Della Putri joined Iberchem more than seven years ago. Fragrances and chemistry are two of her greatest passions, so she had no hesitation in making the eight-hour trip from her hometown, Parakan (Centre Java), to the city of Jakarta to join our local team as a fragrance evaluator. In this short interview, Della tells us more about how the cultural heritage of central Java influences her daily work and her tastes in fragrances.

Is there anything that surprised you when you first started working for Iberchem?

When I was a child, just like pretty much everyone else in Indonesia, my mother used to rub me with telon oil. It’s a smell I could never forget, but at the same time, I’ve never been able to find the exact words to describe it. When I started working at Iberchem, I finally learned what the fragrance was made of (eucalyptus, fennel and coconut). I’ve always liked the smell, but knowing its components helped me to appreciate it even more. I’ve also discovered new varieties of telon oil – in my family, my mother always used the same one.

What smell represents Indonesia the best?

I would say jasmine, without a doubt. Where I come from, in the centre of Java, the smell of jasmine is directly associated with weddings. The bride and the groom both wear jasmine flowers on their wedding garments. Sometimes, brides even wear up to three kilos of jasmine in their hair. Grooms also use jasmine to decorate their kris, a traditional decorative dagger they wear during the ceremony. In my hometown, when you smell jasmine, the chances are that there’s a wedding about to take place.

And a smell that represents you?

My hometown is located in the foothills of the volcanoes Sundoro and Sumbing, so I grew up in a natural environment, quite different from where I live now (Jakarta). When I was a child, I remember opening the window of my bedroom to let the cool air flow in. It was slightly humid and infused with the scent of roses from the rose bushes near our house. This fresh, natural, floral, green smell is what I think would describe me the best.