Searching out Pissara Umivijani's new shop in Paris, one strolls through some of the finest real estate in the world. The shop is in the coveted First Arrondissement 75001 which is less than three quarters of a square mile in area, but when viewed on a map of Paris looks like the beating heart in the center of the city. The Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Gardens take up the majority of the land but Rue de Rivoli and Place Vendome are dotted with designer boutiques, opulent hotels, and trendy restaurants. There is a lot of hustle and bustle in this area thronging with tourists, but just a few steps away is a little side street called Rue de la Sourdiere. When you enter it you are immersed in quiet and calm as if the thrumming vibe of the city doesn't exist. About halfway down the street you will come to the welcoming site of the Parfums Dusita boutique.
I arrived before Pissara for our appointment and spent some time chatting with one of her friendly interns who is in Paris to attend perfume school himself. I have chatted online with Pissara a few times and watched some of her live videos, so when she swept through the door way, clutching beloved Bambi against her chest and offering apologies for my wait, it seemed more like greeting a friend rather than a first time meeting.
A great place for a sack lunch, a short stroll from Parfums Dusita is Jardin des Tuileries.
Q: Tell me what led you to want to open a shop. Was that desire always there?
A: Actually, it's always a dream for me since the beginning, but I haven't talked about it because it was kind of ambitious. It is a dream, I believe, of any brand to have its own place to welcome people. I always looked to be where clients can read the poetry of my father and really see the world of Dusita.
Q: You are in the neighborhood. Was it hard to get here because this is probably for a perfumer to arrive in Arrondissement 1, the dream.
A: I always dream of this area. Actually we were looking at different places like Le Marais and a bit further down from here but we have to think of our budget. Actually this place was a bit of luck. I wanted this place but there was already a contract. At the last minute it became available and the agent called me and I said I would like to take it immediately. I had no doubt whether I should do it or not. That street (Pissara points to the intersection down the street) is extremely expensive but because this street is quiet it is a little affordable.
Q: In addition to selling your perfumes here do you have any ideas of how you want to use the space?
A: Yes, I want to make the atelier. I want to have workshops where people can join me in perfume creation or just the studying of materials. We are setting up workshops and courses for people who just want to enjoy two or three hours, and then master classes.
***As I write this, it looks like Parfums Dusita has just hosted their first class for Perfumery Club Russia, according to the Facebook page.
***Here on my recording there is a ten minute session where I talk about my dog, Buffy, who I've left back in the States, and Pissara tells me the story of Bambi and how she comes to the shop everyday!***
Bambi, in Paris.
Buffy, not in Paris
A: No! When I started the brand at first I asked my friend to do illustrations but eventually I realized the difficulty of interpreting the perfume; the color, the shade, and what kind of media. Then I did it myself. It's very fun for me to interpret.
Pissara's artwork for Fleur de Lalita.
Q: You have two newish perfumes, Fleur de Lalita and Erawan. Were you working on them at the same time.
A: Yes, around the same period. I had Le Douceur de Siam. This one is the traditional refined two-hundred years ago Thai woman. Fleur de Lalita has a very different kind of feeling. She is dynamic, creative, modern type of girl. The energy of the florals is different. This one (FDL) is a young girl. This is the most youthful perfume in the collection. Le Douceur is more elegant, refined.
Q: To me, maybe because of your father's poetry, most of your perfumes have in some way tied back to your Thai roots. Will this trend continue?
A: I think so. The perfumes are linked to the poetic world of my father and his voyage. He traveled but he doesn't forget his roots. The second thing is my love for vintage perfumes, like L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain.
Pissara Umivijani in her shop.
Q: Are you thinking of adding a new perfume to your line?
A: You see in the past I release two perfumes at a time. From now on I will release only one per year, as I have a lot already. Right now I am thinking about my childhood memory that relates to my father. It is Bangkok many years ago, let's say in the 70's, when I found Bangkok a very charming place to be. It has changed so much. In the old days it was a really charming time. Q: Do you consider yourself a Parisian now that you have a shop here?
A: I think I will be settled here long term because of my shop. I feel very at home here but connected to my Thai roots.
Q: I first talked with you when you were just starting out. I think the general consensus was that you were such a talented marketeer, creating such a buzz for your new brand. You just came out of nowhere and then were being talked about everywhere. Of course that wouldn't have happened had the perfumes not been good.
