Dr. Rajesh Balkrishnan makes perfume in partnership with independent houses, and each partner credits him by name. He sets the creative direction and tracks down raw materials few perfumers can reach, then leaves the building of accords to his partner. He also has an exact sense of dosage.
With Dmitry Bortnikoff he created the Exotics trio: Sayat Nova, Santa Sangre and Scheherazade. Bortnikoff Santa Sangre lays Himalayan pink lotus and Thai white lotus over sandalwood, dragon's blood and red Siam benzoin. Bortnikoff Scheherazade matches blackcurrant and apricot absolutes with Lebanese cedar, Indian sandalwood and Malaysian oud. Maksim Perfume Yeti, his second project with that house, runs from juniper and Timur pepper into Nepalese fir, black tea and Thai oud. For Folkwinds he directed Sleepy Hollow.
Bortnikoff Sayat Nova takes its name from the 18th-century Armenian poet and moves from apricot and narcissus through rum and vanilla to oakmoss and ouds from Laos, Bengal and Trat. Folkwinds Devil's Garden, the sequel to Sleepy Hollow and again under his direction, draws on materials from the Himalayas and the deserts of North America: citron, artemisia, Timur pepper, mitti, white ambergris and agarwood. Lost Tribe Pan's Labyrinth, a powdery modern fougère of rose otto, lavender, coumarin, oakmoss, Sri Lankan sandalwood and Malaysian oud, took a year and ten versions to finish.
