Memo Inverness EDP: An Interview With Brand Co-Founder John Molloy

Memo Inverness EDP - John Molloy

IMAGE: Memo.

It’s been a while since I gave a Memo fragrance my undivided attention. Not that the quality of the Paris-based niche brand has changed in any way. It’s just that there are so many more olfactory distractions nowadays. Memo Inverness EDP brought the company back into focus for me.

Memo Inverness EDP

After being initially contacted by the NYC PR, the arrangements for a bottle of Memo Inverness EDP made their way to Europe and then eventually the brand distributor in South Africa.

And why am I telling you this? Well, since its founding in 2007 by husband-and-wife team John and Clara Molloy, the French house has built an impressive travel-inspired fragrance business (the couple are also behind Hermetica and Floraïku). So the way Memo Inverness EDP made its way to me seems absolutely appropriate.

In this interview with John Molloy, we chat about the role of travel and how Memo Inverness EDP came to be. ***See my thoughts on this 2023 release after this interview.

Memo Inverness EDP - John Molloy

IMAGE: Memo.

Seems you’ve been travelling a lot recently. Where are you now?

Home! If Memo Paris is about travel, it doesn’t mean that we are always on the road. The destinations that inspire us are now mainly coming from dreams, books, paintings, souvenirs of family trips, world maps, pictures… as we consider perfume as a form of slow travel.

Today, when we travel, it is essentially to visit our partners, teams, stores, clients, followers or journalists abroad, to present our novelties, for special openings or events, to share our vision, talk with our strengths on the field, and learn from them to know how to make Memo Paris shine even more.

Memo Inverness EDP

With travel a popular source of inspiration in perfumery, how have you ensured Memo is different from other brands in that regard?

First, by following our intuition and our path. What we have been building for over 15 years has found its own way of expression. If you pay too much attention to what other people are doing, it paralyses you.

Of course, celebrating the world is as old as the world itself! But how you do it is key. By working with talented perfumers, beautiful ingredients and artists who bring their own vision to fragrances, we’ve come up with some truly unique creations.

Memo Eau de Memo EDP

You co-founded the company with your wife, Clara Molloy. Who does what in the couple equation?

We’re very complementary and it’s as if we’d met for the second time working together. She’s the creative mind, while I take care of the commercial side and the development of our brand worldwide. But, of course, we exchange a lot, trying to superimpose our visions, to make the right choices.

Memo Inverness EDP - Clara Molloy

IMAGE: Memo.

What was it about Inverness that made it such great inspiration for a perfume?

Clara had the idea of a Scottish destination and the name started it all. She loves words. It’s round, soft and mysterious all at once. We hear invention, eternity, endless. And the “-ness” ending is like a promise.

IMAGE OF LOCH NESS: Visit Scotland.

The area is also known for its whisky. Was that note ever a possibility in this composition?

It’s true that Scotland is famous for its whisky… and for Loch Ness. In fact, we preferred to take a step aside by choosing Inverness, a lesser-known destination, and working on a different idea for this composition, focusing on the intensity of the woods.

That said, another of our signature fragrances, Irish Leather [2013], includes essence of juniper berries, which are also used to make gin. We’ve already played this card in a certain way, and as we don’t want to repeat ourselves, we’ve chosen another type of ingredient for a composition that we want to be creative, bold and beautiful.

Memo Irish Leather EDP

Was it perfumer Nadège Le Garlantezec’s idea to use amyris oil in Memo Inverness edp?

Nadège had this desire for a refined, intense wood and we welcomed this proposal into the creative process, which is a moment of constant exchange and connection with the perfumer, to arrive at the dream composition.

Memo Inverness EDP - Nadège Le Garlantezec

This is her second creation for Memo (after Flåm, 2021). Why do you enjoy working with Nadège?

Because Flåm was a wonderful shared experience and we wanted to continue the journey together. Working faithfully, confidently and over the long term with our perfumers is one of our priorities.

Memo Flam EDP

IMAGE: Memo.

What’s next for Memo?

In 2024, the Cuirs Nomades collection will reveal new surprises, and we can’t wait to share them with you!

***MEMO INVERNESS EDP IMPRESSIONS

If you’ve heard fragrances being described as “dry” but had no idea what that meant, this perfume will explain it all for you. That feel permeates the scent from start to finish through a variety of woods (cedar, sandalwood, guaiac wood and, in particular, amyris).

Not as commonly used as the afore-mentioned ingredients but sharing characteristics with them, it’s easy to understand why perfumer Nadège Le Garlantezec highlighted amyris in her composition.

Memo Inverness EDP

She might describe the formula for Memo Inverness EDP as “bold and short”, but the material is allowed to reveal its complexity (from fresh and spicy to earthy) with support from balsamic cedarwood, creamy sandalwood and smoky guaiac wood. Mate absolute can be bitter and sharp; here it emphasises the foresty ambience with its herbal aromatics.

At first, Memo Inverness EDP didn’t seem particularly Scottish to me. With its namesake (the capital of the Scottish Highlands on the River Ness), I was expecting something more literal, damper, wetter, floral (it’s an addition to the brand’s flower-focused Fleurs Bohèmes Collection).

But the more I wear it, the more I’m appreciating the perfumer’s interpretation of the destination, especially the combo of its more smouldering aspects with the powderiness of orris butter.

Memo Inverness EDP

When I interviewed Clara Molloy several years ago for my blog, she said: ”All of our competitors that started when we launched have sold their companies. There are many brands and many more to come. I hope everyone will keep in mind that niche means high standards. Otherwise, there is no point in being niche.” Memo Inverness EDP affirms the company’s reputation for perfumes of quality and distinction.

Memo Inverness EDP is available in South Africa from Skins Cosmetics and Arc Store

Aurélien Guichard Interview: “I Want People To Understand What They’re Wearing”

Aurélien Guichard

IMAGE: Matiere Premiere.

