Linda Pilkington: Interview with a Perfumer

This is an exciting time for Ormonde Jayne, a London-based perfumery. The company recently celebrated its seventh anniversary, and was nominated for Best Emerging British Luxury Brand by Walpole, a prestigious London-based organization that promotes British luxury brands. If that wasn’t news enough, Ormonde Jayne’s newest fragrance, Tiare, was also released in November. 

I spoke with founder Linda Pilkington on a cold November night while she was staying at a hotel in the English countryside. She was very generous with her time and insights into her business, and we even shared a few laughs. 

VD: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me; you must be super busy right now. The Walpole Awards are not that well known in the U.S. yet, but it’s a big honor in the UK. You must be excited. 

LP: Yes, I am, although I don’t think we will win. We are up against some companies that get a lot of publicity. 

VD: You are releasing Tiare this month, which is named after the Tahitian gardenia. How did Tiare come about? 

LP: The idea was to create a fragrance you could wear all the time and in all seasons, and Tiare is just that. 

VD: You’ve said your philosophy of perfumery is to create beautiful scents using specialty oils not widely used in the perfume industry today. Can you tell me more? 

LP: We use different ingredients to open up a perfume, so you can smell everything coming through as it develops. When you use high-quality ingredients, the perfumes last longer and you can perhaps smell a little of it on your scarf the next day. High-quality oils are very expensive, but because we are small, we can work to get the perfume smelling the way we want, without the pressure that larger companies have to release their perfumes. We don’t launch a fragrance if it doesn’t work. 

We have been very lucky in developing relationships in Grasse. We’ve received expert advice and consultations, and the companies we work with have accommodated my tiny orders. I still work with the companies I started out with, and am dedicated to the people I’ve worked with from the beginning. 

VD: You’ve grown a very luxurious, elegant brand in some trying economic times, creating twelve fragrances since 2002. What is your philosophy about growing the business side of Ormonde Jayne? 

LP: We started out with four perfumes: Ormonde (now Ormonde Woman) Champaca, Tolu, and Osmanthus. I am a slow and steady person and I didn’t want to take on outside investors; I wanted to have complete control of Ormonde Jayne and my vision for it. I prefer to stay small, so we’ve stayed light on our feet. We have no debt and no outside investors, and have grown completely on our own. 

VD: You have boutiques in Dubai and a shop in London. What are your plans for Ormonde Jayne going forward? I’m looking forward to seeing you in the United States! 

LP: I have small expansion plans over the next two to five years. We may expand into perhaps two department stores in the U.K. and seven to eight points of sales in the Emirates, and the same number in the U.S. We have to get it right in the United States. It’s huge and you need the right partner. We’re looking at various stores to see what they offer and may be in the U.S. at the end of next year. 

I prefer to stay small and not be overwhelmed by the business side. The idea is to have control on every level and be able to pay yourself, too, so I’ve recently hired Sue Sanford, our U.K. Manger, to grow the business this year. She understands the financial side of everything and is doing a wonderful job already. 

VD: What have been the challenges of raising both a young company and two young sons? How do you cope?  

LP: I have dogs, too, and a husband who works overseas a lot, so I am lucky to have great help. I have a wonderful cook who has been with us forever and access to organic markets, so we spend a lot of time thinking about food, planning meals, and having dinner parties at the house. 

VD: What’s up next on the fragrance front? Do you have any ideas hovering? 

LP: Journalists always ask me that, and then don’t want to talk to me when I am not releasing anything new! The shop has recently been redone, as has the packaging, and I finally have everything looking and smelling the way I want. I’m going to take a break for a while, maybe eighteen months. Time off frees up the mind for new ideas. I’m going to read books and work on a new way to wear perfume. I am also expanding the product line. Isfarkand is very popular and I have lots of male customers who are devoted to it; it now comes in a shampoo and body wash. 

VD: I love the new Web site. Ordering is very easy, and the transactions come though in local currency on the credit card, which is very nice. You’ve been very receptive to the online perfume community, how did that come about? 

LP: Sarah Ehrlich (Ormonde Jayne’s public relations person) is an old friend and she wanted to venture into that arena, so we have. We have a tight, mixed group of people at Ormonde Jayne and have created a community there, too. I have one person who has been with us from day one. All our employees get lots of training. They do not work on commission and there is no hard sell, and we have very loyal customers who appreciate that. 

VD: I read an interview on Basenotes where you said if you could go back in time, you’d like to be Nefertiti’s perfumer and embalmer. I couldn’t agree more; I think that would be way more fun than being Nefertiti. Have you ever thought about the sort of fragrance you’d create to personify Nefertiti? 

LP: No, I haven’t (laughing ). Egypt is my favorite country in the world, though. I love floating down the Nile in a felucca and I love the people, the landscape, and the weather. There is magnificent deep-sea diving in Egypt, and if I could spend three months of the year there, I would. If my husband called right now and said, “Let’s go,” I’d be packing my bags! 

At this point, I realized I had been talking Linda’s ear off for about an hour, so we finished up. I found out just how gracious she is because it turned out she had been huddling in the door of her hotel to get cell phone reception. She wouldn’t even admit to being cold, saying it was alright and she had her coat and gloves on. 

I can’t wait to see what comes about after her eighteen months off, although I will admit I’m equally interested in what she will be reading and eating during those months! It became very clear during our interview that while Linda says she does not understand the financial side of her work that much, she has been incredibly smart and focused about growing the brand carefully over the last seven years, while being rigorous about creating high-quality, innovative perfume. Wherever Ormonde Jayne goes, it will be with her clear vision and high standards guiding the future of the company.