[HAWAII AT WORK]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Designer’s nose knows
David Langer feels like an
ambassador for Hawaii's flowers
I'm the owner of Langer Hawaii Corporation. I'm the president of the company and we manufacture the Perfumes of Hawaii line in Hawaii. I also design the scents.
My brother actually started the idea of Perfumes of Hawaii and I, over the years, have perfected it and detailed it. We bought Liana of Waikiki in 1976 and we repackaged the product and completely redid the fragrance line. At that time, we had a much more extensive line, including sun care products, lotions, soaps and the like. Right now, we are exclusively fragrance.
A lot goes into creating a new scent. Their is an art to producing, filtering and manufacturing the product. There's lots of testing and experimentation.
We receive in Hawaii what they call an essential oil that is processed with water and alcohol. Then it is chilled and filtered and bottled and capped and boxed. The chilling process is not necessary, and some manufacturers skip it, but it creates a better, fresher product.
We don't press flowers. Probably 90 percent of the perfumes on the market are synthetically made now and not pressed from flowers. A lot has changed. Years back they also used to use all kinds of animal products, that's rare now and we don't do any of that.
I had no formal training in scent design or manufacturing. I learned everything from what was in the original company package, taking their recipes and learning from them, and from a lot of trial and error.
I was originally involved in sun care. My brother started in the business and I joined him here in 1975. I discovered that I enjoyed the fragrance business, dealing with flowers. I enjoy promoting the whole concept of the flowers and Hawaiiana. Our original goal, which we did do, was to create a fragrance house in Hawaii that would supply the world with Hawaiian flower scents.
We haven't added many scents. Our line has been pretty stable. Plumeria is very popular, as are Pikake, White Ginger, Gardenia and our Bleu Hawaii, a French-styled fragrance. We have two for men, Hawaiian Blue and Maile. Those are the ones we've pretty much worked with over the years.
We've recently redeveloped our Pikake, or jasmine, and Hawaiian Rose. But Gardenia is the most recent one I've worked on. I'll revisit our fragrances to upgrade them, to make them smell more authentic. I also have been inspired by other companies that have had similar fragrances. Chanel's Gardenia, which it releases periodically, inspired the redo there. I like that fragrance. Pikake from Terranova, another brand, was also an inspiration. If you compare our fragrance to theirs, based on price; we sell at $15 for 2 ounces, Terranova is $32 for 3.5 ounces and Chanel is $75 for 3.5 ounces. It's quite a value for the quality. And they, obviously, are not made here. Chanel is in Paris and Terranova is in Berkeley, Calif. We import all the raw materials here and produce all the fragrance here.
It's an excellent job. It's like being an ambassador for Hawaii.
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