Niche brands keep on coming, but Matiere Premiere has made more of an impact than most since its launch in 2019. Even before he founded his own company, Aurélien Guichard (he continues to produce scents for other brands as a perfumer at the Japanese flavour and fragrance corporation Takasago) was admired for creations such as:

+ Bond No 9 Chinatown EDP (2005)

+ Sean John Unforgivable EDT (2006)

+ Gucci Pour Homme EDT (2008)

+ John Galliano EDP (2008)

+ Nina Ricci Ricci Ricci EDP (2009)

+ Robert Piguet Casbah EDP (2012)

+ Versace Eros EDT (2012)

+ Trussardi My Name EDP (2013)

+ Narciso Rodriguez Narciso EDP (2014)

+ Michael Kors Wonderlust EDP (2016)

+ Zadig & Voltaire This is Him! EDT (2016)

+ Valentino Valentina Poudre EDP (2016)

+ Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo EDT (2016)

+ Issey Miyake L’Eau Majeure d’Issey EDT (2017)

+ Tom Ford Sole di Positano EDP (2017)

+ Giorgio Armani Armani Privé Bleu Turquoise EDP (2018)

Aurélien Guichard - Versace Eros EDT

Aurélien Guichard comes from a Grasse-based family with perfumery running through its veins. His grandparents grew roses and jasmine for the industry.

His father, Jean Guichard, winner of the inaugural Prix François Coty in 2000, created classics such as Cacharel LouLou EDP, Calvin Klein Obsession EDP and Hermès Concentré d’Orange Verte EDT.

Aurélien Guichard

IMAGE: Matiere Premiere.

So why do I rate Matiere Premiere so highly? The name of the company (French for “raw material”) says it all. From the product descriptions on the website – no flouncy, self-indulgent stories – to the scents, Aurélien Guichard lets his way with quality ingredients speak for themselves. The result: distinctive creations (some of them already genre bests) that offer excellent value for money.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Bois d'Ebene EDP

You come from a Grasse-based family that grew jasmine and roses for perfumers. Did you know at a young age that you wanted to become a perfumer? Or was there another career path you also considered?

I grew up in a family of perfumers. Almost everyone around me in my childhood was either a perfumer, a sculptor, or an artist, so I grew up with a beautiful vision and an aesthetic environment. Before I decided to pursue this profession, it was instructive and inspiring to witness both the joys and the sorrows of these creative fields.

If I hadn’t become a perfumer, I would have loved to be a professional athlete (if I had had the talent for it); my second passion was field hockey.

Overall, what has always interested me the most is working with people from different countries and horizons, whether through creation, sports, or professional collaborations.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Neroli Oranger EDP

Your father, Jean Guichard, was also a great perfumer. How did he influence you?

My father influenced me with his discipline, work ethic and vision of this profession. He saw perfumery more like poetry rather than an industry; he taught me quality is intricately tied to craftsmanship.

“My father he taught me quality is intricately tied to craftsmanship” – Aurélien Guichard 

Other people have also left their mark on me, particularly my grandparents, who instilled a love for the land and the gifts of nature in me. My mother, a sculptor, served as an example in believing in the power of my creative intuition.

Finally, all the people I have had the privilege to collaborate with over the years, especially the couturiers, have played a significant role in shaping my journey.

Jean Guichard

Where did you study?

I come from the south of France, but I grew up in Paris. I’ve always been drawn to expansive topics, which led me to pursue my studies abroad. I completed my university education in England and later studied the art of perfumery at the Givaudan Perfumery School in France. I felt the need to explore other cultures and work with people from different backgrounds and experiences.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Cologne Cedrat EDP

How did your fine fragrance career get going?

I was fortunate to begin my journey with people who believed in me. At the age of 23, right after graduating, I had the privilege of creating fragrances for Guerlain and Nina Ricci.

The essence of creation and the magic of it lie not only in crafting perfumes but also in the intuition of the brands that we, the perfumers, collaborate with. It’s important to trust young perfumers to compose fragrances for the big houses. It doesn’t happen so often these days.

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Anisia Bella EDT

IMAGE: Guerlain.

Is there a perfume that has special significance for you and why?

Many perfumes have unique stories which make them special in my eyes. But Matiere Premiere Radical Rose is a dream come true to me: cultivating my own centifolia roses, extracting absolute from my flowers, incorporating the absolute into one of my formulas, and finally, bottling the creation under my own brand.

You launched Matiere Premiere in 2019 and have made a big impact already. Had you wanted to start your own company for a long time? Has it given you more creative freedom?

I have always felt a great sense of freedom, even when working for other brands. However, my desire to establish Matiere Premiere came from an aspiration to create a complete expression of my tastes and desires. At Matiere Premiere, I am both the perfumer and the artistic director, which allows me great freedom to bring my vision to life.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Falcon Leather EDP

One of the things I love about Matiere Premiere are the succinct, no-nonsense perfume descriptions on the website. Is that a deliberate approach to avoid the over-embellishment and elaborate stories?

That is exactly it. The goal is to present perfumes in a factual manner and share my olfactory intention in a minimalistic way, without embellishments. The concept of functionality is crucial in that sense. It’s important that there is a truthful connection between the narrative and the creation; I want people to understand what they’re wearing.

“The goal is to present perfumes in a factual manner and share my olfactory intention in a minimalistic way, without embellishments.” – Aurélien Guichard 

I compose Matiere Premiere fragrances with a round construction – creations are linear, instead of being built around top, heart and base notes. What you will smell immediately after spritzing effectively stays the same for hours on end.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Parisian Musc EDP

You have the distinction of being the only perfumer to own and produce his own rose centifolia on the family-owned farm in Grasse. Does that come with great responsibility?

Absolutely. In addition to roses, we also cultivate tuberose and have just begun lavandin in February 2023. This comes with a real sense of responsibility – running a flower farm is a complex and beautiful enterprise, as you work with nature every day. I have reconnected with families of workers that have collaborated with my family for generations.

And I have also decided to bring our farming activity into the future with organic farming techniques, so we are Ecocert certified. Finally, my goal as a farmer is to bring a sense of truth to my creations – it’s almost like adopting a more purist approach.

“My goal as a farmer is to bring a sense of truth to my creations – it’s almost like adopting a more purist approach.” – Aurélien Guichard 

Matiere Premiere French Flower EDP Tuberose

IMAGE: Matiere Premiere.

How is that rose centifolia featured in Matiere Premiere Radical Rose?

Radical Rose is the fragrance that contains the highest possible concentration of rose centifolia from the Grasse region. We really pushed it to a maximum. Overdosing on the rose meant I had to emphasise its positive facets while tempering any less desirable notes.

It was about maintaining richness and complexity, with luminous notes at the beginning – saffron and Jamaican pepper – and avoiding the slightly oldish facets of the rose. Which is why we chose the cistus note, which captures the scent of rose resin that lingers on your hands after harvesting rose centifolia.

Matiere Premiere Radical Rose EDP Centifolia Petals

IMAGE: Matiere Premiere.

