[my] style files

Over a glass of interesting red wine, Ulrich Lang became my new best friend! What an absolute thrill it was to meet Ulrich (Uli)! And how fortunate for me that Uli made a guest appearance at Jeffre Scott Apothecary in February. After meeting Uli, it was clear that this would not be our only meeting. A few short hours later, Uli was drinking wine with me and my friends. Not only is he fascinating, he is so much fun to be around. We were soaking it all up!

Born in Germany, Ulrich Lang grew up with a keen sense of smell. His grandmother had a perfumery and Uli soon became an expert in detecting top notes, base notes and such. While in school in South Germany, he studied Business. During this time, Uli also interned in marketing for Estee Lauder in London. He then got into art publishing and moved to New York City. In the late 1990s, Uli worked for L’Oreal Germany, again in marketing, for a couple of years. He then decided to take a position that combined his love of contemporary art and publishing, at artnet.com as the European Sales Director. He loved it! It was edgy and different.

After six years in the art publishing arena, the light went off. September 11th had put New York through a lot … yet Uli decided it was the right time to take a risk.

NYC gives you the energy to get up on your feet again. I knew I could create something with the key elements that I was so drawn to - art and fragrance.

In 2002, Uli did just that. He felt the trend was going away from mass-marketed fragrances to more individualistic scents. A true entrepreneur, Uli presented his vision to companies, boutiques and apothecaries. Fusing his interests in contemporary photography and fragrance allowed his passion to emerge naturally. And Uli knew just the face to endorse his fragrance, Roger Szmuleiwcz - a prominent Belgian dealer in 20th century photography.

Roger exudes an elegant, introspective and self-assured presence. Everything we wanted to capture in the fragrance.

His first scent, Anvers (the French word for Antwerp, the city where Roger Szmuleiwcz’s gallery is located), took only 8 months to develop. Uli’s vision soon became reality. Everyone loved the fragrance and wanted it in their stores. The most memorable moment was when department store Quarter 206 in Berlin took in Anvers. In Uli’s words, personalization really means something. It resonates.

And then there was Anvers 2 (incredible! see my review). This scent took a year and a half to get just right. But boy, is it right. Both scents are truly amazing and unique. You will never find anything quite like them. Which makes them a gem in my book.

So what’s next for Ulrich Lang? Uli has many ideas - and more scents to come! He believes you should follow your passion wherever it leads you. And if it doesn’t work? Well, do something else, says Uli. Five lessons that he lives by, as learned from a beauty entrepreneur:

• Be patient
• Be different
• Be better
• Be smarter
• Be nicer

Two more he would add: be authentic and be real. That’s the motto I live by, so I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Uli! I can’t wait to see you in NYC in June!

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm and is filed under beauty, fashion. You can follow responses via my RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.