{"id":1491,"date":"2008-10-11T17:00:22","date_gmt":"2008-10-11T21:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/?page_id=1491"},"modified":"2026-05-15T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:27:01","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>\u201cNotre m\u00e9tier est bas\u00e9 sur cette notion de secret.\u201d &nbsp; [Our profession is based on the notion of secrecy.]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>\u2014 Jacques Cavallier, famed perfumer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>What We Do Is Secret<\/em> began in 2005 as the name of my sculpture studio in New York. Around that time, I started writing here \u2014 first about perfume, then architecture, photography, design, films, and the strange connections between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Born in New York and raised in Japan, I returned to America to pursue sculpture and became immersed in contemporary art before discovering another medium: scent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Long before \u201colfactory art\u201d became part of the perfume world\u2019s vocabulary, I was already using the term online to describe experiments that existed somewhere between perfume, memory, atmosphere, and conceptual art. I eventually became known as one of the pioneers of olfactory art, collaborating with perfumers who shared the same instinct for exploration \u2014 no rules, no boundaries, only emotion and intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">But over time, my perspective changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Art can survive without pleasure. Perfume cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">That distinction became important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Today, I no longer see perfume as art in the traditional sense. Perfume lives closer to the body and everyday life. It should seduce, comfort, obsess, attract, disturb, or become part of someone\u2019s memory. It should leave a trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Perfume is simply perfume \u2014 and that is unique enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>What We Do Is Secret\u00ae<\/em> eventually became the umbrella for the fragrances I\u2019ve created with perfumers since 2000 \u2014 projects such as <em>S-perfume\u00ae<\/em>, <em>A Lab on Fire\u00ae<\/em>, <em>Monoscent\u00ae<\/em>, and now <em>WWDIS\u00ae<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This blog remains something else entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A quieter and more unfinished space where I still leave fragments of whatever stays with me \u2014 architecture, images, scent, or thoughts that refuse to disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">People call me \u30ce\u30d3 (no.bi).<br>I still prefer to stay behind the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Visit the fragrance collection at <strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-black-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.is\">wwd.is<\/a><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/no.bi\">no.bi<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><br><br>RELATED ARTICLE: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/beauty-industry-news\/beauty-features\/iff-blog-offers-behind-the-scenes-look-at-fragrance-creation-505549\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Blog Offers Behind-the-Scenes Look at Fragrance&nbsp;Creation<\/strong><\/a><\/em> (WWD, Feb 23, 2007)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNotre m\u00e9tier est bas\u00e9 sur cette notion de secret.\u201d &nbsp; [Our profession is based on the notion of secrecy.] \u2014 Jacques Cavallier, famed perfumer &nbsp; What We Do Is Secret began in 2005 as the name of my sculpture studio in New York. Around that time, I started writing here \u2014 first about perfume, then [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1491","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About - WHAT WE DO IS SECRET<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - WHAT WE DO IS SECRET\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cNotre m\u00e9tier est bas\u00e9 sur cette notion de secret.\u201d &nbsp; [Our profession is based on the notion of secrecy.] \u2014 Jacques Cavallier, famed perfumer &nbsp; What We Do Is Secret began in 2005 as the name of my sculpture studio in New York. 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New York Laurent Le Guernec was born near Paris in January 1967. Although Laurent was not consciously aware of the world of perfumery as a profession growing up, he certainly was subliminally. He recalls seeing his mother and grandmother surrounded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Misc.&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Misc.","link":"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/category\/v1\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"LAURENT-LE-GUERNEC","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/LAURENT-LE-GUERNEC.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/LAURENT-LE-GUERNEC.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/LAURENT-LE-GUERNEC.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13380,"url":"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/dominique-ropion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1491,"position":1},"title":"Dominique Ropion","author":"no.bi","date":"February 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"photo by Hajime Watanabe At once an excellent team player and an imposing soloist, Dominique Ropion is considered to be one of the most technically advanced perfumers of all time by some respected industry experts.\u00a0 His profound knowledge of French perfumery and his singular versatility in creating scents are his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13372,"url":"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/a-lab-on-fire-what-we-do-in-paris-is-secret\/","url_meta":{"origin":1491,"position":2},"title":"A LAB ON FIRE\u00ae What We Do In Paris Is Secret","author":"no.bi","date":"February 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"photo by Masahiro Noguchi \u261f \u261f \u261f \u261f \u261f Rue des Petits Champs ou rue Montorgueil. 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The ethereal images that he constructs in scent breathe vitality into the visions of his clients, adding a dimension of personality to his perfumes. He starts by picturing the person who wears his creation, and then tailors\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/www.whatwedoissecret.org\/madebyblog\/perfumers\/clement-gavarry\/","url_meta":{"origin":1491,"position":4},"title":"Clement Gavarry","author":"no.bi","date":"May 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"photo by Hajime Watanabe Perfumer International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. New York Born January 1977 in Paris, Clement Gavarry grew up surrounded by the smell of both land and sea. 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