While natural materials are central to Matiere Premiere, of course you also use synthetics such as Ambroxan… 

Matiere Premiere is a perfumery with a distinctive style. While each fragrance is unique, they share a common olfactory DNA.

I use an overdose of a natural ingredient which I then facet with either natural or synthetic elements. Both work equally, although the perfumes contain between 85% and 92% natural ingredients.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Crystal Saffron EDP

I’m particularly enjoying the exuberance of Matiere Premiere French Flower. Anything unusual about its creation?

Working with a primary raw material often means that beautiful classics have already been created around it. Take Robert Piguet Fracas, for instance, a masterpiece. Hence, my challenge as perfumer is to offer something new and propel the fragrance into uncharted territory.

Tuberose-based perfumes often tend to be dark, black, opulent, almost dangerous. With French Flower, we took the opposite route: it’s a luminous, radiant and clear fragrance. What makes it almost unique in the world is that we use French tuberose and, of course, we are happy that it’s one that we grow ourselves. Olfactively speaking, French tuberose is enveloping, solar and expansive, while Indian tuberose is greener and harder.

The idea of French Flower was simple: to recreate the scent of our tuberose field at night. This is why I chose to combine two extractions of tuberoses, an absolute and an enfleurage, and no other white flower but a hint of orange blossom. It’s one of the most beautiful scents in the world – almost an olfactory shock.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere French Flower EDP

You’ve recently launched Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder. I see you sourced vanilla absolute from the Fair for Life agricultural programme in Madagascar. Why is responsible sourcing so important to you?

At Matiere Premiere, sourcing is my first act of creation. The quality of the perfume is linked to the sourcing in many ways. We always prioritise olfactive excellence, but we also consistently favour ethical and organic productions, striving to find the best producers providing the best quality.

The future of luxury lies in the access to high-quality raw materials. Ethical sourcing is the luxury of today and tomorrow.

(See my thoughts on Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder at the end of this interview.)

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder EDP

How do you juggle your roles as perfumer at Takasago and founder-perfumer of Matiere Premiere?

I’ve found a balance between the two roles. When working at Takasago, it’s about being at the service of a brand and its creative universe — couturiers, marketing directors. When I work for Matiere Premiere, I work at the service of natural ingredients. These are two different approaches that I equally enjoy.

“When I work for Matiere Premiere, I work at the service of natural ingredients.” – Aurélien Guichard 

Additionally, I’m working on expanding our farm near Grasse. This gives me the opportunity to work in a totally different environment. Working in various contexts and locations around the world is a privilege, a chance to practise my craft in a completely free manner. If I feel free, fulfilled and happy, it’s also because I’m fortunate to work with fantastic teams.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder EDP

At Matiere Premiere, my two incredible co-founders enable me to bring this project to life. At Takasago, I work with great teams in a very stimulating environment. Lastly, in the agricultural context, there’s this love of the soil, of nature, with passionate people working alongside me… I am very lucky.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Neroli Oranger EDP

***MATIERE PREMIERE VANILLA POWDER EDP IMPRESSIONS

Vanilla is a spice. In case you were in any doubt about that, Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder makes that point clear with sustainably sourced vanilla absolute from Madagascar at the heart of this 2023 release.

In this EDP, it’s also creamy and somewhat sweet without tipping over into obvious gourmand territory (although you might feel hungry while wearing it), with warm tropical undertones from coconut powder.

Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder EDP Vanilla Bundles

IMAGE: Matiere Premiere.

If you pick up something slightly fresh and spicy that would be the trendy palo santo (sourced from Ecuador, Spanish for “holy wood” and used for its healing properties when burnt as incense) at work in the composition. It can be domineering, but Aurélien Guichard keeps it in the background to make the most of the richness of his star ingredient, with additional powderiness provided by white musks.

Aurélien Guichard - Matiere Premiere Vanilla Powder EDP

The result is smooth, comfy, distinctive and a timely addition to a genre that’s always been a perfumery mainstay but is particularly popular now (Tom Ford Vanilla Sex, anyone?).

Matiere Premiere fragrances are available in South Africa from Skins Cosmetics.

Alexis Grugeon Interview: “I Want A Signature, But I Also Want To Be Adaptable”

Alexis Grugeon

IMAGE: dsm-firmenich.

When he looks back at his life in the future, 2023 will be a landmark year for Alexis Grugeon. He got married and turned 30. And created two fragrances for Amouage, Search EDP and Opus XV King Blue EDP. In perfume-land, bagging creations for the Oman-based niche brand is a very big deal.

Alexis Grugeon - Amouage Search EDP

Of course, anyone who’s been following the trajectory of the perfumer will see that Alexis Grugeon is only just getting going, with the “wins” (industry-speak for successful briefs) below attesting to his abundant abilities:

+ Michael Kors Wonderlust Eau de Voyage EDP (2020)

+ Bath & Body Works Dahlia Fine Fragrance Mist (2020)

+ Avon Artisan Cherry Vetiver EDP (2020)

+ Nautica Midnight Voyage EDT (2020)

+ Ariana Grande R.E.M. EDP (2020)

+ Ralph Lauren Polo Sport Fresh EDT (2021)

+ Ermenegildo Zegna XXX Verdigris EDP (2021)

+ Lancôme La Nuit Trésor Dentelle de Roses EDP (2021)

+ Iman Love Memoir EDP (2021)

+ Mercedes-Benz Woman in Red EDP (2021)

+ Juicy Couture Oui Splash EDP (2021)

+ Cacharel Yes I Am Delicious EDP (2022)

Ariana Grande R.E.M. EDP

IMAGE: Ariana Grande Fragrances.

The boy from Beauvais has come a long way (apologies, couldn’t resist that rhyming opportunity). His love of all things olfactory started at a young age and was stimulated by visits to the heartland of French perfumery, Grasse, among other things. While some perfumers take an indirect route into the profession, Alexis Grugeon knew what he wanted and went for it with his customary determination.

Juicy Couture Oui Splash EDP

IMAGE: Juicy Couture.

Now based in New York, where he works for the Swiss fragrance and flavour company dsm-firmenich, there’s no doubt we’ll be hearing a lot more about Alexis Grugeon in the future.

In this interview, we chat about his colour blindness, working with Amouage and the importance of me-time.

Alexis Grugeon

IMAGE: dsm-firmenich.

Do you have any perfume memories from your childhood?

Yes, I have many scent memories from growing up in Beauvais, which is in the north of France, in the countryside. When I was younger, I loved going to the forest and smelling everything – the leaves, different types of woods and aromatic plants that I would find. As far as a specific perfume memory, my mom wore YSL Opium and Lolita Lempicka.

