Erwin Creed A Rarity In Todays Industry

In a market overrun with celebrity and spinoff fragrances, Erwin Creed is a rarity: As the future head of luxury brand Creed Perfumes, he's a seventh-generation perfumer. The 29-year-old first started sniffing scents at the age of 8. "Early on, my father would do 90 percent of the work, and I would experiment with maybe 10 percent," he says.

Today, Erwin helps develop new products and handpicks the company's natural ingredients, traveling around the world to meet with flower, spice, and fruit growers. Creed uses all natural ingredients, the quality of the ingredients depends on a lot of things: weather, the sun, the exposure, the country. We're very conscious about great quality. Erwin personaly goes every year to China, India, and Iceland to sample ingredients. Bergamot is the No. 1 ingredient put in perfume. Then there's mandarin, lemon, orange, roses, jasmine, pepper, and ginger. The best roses are from France.

Erwin is in New York this week — he'll be signing bottles and introducing the company's new Spice and Wood fragrance at Bergdorf Goodman tomorrow from 3 to 5 p.m. — before setting off on a two-week trip through the U.S. and Asia. Erwin Creed isn't looking to expand. "Some people think Creed is a big brand, but it will remain a small, prestigious brand," Erwin says. "I don't want to be in the mass market.