A: I was lucky. The thing nobody knew was that the first year, my samples that I sent out, ninety percent of them the bottles leaked. I had 3000 of them and I had to replace and resend many. We learned from many mistakes! I'm happy to tell you that I looked forward to meeting you because from the beginning I knew you and thank you so much.
Q: Thank you! I can remember that you wrote on Facebook Fragrance Friends about Issara, and I wrote to you that this perfume reminded me of scents of a trip I had recently taken to Turkey. You then sent me your first three perfumes, which I wrote about.
A: Yes, I remember. I think you were the first person who interviewed me.
Q: Was I?
A: Yes, you sent me questions in the email and I was really happy. This time seems like yesterday to me but since then so many things have happened. It's only two years ago.
In two short years Pissara Umavijani has founded her perfume line and now opened an atelier in the most fashionable area of Paris. Talk about achieving your goals! I can't wait to see what is yet to come for Parfums Dusita.
Fleur de Lalita
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Fleur De Lalita was released in 2017 and was another beautiful addition to the pure florals in the Parfums Dusita line, which includes La Douceur de Siam and Melodie de L'Amour. The Dusita website describes the opening as a "breath-taking floral profusion" comprised of Rose de Mai from Grasse, Magnolia Absolute, Jasmine Graniflora, and Lilium Candidum Absolute, which I know as the Madonna Lily. I am pleased that on my skin the first note I get the most strongly is magnolia. I find this is a white flower that I less frequently come across in perfume. It reminds me a little of the gardenia, with its creaminess and slight hint of lemon but it is less voluptuous than its sister flower. Gardenia is all about showiness and look at me in all my gorgeousness. Magnolia breathes with a quiet innocence. The potential for the white-flower seductiveness is there, but is not yet fully recognized. The opening was a wet languidness that speaks of Thailand or Asian climate, but as a Southerner in the States, it brought to my mind images of girls in white dresses in front of southern mansions on grounds with majestic old oaks draped in moss, the salinity and humidity from the nearby bayou making its presence felt. Here is one of the most memorialized Southern Belles of all time, Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.
But just as the Scarlett character was more complex than the sweet young thing she was supposed to present herself as to land a husband, Fleur de Lalita has more to come. Notes of jasmine with her flirty touch of indolics prick the prim perfection of the magnolia. Very fleeting hints of lily add a certain sweetness while ramping up the profusion of white flowers. I don't actually get much rose, and I picture it as more of a white rose, without the richness and strong rose scent that I identify with red roses. The feeling of moisture and humid florals persists, lending a languorous haziness.
The opening is full of white flowers but it also features galbanum. Pissara has used galbanum in some of her other perfumes and it is a note I think of as being more present in vintage perfumes, and perhaps this is part of her attachment to it. In green-type perfumes galbanum can take over and steer the perfume's course but here is is used for a light uplifting note as well as adding a little earthiness. Other reviewers have mentioned a smokiness to the galbanum but to me it reinforces my imagining a white columned mansion surrounded by oaks draped in moss, the green and the moss adding a very subtle funk and verdant air.
There is a heart note of ambrette seed that adds a musky animalic aura to Fleur de Lalita. I also get flicks of nutty sweetness and balsamic references which I'm going to credit to the ambrette seed. Later the white floral notes fade. The galbanum is present but also fading. The scent becomes a fuzzy musky base with notes of vanilla, tonka bean, and ambergris. The vanilla and tonka bean are very muddled and muted on my skin; it is the ambergris which I smell the most with its musky, earthy aroma. With Fleur de Lalita Parfums Dusita once again gives us a memorable and beautiful perfume to savor with its refined French style but a nod to Pissara Umivijani's Thailand roots.
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To read more about Pissara and her perfumes on The Fragrant Journey go here, here, and here.
To see Pissara and catch a glimpse of her charming personality go here for an interview at Pitti 2018 featured on the blog Cafleurebon. (Scroll to the bottom and watch the YouTube interview, she's first).
To read more about my perfumed travels in France, start here.
A very big thank you to Pissara Umivijani of Parfums Dusita for hosting me in her shop and for the opportunity to try her new perfums!
All photos not credited are my own.
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