When I was eight years old, I discovered the métiers of perfumery through a trip to Grasse. From then on, every Christmas I would get a box of raw materials and have many memories of opening these in my bedroom to smell.

YSL Opium

IMAGE: Yves Saint Laurent.

Why did your visit to the Perfume Museum (Musée International de la Parfumerie) in Grasse make such an impression on you?

During this visit I learned about the different métiers of perfumery and it was then that I knew I wanted to become a perfumer – I just knew that I loved to smell things.

This was why my grandparents took me to the museum in the first place, and it was there that I met someone who walked me through the world of perfumery. I also discovered literature that focused on perfumery and so I read and learned a lot about the industry over the next few years.

Musée International de la Parfumerie

IMAGE: Musée International de la Parfumerie.

What did you enjoy most about your studies at École Supérieure du Parfum?

Right after high school I went to study there and it allowed me to continue exploring this industry. We spent a lot of our time smelling and creating – the highlight of my time there.

We covered all the different facets from creation to marketing. This gave me a good overview and provided all the tools to see what position would be the best fit.

“The networking aspect was key because I now know so many people in the industry both on the fragrance house and brand side.” – Alexis Grugeon

Additionally, the networking aspect of my time there was key because I now know so many people in the industry both on the fragrance house and brand side.

What was your first fine fragrance creation? Your thoughts on it now?

L’Homme Emanuel Ungaro EDT [2018] started from an accord that I did for myself with orris and some lavender. Very sexy, with a masculine background of leather and woods.

When I smell it now, sure, there are things I could change, but I always think that the fact that it started from an accord that I personally loved so much makes it special to me.

L'Homme Emanuel Ungaro EDT

IMAGE: Emanuel Ungaro.

In your bio on the dsm-firmenich website, you say your colour blindness has turned out to be an advantage. It couldn’t have been easy growing up with it, though…

Believe it or not, it’s easy to grow up with colour blindness because you are so young that by the time you discover it, you don’t know your world any other way.

For me, when a kid is colour blind and they hear a colour but it is not what they see, they almost work backwards to learn and recognise the colours they see, rather than the other way around, which is how others would learn them. I also do feel I have heightened sense of smell because of it.

“There is a parallel between this way of learning colours and smelling raw materials.” – Alexis Grugeon

There is a parallel between this way of learning colours and smelling raw materials because when you smell something it is subjective. You may not know right away what you are smelling in the blind – even if you know it – and you have to work backwards to think and link it to what it is.

Alexis Grugeon - Amouage Search EDP

Did you meet creative director Renaud Salmon during the creation process for Amouage Search and Amouage Opus XV King Blue? If so, please describe the collaboration process with him.

Yes, I met with him a couple of times. The collaboration is great because Renaud gives an overall concept of what he would like to achieve with the fragrance or collection he is looking to create.

For Search, he pictured something like a dark sky during a thunderstorm and so I had to find a way to represent this in a fragrance. That was what the smokiness in the scent represents to me and I paired it with the dark side of black lemon to find the right balance of all the elements to create the perfect storm.

For King Blue, he wanted an oud that was more modern and different with a very opposed and unique contrast like oud and orange. This was how I came to having a burst of mandarin and amber together with the oud and finding the right amount of oud because he also wanted it to be strong and powerful.

Alexis Grugeon - Amouage Opus XV King Blue EDP

Did you feel any pressure or doubts creating fragrances for such a highly regarded brand?

With Renaud, it is such an enjoyable creation process because he has such strong, great ideas as to what he wants, but he allows me to create my interpretation of that vision and so it’s a nice balance. I am inspired to give my all and do my best to ensure we capture the fragrance he envisioned.

Alexis Grugeon

TALKING AMOUAGE: Renaud Salmon and Alexis Grugeon at ScentXplore in New York City. IMAGE: dsm-firmenich.

Will you be working on more Amouage creations?

I love working with the brand, so hopefully there will be more to come.

What can you tell us about what you’re working on now?

I am fortunate to work in the New York office, the global hub for dsm-firmenich, so I get to work on local brands for North America, in addition to working with global brands from France to Brazil to the Middle East. All that to say, I have several projects in the works that I am happy to share once they have launched.

Your career is on the up. Would you say you have a fragrance signature yet, or is that still a work in progress?

I am starting to define a signature, for sure, but also what I admire in master perfumers is that they constantly reinvent themselves.

“What I admire in master perfumers is that they constantly reinvent themselves.” – Alexis Grugeon

I want a signature, of course, but I also want to be flexible and adaptable. Fortunately, I have been exposed to many clients in fine fragrance and so there is a signature that comes organically from working and creating for these types of brands.

Lancôme La Nuit Trésor Dentelle de Roses EDP

IMAGE: Lancôme.

It seems you’re quite the fitness enthusiast. Are you able to give the time you want to these passions? Or do deadlines sometimes have to come first?

Work always comes first, because I love what I do and because I am constantly smelling, so I want to ensure that all deadlines are met and that what I submit is strong and my best.

With that, it is important to give time to my other passions such as running. This allows time to just take care of me and my body and disconnect for a bit to observe and take in everything that is around me.

Part of the métier of perfumery is to be competitive, so it is important to keep this competition healthy at work. In both sports and fragrance my main thing is to always push myself to the extreme.

Amouage Search EDP and Amouage Opus XV King Blue EDP are available in South Africa at Skins Cosmetics.

Gabriela Chelariu Interview: “Perfumery Is Not A Career Where There Is A Ladder That One Ascends, But Rather A Career Of Storytelling Through Every Creation”

Gabriela Chelariu

IMAGE: Firmenich.

You don’t have to be a perfumer geek to know there aren’t many perfumers from Romania. While her heritage makes her unusual in the industry and has given her a different perspective, ultimately that isn’t what makes Gabriela Chelariu stand out. It’s the quality and consistency of her work expressed in the creations below:

+ Jennifer Lopez JLo Glow After Dark EDT (2006)

+ Michael Kors Sparkling Blush EDP (2018)

+ All Saints Sunset Riot EDP (2018)

+ Avon Velvet EDP (2018)

+ Bath & Body Works You’re The One EDT (2020)

+ Nest Sunkissed Hibiscus EDP (2020)

+ Dolly Parton Dolly: Scent From Above EDP (2021)

+ Escada Summer Festival EDP (2021)

+ Ralph Lauren Romance Parfum (2021)

+ Calvin Klein CK Everyone EDP (2022)

+ Guess Vita Bella Rosa EDT (2022)

Avon Velvet EDP

IMAGE: Avon.

