Q. From a professional’s perspective, what is the most important aspect of choosing a scent?
A. The scent should be easily accessed. Smelling it should make you feel comfortable and should go with the person. These are the two most important things that I consider. Just like how we don’t touch clothes that aren’t our style, scent is also personal. It’s important to feel comfortable and find something that suits us.

Q. Are there trends?
A. Scents are similar to fashion, so there certainly are trends. But since it really comes down to personal taste, there’s no need to follow the trends. Also, customers’ preferences change depending on their age and usage. Looking at the recent scents, a lot of people look for something floral, especially white flowers (Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, honeysuckle, tuberose etc.) and citrusy woody scents.

Q. Does your choice of scent change based on time, place or occasion?
A. Certainly. In terms of scent coordination in certain spaces like an office, I recommend clear floral scent or citrusy scent that can increase energy with freshness, rather than personal choice. But in personal rooms, tuberose or heavier scents like wood, which show more personality, work better.
Depending on the time, in the mornings, a sweet and light scent of citrus, like tangerine, and light floral scents are used because they allow people to feel more energetic and awaken their senses. At night, the sweet scent of vanilla, powdery scent of amber or heavy scents like incense add more charm.
The choice of scent also differs depending on season. Scent is similar to the beauty of the seasons as a lot of perfumers create scents inspired by the beauty of the nature. In beautiful spring, I recommend floral aromas or a scent of green leaves while in the summer, a citrusy feel, wet soil and moss or the smell of beach, like salty water, is recommended. In autumn when the weather starts getting cool, I recommend woody scents like a calm and cozy iris and in the winter, the spicy taste of cinnamon, in addition to amber and musk that could add some volume.

Q. Is there a scent that helps you psychologically?
A. There’s a difference between a scent that has beauty and aroma therapy. Scent is a magical thing where you can have an image of the happiest moments that you’ve experienced, the moment you smell the scent.
For example, there’s the “Proust effect.” French novelist Marcel Proust wrote "In Search of Lost Time," after being inspired by the taste and the scent of the madeleines that he used to eat at his aunt’s house when he was little. This memory came back to him when he was eating madeleines dipped in herbal tea. A vivid reliving of events from a scent is called the “Proust effect.” A scent can help one psychologically, as it allows them to remember cozy moments.
When you smell citrus, it reminds you of the fresh feelings of eating an orange or a tangerine, or when you smell the perfume used by your mother, you feel the coziness of your mother’s arms.

Q. Can you create an image with a scent? Would a scent that goes along at a hotel or a restaurant also work well at home?
A. A scent itself is one brand. Normally you would think that an image is recognized by the sight, hearing, taste or feel, but scent truly is a strength as it allows us to recognize the brand, image and service. If a person has a happy memory of a great service they received from a hotel or a restaurant, using the same scented product at home will allow them to remember that happy moment.

Q. Demand for diffusers and scents has increased significantly. Do you think they are reflected in our lifestyle?
A. If we’ve been investing in our sight, sense of touch, taste and hearing, now, a lifestyle that could fulfill all five senses, with the addition of smell, has become the trend. This may be why the demands for scented products have increased.
Scent is the most important element of the five senses that determines first impressions. Of the five senses, smell is 10,000 times more sensitive and accurate than the others and 75 percent of our emotions like memories and focus are affected by smell. For such reasons, it’s important to think about how the smell of “myself” or “my brand” or “my place” will be remembered.

Q. There had been people that have shown concerns towards the materials used in diffusers and scent that could potentially harm us. Are there any materials that we should look out for?
A. The scented products and diffusers currently available have different uses. If you use them properly, there’s nothing to worry about. But you need to make sure these products are in compliance with the local law. 

Q. For this month’s SIGNIEL Bathroom Edition by ALL THAT HOTEL, you’ve created a scent for a diffuser. What did you emphasize when you were making SIGNIEL diffuser?
A. We emphasized spreading SIGNIEL’s value and the sincerity of its service through the scent. We wanted to make sure that customers could feel SIGNIEL’s specialness the moment they smelt it.

Q. Where would be a good location to put a diffuser in a bathroom? Is there a specific location where the scent spreads more effectively?
A. Rather than the bottom of the bathroom, it’s better to put it at the top. I recommend putting it in a space where the air can get through easily. The scent spreads in the direction the air moves, so rather than by the bath or shower, where it’s wet, it’s better to place it on a shelf, where it’s dry.

Q. What were the steps you went through to select SIGNIEL’s scent?
A. Considering [the brand’s] image, color and concept, I created a scent that could naturally deliver the brand’s character. Having various focuses, we made a number of sample scents and tested them. We tried to include Korea’s beauty, modern taste and the scent of Korea’s only panoramic skyline, which is SIGNIEL’s biggest plus.
We’ve expressed SIGNIEL’s value using floral scents that touch the edge of your nose through the breeze and a delicate woody scent.

Q. If you were to describe the SIGNIEL Diffuser’s scent in one expression, what would that be?
A. In a cool sky of white clouds but with the beauty and special coziness of the changeable sky.

Q. As a perfumer, where do you get your inspiration from?
A. Perfumer’s job can be divided into two tasks— they are either getting creative and coming up with a new scent or coming up with a specific scent that meets clients needs. The latter is known as a CI scent.
When making new scent, I normally get inspirations from daily life. Emotions from my relationships with other people, when I see nature or while traveling and memories from my childhood stack up inside me and create their own color, kind of like a code for my music taste. Then, all these things naturally blend together and create one scent.
When making a CI scent, I communicate with the client and research to figure out what they’re looking for. Then, considering the image, color and concept, I make a scent that could deliver the brand’s character.

Q. Lastly, what would be your personal “life scent,” your favorite?
A. There are a lot of scents that I love, but Christian Dior’s Fahrenheit is personally the most special to me. Depending on people, some might say it’s an old man’s smell or just an old smell, but this has a lot of memories from my youth because this was always used by my father.
When I was little, I thought it smelled like wet fallen leaves This is what first got me interested in scents, and even now, when I smell it, an image of my father in a suit comes into my head. In addition to his passion for hard work, it is a smell that takes me back to my youth where I could feel my father’s warmth when I was little.