Interview With Pissara Umavijani, The Founder of Parfums Dusita — PLEZURO

Written by Kristina Kybartaite-Damule

Parfums Dusita is where olfactory senses meet poetry and visual art. Its founder, Pissara Umavijani, born and raised in Thailand, tells PlezuroMag about her path to Paris and the challenges she overcame while following her dream.

When visiting perfume boutiques, I like to take my time, smelling and discovering new scents on my own, so I appreciate it when salespeople leave me alone without suggesting I try the new groundbreaking Baccarat Rouge 540 or Guidance. However, sometimes, like a rare gem, the boutique turns out to have an employee who is genuinely passionate about perfumes and doesn’t roll their eyes when asked about new releases or niche brands. With people like this, fruitful discussions spark easily, and I leave the store not only, possibly, with new scented discoveries but also charged with positive energy. For us perfume lovers, there is nothing better than finding like-minded people.

One of my rare encounters with such a lovely sales associate happened a few years ago. I was smelling perfumes, minding my own business, when she started a conversation with me. You could instantly tell this was more than just a job for her – her passion for the perfumes she spoke about was unmistakable, and her energy was contagious. This is when she introduced me to Parfums Dusita, a brand I didn’t know at the time. The consultant, like presenting a treasure from the shelf, sprayed Issara on my wrist. That was the moment I knew I needed to explore the brand further, as Issara became one of the staples in my collection.

Fast forward to today, I have tried almost the entire collection of Parfums Dusita and follow their work closely. Not only has the artistic approach and the appealing yet unique perfumes fascinated me, but also Pissara herself, with her warm energy. I had seen a couple of interviews with her before and attended a few online launches of new perfumes. She was always so joyful that it seemed impossible for a person to be so kind. "It must be fake," whispered my cynical Baltic side. But that changed instantly when I had the chance to meet her briefly in person in Cannes – her positive and welcoming attitude was exactly as I had seen online.

The same impression carried through when we had a video call for this interview. There was nothing pretentious, arrogant, or negative about her. On the contrary, it was a very heartwarming conversation just before Christmas. She shared with PlezuroMag readers her story, philosophy, and creative process for making perfumes, insights into her atelier in Paris, and even hinted at an upcoming fragrance.

Can you tell our readers a little about your story? You were born and raised in Thailand. How did you end up in Paris?

I was born and raised in Thailand, and perfumery was always my passion. I started as a collector. My father introduced me to many French perfumes, for example, Shalimar and Mitsouko, which he brought home for my mom. I grew up surrounded by scents. And I always dreamed of Paris, the capital of beautiful perfumes.

When I finished school, I had the chance to come here, and I realized I wanted to pursue my dream. I started as a student in Paris, but at that time, I couldn’t get into a proper perfumery school because there weren’t any international programs. So I came as a fashion student and began working on my perfume project independently. That’s how I ended up here.

Someone also encouraged me to create my own brand after smelling my creations. He thought they were unique. The first perfume I ever created was Issara.

What was the biggest challenge in moving to Paris and creating your own brand?

Living in another country and starting something new – a business – is very challenging. You need to learn the language, the culture, and also meet the right people at the right time for your business. I believe challenges are a part of life, and we can’t be successful without overcoming them. To do that, we need to change our mindset, stay positive, and adapt to each situation. Over the years, I’ve learned that if you want to be someone, you have to swim upstream. You don’t go with the current; you swim against it.

Although starting Dusita was challenging, there are perfume lovers like you who appreciate my creations and love the scents. That makes me forget all the difficulties because I love connecting with people, and I’m happy they enjoy my perfumes.

Your father had a significant influence on your perfumes. Can you tell us how he shaped your creative vision for Parfums Dusita?

Firstly, he shaped me as a person. He taught me to do things with passion. Every day, he would write, a book or a poem, not expecting anything in return. He did it for the love of art and poetry. From him, I learned that when you create a perfume, you do it for the love of perfumery, for the sake of creation itself, to bring something new and unique to the world. This philosophy allows me to create something different and meaningful for perfume lovers.

Besides your father’s poetry, what else inspires you when creating perfumes?

So many things. It can be friendship, the idea of love, a place I’ve been, a place I’ve never been, or even my imagination. It can also be the personality of a person, a kind of story, or even animals—I love animals.

Being a perfumer means you need to capture these inspirations, find the right angle, and translate them into a scent.

You’re not only a perfumer but also an entrepreneur. You’re managing your brand. How do you balance these two roles as an artist and a businesswoman?

I think we need to have a clear vision for the brand. Any good brand—whether in perfumery, fashion, or something else—needs a balance between creativity and business.

For me, it’s also a challenge to balance these two sides. I’m very happy to tell you that in my perfumery work, I work alone without any assistance. But in the business side, I have a wonderful team—not many people, but those who are passionate about the brand and want to push it forward. That helps so much to keep the balance. I can tell you I wouldn’t be anywhere without a good team.

Can you tell us what your creative process looks like when you’re creating a new fragrance? Do you start with an emotion, a specific note, or a picture of something? Where do you begin?

Let me tell you the story of my first creation, Issara. It started with an idea, just one word: freedom.

When I think about freedom, I imagine what it means. For me, freedom is the absence of problems, worries, and even thoughts in our mind. It’s that light feeling in your head. I think about my personal experience of walking in the forest next to the ocean, feeling the wind blowing, and just living in the moment. I tried to capture that feeling.