And then there all her super-popular creations for United Arab Emirates-based brand Kayali: Kayali Vanilla 28 EDP (2018), Kayali Déjà Vu White Flower 57 EDP (2020), Kayali Eden Juicy Apple 01 EDP (2021), Kayali Sweet Diamond Pink Pepper 25 EDP (2021), Kayali Utopia Vanilla Coco 21 EDP (2021), Kayali Lovefest Burning Cherry 48 EDP (2022) and Kayali The Wedding Silk Santal 36 EDP (2023).

Gabriela Chelariu - Kayali Sweet Diamond Pink Pepper 25 EDP

Perfumery wasn’t the first career choice of Gabriela Chelariu. Originally, she had her mind set on pharmacy but when she was exposed to the world of fragrance ingredients that would eventually take her to New York, where she currently works for the Swiss flavour and fragrance company Firmenich.

In this interview we chat about the allure of ingredients, working with Dolly Parton and the creation of Calvin Klein CK Everyone EDP.

Dolly Parton

IMAGE: dollyfragrance.com

When you’re not working, what kind of fragrances do you like to wear? Any particular favourites?

When I am not working, I find myself reaching for the same fragrance most of the time, a fragrance that is centred around clean orange flower, ambrette seed, Ambrox (a very diffusive and long-lasting ambery woody molecule) and musk. It has a lot of signature, clarity and creates a long-lasting aura without being overwhelming.

I like luminous woody textures built around amber woods, vetiver and cedar that have verticality, so I can smell the woods right from the top and continuously as I wear it. The fragrances I like to wear all have clean warmth, but not to be confused with fresh.

There are creations I do for myself but sometimes they find their way into projects. One is going to be launched next year but since it is not yet announced, I can’t disclose it at this time.

Gabriela Chelariu

IMAGE: Firmenich.

You originally studied to become a pharmacist and then discovered the world of aroma-chemicals. Briefly, tell us how your career evolved from there.  

In my last year of studying pharmacy, I discovered the world of aroma-molecules and this opportunity opened the door into the fascinating world of fragrances.

Soon afterwards, I visited Grasse, where I discovered the other extraordinary dimensions of perfumery, such as natural ingredients and their journey from the beautiful flowers, vibrant herbs and earthy roots into clear essences, unctuous absolutes and resins.

“I discovered the  journey of beautiful flowers, vibrant herbs and earthy roots into clear essences, unctuous absolutes and resins.” – Gabriela Chelariu

That is where I decided I wanted to become a perfumer. I started studying on my own and found a long-distance course offered by IFEAT (the International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades) in collaboration with Plymouth University. After I moved to the US in 2000, I started as a perfumer assistant at Fragrance Resources and where I began the training to become a perfumer.

It might sound simpler than it was, but that after years of working late nights in the lab studying fragrance ingredients, creating accords and finished fragrances, I look back and it was quite a lengthy process. It was not always easy but being where I am today and being able to live my dream made it all worth it.

My career evolved with every fragrance I created since then, whether they launched or not. It’s not a career where there is a ladder that one ascends, but rather a career of storytelling through every creation and I am always on a journey. I love the process.

Gabriela Chelariu - Guess Bella Vita Rosa EDT

What was your fine fragrance debut? Your thoughts on it now? 

It was Pink Pearls EDP by Lulu Guinness (2005), quite a playful, easy and optimistic fragrance that I created around pink grapefruit, orange blossom, apricot, clean musk and comforting fluffy woods.

With the spirit of a new beginning when everything is bright, hopeful and innocent, it was very much a reflection of where I was in my career and my mindset at that time. I wouldn’t change anything about it now, but I can see how it was a creation of my younger self.

Gabriela Chelariu - Lulu Guinness Pink Pearls EDP

IMAGE: Lulu Guinness.

There can’t be that many Romanian perfumers (please correct me if I’m wrong). Has that given you something different to offer?

Yes, indeed there are not many Romanian perfumers and certainly there is no tradition in Romania of fragrance creation. To add to this, I grew up far from the world of traditional fine fragrance, due to the political realities of that time in the country, but also the material conditions in which I grew up.

“I grew up in a rich world of fragrances, but they were the fragrances of the natural world and the daily life in Romania.” – Gabriela Chelariu 

That said, I grew up in a rich world of fragrances, but they were the fragrances of the natural world and the daily life in Romania. I was always connected to smells in my life in a profound way. Smells were signalling the arrival of a new season and to this day, there are smells that to me signal the arrival of spring, fall or winter. The summers smelled like tomato leaves, the end of school smelled like blooming linden, the month of May smelled like peony and February like freesia. My grandmother taught me the names of all the plants around us and their scents reinforced those names.

My experience growing up in Romania gave me a point of view in the fragrance world that is indeed a bit different because I approach perfume from a natural and experiential place, and that plays an important role in all my creations.

Escada Summer Festival EDP

IMAGE: Escada.

How do you like to work? And how do you start each perfume project?

I can’t say I have one method of working, because every project is different.

When creating new accords outside of a specific project it is the same. It can either happen methodically if I have a particular intention in mind, or serendipitously because I encountered something that moved me and I wanted to capture it in a fragrance, even if I don’t have an idea yet for where it will go.

When working on a specific fragrance project, I like to start with the story that this fragrance is trying to evoke. Who is the person who is going to wear it? What is the feeling it is going to create within that person? I like to create a universe that is going to give the inspiration for the structure, the ingredients, the accords and the textures I want to play with.

Nest Sunkissed Hibiscus EDP

IMAGE: Nest.

Do you enjoy the process of competing for briefs?

Competing for briefs is enjoyable mostly when you win them, of course. The competition we, as perfumers, are involved in is winner takes all, so there is little consolation when we lose a project. Every project is a competition with oneself as much as a competition with others, and I am fully engaged and always enthusiastic to tackle a new challenge.

“The competition we are involved in is winner takes all, so there is little consolation when we lose a project.” – Gabriela Chelariu 

The ultimate goal is to create the best possible fragrance that fits the project and when all is said and done, knowing that I did my best no matter the outcome. It’s a tough process sometimes, but the desire to create a fragrance that will touch people’s lives is stronger.

Michael Kors Sparkling Blush EDP

IMAGE: Michael Kors.

