Andy Tauer and I go way back: I’ve loved his fragances right from the start, i.e. late in 2005 when I first smelled his Le Maroc and wrote about it in glowing terms. Then when Tania Sanchez and I wrote our perfume guide, we gave his L’Air du Désert Marocain five richly deserved stars. I like to think that we had a part in Andy quitting his day job and becoming a major player in niche perfumery. May he live long and prosper. Andy and I only met once, under odd circumstances. I was having lunch with friends at Zur Forelle, a riverside restaurant in Ulm, and I had to go out to take my baby daughter out for a walk. As we were crossing a small bridge we came between two bicycle riders and one called to the other “Andy!” in that inimitable singsong Swiss accent which uses the darkest a sound this side of Persia: Auhndee. Since I knew only one Swiss Andy, I looked up and there he was, on a cycling trip through the Bavarian Alps.
I asked him to send me his recent work and it duly came, packaged in little throat-lozenge metal boxes with a sliding lid embossed with his lovely 1950’s logo that brings to mind old-fashioned Swiss-German firms making wooden toys or hugely expensive pajamas. The amount of care lavished by AT on bottles and packaging is impressive, all the more so since the result remains completely unpretentious. I had a hard time choosing my favorites among his range, because I basically like them all. As pointers to those who are not familiar with his work, I would recommend four of his fragrances: Incense Flash, a clever accord between high-quality incense and a dry, powdery musk, the latter helping the former stay around longer; Sotto la Luna Tuberose, a delightfully romantic, melancholy fragrance reminiscent of De Nicolaï Odalisque and Rochas’ Byzance; Une Rose Chyprée, which exemplifies Tauer’s distinctive palette mixing hippie natural materials and powerful aromachemicals; and Vetiver Dance, a wonderfully satisfying woody-green with great stability and staying power.
Categories: niche houses
perfumesilove 