I thought about the raw materials: the pine tree, clary sage. Clary sage is also used in aromatherapy, so it has a dual meaning—clarifying the mind. To soften the composition, I added a little musk and sandalwood. I considered these raw materials together before choosing them and combining them.

In the end, the formulation wasn’t difficult, but when I closed my eyes and smelled it, I felt like, Okay, this is my definition of freedom. That’s the message I wanted to convey.

How do you know when a fragrance is finished? When do you say, “Okay, there’s nothing more to do with it”?

Good question. When you blend it, there are two steps: first, after you’ve done blending; and second, two or three weeks later. Natural materials can change during this time. You need to let it mature first.

Then, when you smell it, you feel, Wow, this is the message I want to convey. When I close my eyes, and the perfume feels in harmony—balanced, with tenacity, and it stays well on both skin and paper—that’s when I know it’s finished.

I then bring it to my team at Dusita. We test it on people with different skin types. When people consistently like it, that’s when it’s done.

How long does it take to create a perfume from start to finish?

It can take a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years. It depends on the ideas I want to convey, the olfactory family, and whether it’s one I’m familiar with or one I need to work on more.

For example, Pelagos, my latest creation, took almost two years.

Is that the longest it’s taken to create a fragrance?

It’s one of the longest. Pelagos and La Rhapsodie Noire. With Pelagos, being an aquatic scent, I did a lot of research on raw materials and proportions. Then I got pregnant and couldn’t finish it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t finalize it. Two weeks after I delivered my baby, I went to my lab and finally finished it.

Can you tell us a little more about Pelagos? How was it born?

Pelagos is a Greek word that means "sea." I wanted to create a scent that immediately takes you to a beautiful Mediterranean vacation. For me, that’s in Greece.

I remember swimming in the sea at Mykonos—the water was both warm and cold at the same time. There was the smell of the ocean, the rocks, and the pine forest. I wanted to convey this without using the traditional calone.

What you can smell is an aquatic scent created without traditional ingredients. It also has an old-fashioned men’s fragrance structure, I made it more unisex by using orris butter. For me, it’s a beautiful blue color, like the sea.

Your brand gained recognition in the perfume community quite quickly, and you’ve also received many awards for your perfumes. What is your key to success?

For me, the word “success” is not just about awards or a single achievement. I think success means looking back as a company, at the products you’ve created, and feeling proud of them. For the Dusita team, whenever we receive positive feedback from people, it makes us very happy. We’re so grateful for the attention we’ve received from the perfume community worldwide, and I’m genuinely happy with it. Whenever I travel and meet new people who know the brand, I feel so lucky and honored. Considering how many brands exist in this industry—too many to count—I find it incredible that Dusita has its own voice.

How do you maintain that voice? How do you stay relevant with so many brands out there? How do you manage to stay in the spotlight?

We have to stay true to ourselves and clearly define our values. At Dusita, for example, our mission is to create happiness for perfume lovers around the world. Our goal is to consistently deliver high-quality, unique perfumes in different olfactive families over the years, without compromising on quality.

To me, at the end of the day, no matter how many brands there are, true perfume lovers will always choose quality. And quality isn’t just about using the best raw materials; it’s also about the packaging, attention to detail, and after-sales service.

One more question about your childhood in Thailand: Do you think Thai culture is reflected in your perfumes in some way?

I think so. I didn’t realize it until recently when someone mentioned that smelling my perfumes reminded them of their time in Thailand. For me, it’s a part of who I am. I think we’re all nomads now; most of us travel and live in different countries throughout our lives. That’s been my case. But no matter where we live, we can never forget our roots. Thai culture taught me so much about hospitality, kindness, and compassion.

Are there any other perfumes besides the classics you mentioned earlier, like Shalimar and Mitsouko, that influenced your love for perfumery?

Sure! There are so many. For example, Chanel No. 5, which my aunt loved to wear, and L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci with its beautiful bottle. My grandmother adored Diorissimo. The original Diorissimo was, to me, one of the most beautiful scents I’ve ever smelled.

My father also loved old men’s fragrances, and I learned a lot about scent structure from them.

My friend now has a perfume museum in Bangkok that I also contribute to. It is such a beautiful thing to smell the past.

One more thing: Can you tell us about Atelier Dusita? How does it work? Do people need to register in advance? Can they meet you personally?

Yes, people who want to visit the Atelier can write us an email. Ideally, we accept groups of two to five people. Once a date and time are arranged, they’ll have a session with me. During the session, I talk about how I blend perfumes, share the general principles of perfumery, and explain my methods of blending.

Visitors can then start creating their own perfume with my guidance. I help them evaluate their scent and ensure it becomes a reflection of their personality. The workshop lasts about two hours and is quite intense. I bring raw materials from my laboratory and create accords, many of which represent Dusita’s identity. Visitors can choose raw materials and accords to experiment with.

How did you come up with the idea to offer this kind of activity?

I think it’s fascinating because I may be one of the few perfumers who is also a brand owner. For me, there’s no better way to convey my work than through the Atelier. Being a perfumer isn’t just about blending; creating perfumes involves so much more.

I also love challenging perfume lovers to use their imagination and create something extraordinary.

And my last question: Can you share something you’re currently working on? Is there a new perfume coming soon? Can you give us a little teaser?

I'm gonna tease you about a comfort scent that I plan to present in February. So it's gonna be like a new, different type of scent than the other one that I have launched this year. And I really hope you enjoy, because for me, it's like a warm scent, very comforting. It's going to use a gourmand accord.

Thank you for your time.

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