Working with Dolly Parton on her debut fragrance, Scent From Above EDP (2021), must have been a fun experience…

Dolly Parton is one of the most gracious people I have worked with. Although I’ve never met her in person, she was deeply involved in developing the fragrance and was precise in what she wanted this fragrance to be.

I refined it until she found the signature she envisioned. I remember every time she wanted another adjustment, she always apologised thinking that she is too demanding. She is very considerate and has a lot of respect for the creative process, being a creative force herself.

Gabriela Chelariu - Dolly Parton Dolly Scent From Above EDP

IMAGE: dollyfragrances.com

Calvin Klein CK Everyone EDP is a 2022 creation of yours. Did you consult your colleague Alberto Morillas (who co-created the original CK One EDT)? What else can you tell us about its creation?

Although a creation started by me, it ended up as a collaboration with Alberto Morillas and Frank Voelkl.

Of course, it was a great honour to work with Alberto, the creator of such an iconic fragrance, and his contribution was key in maintaining the DNA of the brand while evolving it for today’s youth.

The way we worked together was seamless. The last modification liked by the CK team would be passed to each of us and we would each add our individual take, and so on in the next round. This is why the final version weaves in all our ideas in a harmonious way.

Gabriela Chelariu - Calvin Klein CK Everyone EDP

Kayali The Wedding Silk Santal 36 EDP (2023) isn’t the first fragrance you’ve created for the brand. How would you describe the creative process with founder Mona Kattan?

I’ve worked with Mona Kattan from the inception of Kayali [Kayali Vanilla 28 EDP, 2018). This was an illuminating and unique experience as a perfumer because it gave me the opportunity to participate first-hand in the process of building the brand.

Mona is deeply involved in the co-creation process, and from the beginning of every brief, she has a strong sense of where she wants the creation to go. Throughout the process of co-creation, she’ll narrow down to the ideas she feels fit the best and then we start fully developing and finessing the fragrances to reach the final version. This phase of the project can sometimes take quite a long time. It is very important that the fragrance is the best it can be for the vision she has for it.

By working together from the beginning of the brand we have developed a strong relationship based on trust and a common understanding of olfactive language.

Gabriela Chelariu - Kayali Vanilla 28 EDP

What project have you just finished that you can tell us about?

I wish I could share that with you but it is client prerogative to be the first to announce a fragrance launch, so that is a trust I cannot break.

What gets you through a stressful period?

Being in nature and working with plants in the garden gets me through stressful periods. I love hiking and am always in awe of how incredible and resilient nature is. It gives me a lot of energy and optimism.

“One cannot rush nature and we must let it run its course. This is also somehow true with fragrances.” – Gabriela Chelariu

Tending to flowers and seeing them grow from seeds into majestic blooms is another way to leave the stress behind. It is also a lesson in patience – one cannot rush nature and we must let it run its course. This is also somehow true with fragrances.

Kayali fragrances are available in South Africa from Arc Store, Guess Vita Bella Rosa EDT and Calvin Klein CK Everyone EDP from Dis-Chem

Linda Pilkington Interview: “Ormonde Jayne Is Privately Owned By Me, So It’s Agile”

Linda Pilkington

IMAGE: Ormonde Jayne

What started out as a request for product info* (for some reason, I decided to send to send my email to the PR contact on the Ormonde Jayne website) turned into a fully-fledged Zoom interview the next day with Linda Pilkington.

Good fortune! I’d put the founder of the London-based niche brand on my interview wish-list a couple of years ago, thinking it would probably take more time to materialise. So I’m not gushing (okay, just a little bit) when I tell Linda Pilkington it’s such a “thrill” to speak to her. Good timing too, I must add, with the October 2023 launch of Ormonde Jayne Arabesque EDP (a collaboration with Expressions Parfumées).

Ormonde Jayne Arabesque EDP

IMAGE: Ormonde Jayne.

My love for all things Ormonde Jayne can be traced back to one perfume specifically – Ormonde Jayne Ta’if EDP (2004) – and several others I’ve tried after that beauty.

Although Linda Pilkington says she’s more “thin skinned” than people realise, I get a strong sense of her grit, determination, humour, graciousness and entrepreneurial spirit. These qualities have taken her from an ice cream parlour founder and Chanel candle-maker to the owner of one of Britain’s leading niche fragrance brands.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Ta'if EDP

*I assumed, erroneously as it turned out, that Ormonde Jayne Ta’if Elixir (2019) was created by Geza Schoen, who created the original. I discover during the interview that Linda Pilkington is a bit of a perfumer herself, “largely self-taught, at the very beginning of Ormonde Jayne, going through volumes of Poucher’s Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps, working with Geza Schoen and researching in Grasse part of the experience”.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Ta'if Elixir

What fragrance are you wearing today?

I’m wearing Ormonde Woman EDP. When I wake up, I think through the day ahead. What have I got? What do I need to wear? Am I meeting people?

If I’m going to be with lots of different people, I like to wear Ormonde Woman because it makes me feel like I’ve got a protective shield around me. I can function because it’s the black hemlock absolute, this kind of mysterious poisonous wood [I laugh].

No offence, by the way, it just makes me feel more special than, let’s say, if I was going out for a romantic dinner with my husband, and I may wear something a bit more alluring and floral.

Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman EDP

IMAGE: Ormonde Jayne.

I could see why you would choose Ormonde Woman to give you that feeling. And that’s also the power of a beautifully created fragrance.

That’s right. Because sometimes a perfume can make you feel a certain way. I’ve done a bit of research in this area where scientists have proven certain ingredients have an effect on the brain, therefore would technically affect how you feel about something. It’s a concept I’m quite interested in looking into because it’s a lovely new dimension. How does this perfume make you feel?

You started your company in 2000 and here you are 20 years+ later. What’s kept you going through all this time?

The company, because it’s privately owned by me, is quite agile, therefore you haven’t got to explain to a committee or to investors, this has happened, that’s happened.

We’ve got the 2008 financial crash, a terrible Christmas and the whole of Bond Street was absolutely dead. And, of course, you just invested in a lot of components, oils, boxes and now you’ve got to pay the bill. We’ve had Covid, Brexit. One year I took a 300% rent increase, because the shop opposite my boutique had accepted a 300% increase in their rent.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Frangipani EDP

So you have all these moments that you’ve got to deal with and I’m actually quite thin skinned. People always think I’m quite tough, tough as old boots, but these are things that keep me pondering all night long. What’s the best move? And then I run it by several people who I trust, like my husband and other people in the trade, and then I go with my own gut instinct which would be the right thing for Ormonde Jayne, taking into account what everybody’s told me.

