Victor Wong – (self-)portrait

For those familiar with the niche perfumery, Victor Wong is a well known name. However, for those that are not into this industry, here is a short presentation, to put this interview in context.

In 2013 Victor Wong founded Zoologist Perfumes, in Toronto, Canada. Every one of his perfumes means to make you think of a certain animal and its habitat, while being free from natural animal-derived musks. As per his saying his perfumes are unusual, beautiful, fun and even shocking. And I can vouch for that, as I have already tested some of them.

During my brief interaction with Mr Wong, which because of the distance took place over the internet, I found him to be very open and friendly and incredibly easy to communicate with.

Since a lot of journalists interviewed him (all of his previews interviews are available online), I didn’t feel the need to ask him questions about the way he started or about his future projects. Instead, I tried to find out a bit more about the way he works and about what he likes in both perfumery and his personal life.

I understood that in your previous industry – video-games – you felt that a gap appeared between you and the younger artists. Do you fear that a similar gap could appear in the perfume industr
When I was in the video game industry, I was a graphics artist, but at Zoologist, I am a creative director. The roles are a little different – for an artist, especially in the video game industry, you need to be up-to-date with the graphics software and technology, and constantly improve your art skill. As a creative director, my skill development is not on the technical side; rather I need to development a sense of brand vision and style and aesthetics, which has been a challenge to me since the beginning.

What is the first step in deciding on the next fragrance? Do you start by choosing the nose, or by choosing the animal and then the best nose for it?
It varies. If I seek out a perfumer to make a perfume for me, most of the time I am already familiar with his/her style, and I have an animal in mind that I think would fit his/her perfumery style. However, if a perfumer contacts me for collaboration, she very often has an animal she wants to create a perfume of for Zoologist.

What made you change the formula for some of the perfumes? (Dodo, Bat)
The discontinuation of the original Bat was sad. Without going into details, the business relationship between me and the perfumer, who also made perfume compound for me, ended.

Some of the Zoologist perfumes released a few years ago didn’t smell exactly like what I had in mind, but they were interesting and unique enough that I was convinced to publish them. After all, everyone’s interpretation of what an animal should smell like as a perfume is different. After they had been on the market for a few years, I wanted to revisit them and give them a new interpretation.

How do you choose the characteristics you want to evoke?
Very often the inspiration began with an uncommon perfumery note that I wanted it to be the focus in a perfume, and I would brainstorm to find an animal for that note to make sense in its world. For example, I was very interested in the ink note, and I thought a Squid perfume would make sense with that note in it. Once the animal is decided, then I move on to think about the mood I want the perfume to evoke. Continuing with the Squid example, I want to the scent to evoke loneliness, like you are in the middle of a vast ocean.

Is there a note you are set on never using?
I would never say never, but I try not to put very synthetic-smelling materials in the focus, like powerful amber woods base notes that are very popular now, because they don’t smell naturalistic in the animal kingdom.

Is there a common ingredient/note in all of your perfumes?
Maybe incense? However a lot of people say it’s musks.

What is your signature scent?
I really don’t have one.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to choose his/her signature scent?
I think it depends on how one wants how other to think of him/her – clean, professional, sexy, mysterious, unique – but what’s important is that one should love that scent to begin with.

What do you think is the main thing that brought you success with this brand?
Maybe it is fun and exciting for a lot of people to seek out each release to see if the scent matches the animal that they have in mind?

Who is Mr Wong outside of the perfume world? What do you do on your free days?
Just like most nerds, I play video games, read manga, collect stuff selling on eBay.