floral Indian bouquet. Also trained in Indian classical music, Kushal immensely values tradition. “Modern perfumers are moving away from their roots. We must remember that we pioneered perfumery more than 5,000 years ago. It’s about time we breathed new life into it,” he smiles.