“I felt the need to strengthen the company, so I’m not suddenly finding myself with 350 points of sales closed and rents to pay.” – Linda Pilkington

We’ve had a few hair-raising moments, but now we’re in a good strong position because after Covid, I felt the need to strengthen the company, so I’m not suddenly finding myself with 350 points of sales closed and rents to pay. I thought if this ever happens again, I need to have that resilience that I can shoulder it, so I built up a war chest of finance that’s there for unforeseen circumstances. And that makes me feel restful and peaceful within.

Linda Pilkington

IMAGE: Ormonde Jayne

You can’t prepare for all eventualities, but at least have something to fall back on. Linda, I was reading on the website that Madame Rochas had a big influence on you in terms of your love of fragrance. Do you still love it? [Gets up and brings a Madame Rochas box to the screen]. Or can you find a bottle there? Ah, there it is.

Just my little reminder. It’s not the love for the perfume by a long shot. It’s just literally that moment where I’m a little girl, I like fragrance, but I’m on The Body Shop White Musk at this point in my life. My mum gave me that Rochas bottle mainly because she’d been given it by a man and she didn’t think it was proper to accept a perfume from a man, given that she was a married woman.

Linda Pilkington - Madame Rochas

It was a beautiful big bottle – heavy, crystal glass, lovely cognac colour – and it looked so optically smart in my bedroom on my dressing table. I always wanted to have beautiful things in my bedroom, which I used to pay for myself.

When I visited the Biba department store in London – all black, gold, purple, peacock feathers, stalks on the roof in the roof gardens – I was so blown away, I wanted my bedroom to look like a Biba boutique.

My Madame Rochas perfume really fitted the bill and I thought it would be great to have more perfume bottles around my bedroom. Then my mum’s friends gave me all theirs and slowly but surely, I had this lovely collection of perfume bottles, which, at that point for me, was all about aesthetics.

And then, of course, somebody says, “Well, which one’s your favourite?”, so then you start smelling them all and I got into this whole thing of going to department stores and getting samples. And in those days the sample was made in the same style as the bottle. I was an expert on how to con the sales assistants out of these samples, poor women. They thought this girl knows what she’s talking about, so we will give her some samples. I used to collect all these tiny bottles, which I’ve still got today, and it kind of went on from there. This passion happenstance and that was the result of it.

Biba

BIBA LIFE: Twiggy at Biba, Kensington High Street, 1960s, photographer unknown. Various labels and price tags from Biba, early 1970s, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

I can’t think of a better way to start with such a special fragrance. Let’s talk about working with Geza Schoen, the perfumer who’s created a lot of your releases. Why has that been such a successful collaboration so far?

We both go back a long time, 23 years – it was a match made in heaven and good timing.

Geza was working for a big German company, Haarmann & Reimer, and wanted to do his own thing. He popped into the shop one day, introduced himself and told me what he needed. As it turned out, he lived five minutes away from my studio and when he saw it, he said, “Can I actually make my perfume here?” So I said, “Yeah, of course. Why not? You’re welcome.” We kind of became friends because of that. He was there for about two years, but not every day.

Geza Schoen

Because he had the training and I knew the technical-legal side – the dos and don’ts, where you get bottles from, where you get that made – it was good for both of us.

“I had an idea of what I wanted to do, which was to use ingredients nobody else was using and to give people an option if they came into the boutique.” – Linda Pilkington

I had an idea of what I wanted to do, which was to use ingredients nobody else was using and to give people an option if they came into the boutique. If they said I like cedarwood, I would say I’ve got hemlock. And if they wanted jasmine, I’ve got sampaguita. I had been on a lot of trips looking for unusual ingredients, sometimes successful, sometimes not.

Geza saved me a lot of time and effort when he told me these are speciality oils – far more expensive because they’re in small quantities and the big companies can’t use them because they don’t make enough of it. And you can contact companies and ask them for their list of speciality oils.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Isfarkand EDP

So that’s what I did, and then suddenly they came through on the fax machine, all these speciality oils, and I was really excited. The first thing that came out said hemlock and I said, “I’m having that straight away.”

We’re very different in personalities, which, in a way, is a good thing because we’re not copying each other. Geza is very much his own person and not wanting to be dealing with complications like a shop. He thought I was nuts spending so much money on perfumes and on ingredients that might not be available one year.

When Geza went back to Berlin, he still stayed in touch – in fact, we were exchanging yesterday and the day before. Now, I’ve maintained my vision and, of course, I still want to use certain ingredients and so I had to find some of my own suppliers farther afield. So he doesn’t mind if I do my own thing when we make perfumes for, let’s say, Fenwick, Harrods, Selfridges, the department stores, they only want maybe 200 bottles, 300 bottles. So we do it ourselves, in-house, and that works very well.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Ta'if Elixir

There’s lots of inspiration happening and you take it quite freely from London, your travels. Do you ever struggle with that?

No [she says emphatically]. My brain doesn’t stop churning. I take inspiration from everything, Richard. I used to have a camera, but now I just use my phone. Before all the security with airports, I always had a little pair of scissors so I could snip things.

I’ve got pages and pages of names of perfumes that don’t even exist yet. They’re just beautiful names that we like (my husband’s very good at this too) that we know we could find ingredients to make a perfume.

And so I’m constantly collating and bringing together all different walks of life. I’ve got literally books and books and books and pages and pages and photographs and photographs and file files, files, files, files of everything. I’ve got enough to last about 100 years [laughs].

“I’ve got enough inspiration to last about 100 years.” – Linda Pilkington 

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Tolu EDP

LINDA PILKINGTON ON…
ORMONDE JAYNE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH COLLECTION

We’ve got Qi, the breath of life of the Chinese, Tsarina for the opulence of Russian ladies, Nawab of Oudh to celebrate the intelligence of the Nawabs of India, and then we had the Montabacos of South America, the tango, the leather, the cowboys, the cigars and everything.

The Four Corners of the Earth is actually about London, embracing the rich diversity and all the rich cultures. The whole world lives in London. We learn from them and they learn from us.

That was with Geza Schoen.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Montabaco Intensivo Parfum

ORMONDE JAYNE LA ROUTE DE LA SOIE COLLECTION

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan was a book that I read just before lockdown. A great education for me about all the merchants coming out of China through Constantinople, Babylonia, to Europe, to Florence, to the markets and bringing gun powder, mathematics, silk and their silkworms.

