“The Odyssey Collection talks about life,” begins Salmon. “It’s a reflection of the different stages we pass through. It started with The Renaissance Collection — the idea of being born or reborn. Then came The Liberation Collection, followed by The Escape Collection… and now, we arrive at Eternity.”

Pausing, he adds: “Eternity is about the end of life. Decision questions whether we choose to grow and keep on surviving, or give up, while Existence reflects on the life we’ve lived — looking back and thinking, ‘What did I do?’”

While Decision and Existence sit side by side in the final chapter of the collection, their emotional energies diverge — one charged with tension and forward motion, the other steeped in reflection and stillness.

“Decision is a very active fragrance,” Salmon explains. “It’s quite vertical, quite vibrant — there’s an intentional energy to it because it’s really about making a choice. From a creative standpoint, Decision felt proactive — sharp and purposeful,” he says.

“Existence is more contemplative,” he continues. “It’s more horizontal, more blurry. It’s less about vibrancy and more about texture and stillness. Where Decision moves with direction, Existence lingers — it’s softer, quieter, less defined,” he reflects. “It made sense to me that one would carry energy and clarity, while the other would drift in thought and memory,” Salmon adds.

Balancing those emotional polarities — the vibrancy of Decision and the introspection of Existence — came with its own set of creative hurdles. As Salmon reveals, crafting Eternity wasn’t just about capturing mood or narrative; it meant walking a tightrope between Amouage’s signature opulence and a new kind of restrained, almost ethereal minimalism. It’s a tension that shaped the process from the ground up.

“The biggest creative challenge was making sure there wasn’t a disconnect between what I was creating and what Amouage stands for,” says Salmon. “It was about reconciling the opulence, richness, and generosity Amouage is known for with the more straightforward, evanescent feel I was trying to capture.

“With these two fragrances, I wanted to say something essential — to go to the very edges emotionally and creatively. That meant being relatively single-minded about the accords I used, while still honouring the complexity that Amouage lovers expect.”

That balance of clarity and complexity extends to where Salmon draws his inspiration — which often comes from places as unexpected as the scents themselves. In fact, the seeds for one of his creations can be traced back to a forgotten childhood object, unearthed during a moment of personal transition.

While preparing for a move a few years ago, he came across a box of books that had travelled with him across continents. Inside was a childhood stamp collection he hadn’t seen in decades — including one small Cuban stamp that would spark something surprising.

It featured a surreal image: a businessman in a suit with an orange for a head — a reproduction of René Magritte’s The Art of Living. “I remember loving it as a kid for how odd and funny it was,” he recalls. Seeing it again, he was struck by the tension in the image. “I thought, ‘Hey, this looks like a fragrance.’”

That little stamp went on to inspire King Blue — a scent shaped by memory and surrealism. “It’s not unexpected in the sense that it’s a memory,” he adds, “but the source — a stamp tucked away for 30 years — was completely unplanned. I feel lucky it followed me around the world.”

It’s moments like these — unexpected, deeply personal — that fuel Salmon’s creative fire. But even visionaries need space to recharge. When asked how he replenishes his inspiration, Salmon doesn't hesitate. “Nature, for sure,” he says. “Years ago, I worked on a project for Alexander McQueen, and he always used to say nature is the best designer — I think that’s stayed with me.”

Beyond the natural world, fashion has long served as a constant source of inspiration for Salmon. Over the decades, he’s drawn energy from the work of designers and creatives, finding in fashion an ever-evolving universe of ideas, expression, and aesthetic tension.

In the here and now, fresh from his urban adventures of the last few days, Salmon reflects on how Sydney’s architecture has also captured his imagination — offering a new lens through which to explore structure, space, and design. He sees architecture as a mirror of both society and nature, exploring the “coexistence between what’s man-made and what’s natural.”

Architects and designers, he notes, subtly shape the way he thinks about “volume, function, and form” — influences that extend even to his approach to bottle design.

Nearing the end of our time, I was keen to find out what lies next for Salmon. As he ponders the future, he appears more energised than ever, buoyed by a new technological frontier, pointing to what he sees as a growing need for authenticity in an age of automation and AI tools.

“We live in an exciting time — not just because of new technologies, but because of the creative questions they raise. I’m interested in AI not to use it directly, but because it forces us to ask: what does authenticity mean in the age of algorithms?”

Compellingly, Salmon wonders how resisting the uniformity of AI, toward something deliberately imperfect, can arrive at something unpredictable and alive. He envisions a future where clients embrace variation, where subtle differences from one batch to the next become a marker of individuality, and a sign of something more real, more personal.

“I’m still very convinced there are many things that haven’t been done yet in perfume,” he says with conviction. “Maybe it’s time we stop toning everything down to the lowest common denominator and start embracing the beauty of imperfection.”