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In a war-torn country, a local perfumer in Damascus, Syria, has nearly 3,000 essences in his workshop. It brings a touch of lightness to inhabitants who can no longer buy foreign perfumes, which have become too expensive.
In Damascus, Syria, hides a rare talent, that of a perfumer. In his small workshop, which has nearly 3,000 essences, Mohammad al-Masri has only one asset: his nose. “This is where the secret of the trade lies. I started training my nose to smell perfumes at the age of 15. I don’t have top-of-the-range equipment”, he confides. The man inherited the expertise of his perfumer uncles for more than a century in Damascus.
Since the war, the Syrian currency has lost 99% of its value. To wear perfume, the vast majority of Syrians therefore have no other choice than local production. “Before, I could afford to buy foreign perfumes. But today they are more and more expensive. An employee’s full salary is not enough to buy a bottle”, explains a woman. In Syria, foreign perfumes easily reach $100 a bottle. For his part, Mohammad al-Masri sells them at 6 dollars each. A rare touch of lightness, which takes on its full importance in a country still scarred by war.