Interview with Victor Wong - The creative mind behind Zoologist

First of all, what gave you the idea of launching your own Fragrance Brand “Zoologist”?
Back in 2013, I wasn’t very happy with my career and I felt very insecure and frustrated. I guess that’s what people like to call a “mid-life crisis”. Lots of people making politics and decisions that led to nowhere. I wanted to create a project that I have full creative control of, and launch some interesting products that I would be proud of. Coincidentally I had just discovered the world of niche perfumes (and was very obsessed with it, as you would have guessed) and wondered if I could create my own brand. I had no insider connection, no entrepreneurship experience, no business strategy and no marketing research; everything was based on gut feeling… I posted in a Basenotes.net forum asking if there were any perfumers who would help me create some perfumes and two indie perfumers responded – the rest is history.

Did you ever think about becoming a perfumer yourself? If not, why didn't you?
I had thought about it, but later rejected the idea for I knew one needs to spend a lot of time practicing perfumery to become good at it and time is something I don’t have the luxury of. (I still have my day job and when I go home I either spend half the evening fulfilling online orders or developing my next scents and promotional artwork.)

How would you describe the process of finding the right perfumer to match the fragrance concept, or was it really the other way round? Did the perfumers choose the animal they would develop a scent concept for?
To me, the most important thing to know before any project starts is the style of the perfumer, and their temperament (through online chatting). Once I know his/her style, I can determine what kind of animal is best suited for that perfumer. For example, some perfumers like to make very unconventional and unique fragrances, so I will assign an animal that’s unexpected or less commonly loved. Some perfumers like to do beautiful, classic perfumes, and I will assign animals that people tend to perceive as elegant or beautiful.

Of course, there were some perfumers who would approach me directly, proposing a specific animal that he/she wishes to make. (e.g. Ellen Covey’s Bat.) In most cases, I won’t refuse (laugh).

Is there any connection between being a game developer and a perfume aficionado?
Maybe not, but working in a big game studio has inspired me a lot in terms of product development - what sells, what not, should we take some risk doing unconventional things, etc. Also, it has taught me the important elements of making and marketing a product - packaging, marketing copy, social media, etc, and my coworkers who specialized in each department all offered valuable opinions, or even help (such as the illustrations on the labels.)

Are you launching your brand in Germany sometime soon? Lots of people think highly of the concept and the quality of the fragrances, but still they are not well known over here and some people shy away from ordering overseas.
At this moment I can’t see Zoologist being widely distributed in Germany, or much in anywhere - I won’t be able to make much profit selling to a distributor because my operation is so small (I mix, bottle and package everything by myself at home, and fulfilling an order of 30 bottles could take me a whole day), and the material cost is so high because the perfumers sell me their compound concentrate at a markup cost. I can only make a dollar or two per bottle if I choose the distributor route, but what’s the point of doing so? Wholesaling directly to small boutiques is the second best way for me, the best way is customers buying directly from my website. But shipping in Canada is horrible for they are so expensive… (I subsidize almost 50% postage shipping outside North America!) So I guess I just have to take things slowly.

What was your inspiration for a zoology-themed range and do you plan one in a different direction in the foreseeable future?
There are two branches of thoughts when it comes to fragrance development - one that highlights a particular animalic note such as castoreum (such as Zoologist Beaver), one that is inspired by the animal habitats (such as Zoologist Bat, that smells like a cave). My new scent, Macaque, is a bit different from the others because it is about the meditative mood that the said animal often gives people.

The interview was conducted Chanelle, many thanks!