Already internationally known for his legendary perfume bottles, famed designer Marc Rosen has begun to blaze new trails with the recent launching of his own fragrance, Shanghai. This is the first time that a perfume bottle designer has achieved this.

Mr. Rosen, who currently lives in New York with his wife, actress Arlene Dahl, will be signing bottles of his inaugural perfume tonight at Trimingham's Smith's during Harbour Nights.

The acclaimed designer is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree before earning a Masters Degree from the Pratt Institute. Along with earning an Honorary Doctorate from Pratt, Mr. Rosen has also taught at the design institute since the 1980s. In 1990, he was presented the prestigious Excellence by Design award by the school. A scholarship for aspiring designers has also been set up at the Pratt Institute in his name.

Mr. Rosen has been working in the perfume industry for almost three decades. Recently, he spoke to The Royal Gazette about his career and the colourful road it has led him on.

"When I was a student, I took an interest in package design and one of my first assignments was to design a perfume bottle. My professor thought it was good and I ended up winning $3,000 in a competition, which was a fortune for a student in those days.

"I remember I bought a Volkswagen Beetle with the money," he said with a laugh as he fondly recalled the memory.

Upon graduation, Mr. Rosen said he thought he would go to work with AVON, a leader in the cosmetics industry, but ended up being employed by Revlon. According to Mr. Rosen, Revlon's founder, Charles Revlon, although considered a very hard to please man, was very supportive of the then-aspiring designer's endeavours.

"I remember one year when we were preparing for the Christmas season and Charles was rejecting a lot of packaging samples, but he ended up being pleased with one of mine. My boss came back to me and said, 'He liked it.' Suddenly, I was a child star at Revlon," Mr. Rosen said. "It was quite exciting for me."

At the age of 29, Mr. Rosen said he got a call from cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden, asking him to join their staff. Prior to his departure in 1989, he was senior vice president of Corporate Design and Communications.

"I had a long career there, and after 13 years there, it was sold so I decided it was time for me to start my own business."

Soon his clients included Burberry, Karl Lagerfield, Estee Lauder, Osca de la Renta, Fendi, Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, just to name a few. Mr. Rosen's acclaimed perfume bottle designs have earned him six FiFi (Fragrance Foundation) awards. Several of Mr. Rosen's works of art have been exhibited with some being placed on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Musee de La Mode, Paris.

When asked by The Royal Gazette what inspired him to venture into creating his own fragrance, Mr. Rosen said he believed that the perfume industry needed something new.

"I never expected to create my own fragrance...I then decided to go to investor Gerald Tsai and asked him to partner with me on this, and he accepted. I had the name Shanghai registered for years because I liked the name, and I thought now would be the perfect time to use it," he said. "Today, lots of young people want to go to Shanghai, so it worked. I felt the perfume had to be modern."

Although he had already made a name for himself in the perfume bottle design arena, Mr. Rosen admitted that he had no credibility as a perfume creator, but he said his friends in the industry believed in him.

"I told them why I wanted to do it. I went to personally see the president of Saks Fifth Avenue and promised them a year's exclusivity."

And the rest is history. The perfume launched to great fanfare and has been well received. Bermuda is the first international country to unveil the fragrance, which will be exclusive to Trimingham's Smith's.

"We always thought that Trimingham's was such a beautiful shop and we always loved Bermuda," Mr. Rosen said.

Mr. Rosen will be signing bottles of Shanghai tonight in Trimingham's Smith's perfume department from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.