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

IMAGE: The Folio Society.

Off the back of that I thought I would love to learn more about the Silk Road flowers, trees, shrubs. It became a bit of a road map on my kitchen table, all these different areas – the Levant, Babylonia, Tanger – and ingredients.

I did that project with two guys and two ladies from Expressions Parfumées in Grasse, because it was complicated and it was more than one perfume. We work with a combination of people, but always using a house palette.

“We work with a combination of people, but always using a house palette.” – Linda Pilkington

Ormonde Jayne La Route de la Soie Collection

IMAGE: Ormonde Jayne.

ORMONDE JAYNE ELIXIR COLLECTION

We always want something for everybody and people kept saying we want something stronger.

For the Elixir Collection, we picked Osmanthus because we noticed that if we pulled the osmanthus for 42%, you could smell nuances in it that the 30% EDP didn’t have. As well as obviously the longevity, it just changed a little bit. So you have the option to show somebody this is at 30%, this is it at 42%. They could do the Pepsi Challenge and decide which one is for them. We did the same with the Ambre Royal EDP and Royal Elixir.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Ambre Royal EDP

Ormonde Jayne Ta’if we mixed with pure Cambodian oud for the elixir. We have an oud trader and we buy Cambodian oud from this particular gentleman. And we have that checked with the chemist to make sure it’s pure, the real thing, before we pay the bill. It’s quite strong and we do that in our studio.

ORMONDE JAYNE ISFARKAND EDP AND ELIXIR

One of our best-selling perfumes, a short formula, and originally made for my husband when he was 40 years old. He got so many compliments on it, I had to bring it into the range.

When it came to the Isfarkand Elixir, we couldn’t use the pink pepper in the quantity I wanted to use it in due to IFRA (International Fragrance Association) rules, so Geza and I went back to the original (what we called the “Velvet Underground” formula) and put that at 42% without the pink pepper top note.

Some stores are wanting exclusivity on it, so maybe we’re going to make changes: these shops have it, nobody else has it, because they sell the most and that’s what clients want.

Like I said, we can move quickly, we don’t have to have lots of board meetings or anything like that. We can just have a five-minute conversation and decide let’s do it.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Isfarkand EDP

ORMONDE JAYNE TA’IF EDP

Back in the day, you couldn’t just buy a ticket and get a visa. You had to have an invitation from a company or a family in Saudi Arabia approved by their ministry first. And then, of course, you had to think about how you’re going to conduct yourself as a woman – separate accommodation, clothing, a chaperone.

When I got to Arabia and the aeroplane door opened, there was this real different scent in the air. There are lots of date palm trees there, so I was given a lovely date drink when I got to my hotel and a beautifully decorated box of dried dates next to the bed in my room. At my meeting, lots of beautiful oranges and fruits were all sliced up.

In the gardens of the Al-Raddaf Park was a celebration of the Taif rose [the damask rose varietal, grown in the Taif region of the country, is celebrated annually during the Taif Rose Festival]. The people pick the petals themselves, their baskets get weighed and the king gives money that day to his subjects. The little petals get poured into a distillation and on the other side of the park, you see the oil coming down into cauldrons.

“It meant something very special to me. Ormonde Jayne Ta’if was everything that I felt from that beautiful trip.” – Linda Pilkington

It meant something very special to me. So Ormonde Jayne Ta’if was taif oil with date oil with orange blossom. Everything that I felt from that beautiful trip.

Linda Pilkington - Ormonde Jayne Ta'if EDP

Now you can just fly to Saudi Arabia, by the way, it’s changed completely. It was wonderful then as well, but everything was a little more exciting and mysterious.

Ormonde Jayne fragrance are available in South Africa from Galeries de Parfums

Jean Jacques Interview: “I Often Start From The Caron Legacy To Make New Creations”

Jean Jacques

IMAGE: Caron.

Good things come to those who wait, it is said. And after several months of delays and apologetic emails, my interview with Jean Jacques, Caron in-house perfumer, came to be. Not that the man needed to apologise. It’s been a “crazy few years” since he joined the house in 2018. And it’s only now that he’s getting a chance to breathe and do some interviews in-between.

Jean Jacques

IMAGE: Caron.

First, some essential background to Caron and Jean Jacques. The house was founded in 1904 by Ernest Daltroff. Together with creative director Félicie Wanpouille, the self-taught perfumer produced numerous all-time classics, including Caron Narcisse Noir Parfum (1911), Caron N’Aimez Que Moi Parfum (1916), Caron Tabac Blond Parfum (1919) and Caron Pour un Homme de Caron EDT (1934), that established the house’s impeccable credentials as one of the greats of French perfumery.

Caron N'Aimez Que Moi Parfum

IMAGE: Caron.

As a Jew and with the rise of the Nazis, Ernest Daltroff escaped to America (he died in 1947), leaving Caron in the capable hands of Félicie Wanpouille until 1967. And while the house never quite disappeared and continued to produce standouts, it certainly lost its way and allure for quite some time.

Caron Narcisse Noir Parfum

IMAGE: Caron.

Which brings us to the acquisition of the brand in 2018 by Ariane and Benjamin de Rothschild through their investment firm Cattleya Finance. A savvy businesswoman, one of Ariane de Rothschild’s first decisions was to employ Jean Jacques as in-house perfumer.

Caron Tabac Blond Parfum

IMAGE: Caron.

Jean Jacques was on his way to a career in music when a friend told him about ISIPCA, the renowned perfumery school in Versailles. That career change eventually took him to Japan where he worked for the fragrance and flavour company Takasago.

Jean Jacques

IMAGE: Caron.

While Jean Jacques can’t quite recall his fine fragrance debut (probably Mariella Burani Amuleti EDT in 1999), there’s no doubting his admiration for his mentor Pierre Bourdon, the great perfumer behind classics such as Yves Saint Laurent Kouros EDT, Davidoff Cool Water EDT, Montblanc Individuel EDT, Frédéric Malle French Lover EDP and Creed Green Irish Tweed EDP.

Before joining Caron, Jean Jacques had notched up several successes of his own, including Christian Lacroix C’est la Fête! EDP (2007), Kenzo Eau de Fleur de Soie EDT (2008), Oriflame Love Potion EDP (2011), Givenchy Gentleman Only EDT (2013), Courrèges Hyperbole EDP (2016) and Davidoff Cool Water Wave EDT (2017).

Givenchy Gentleman Only EDT

IMAGE: Givenchy.

If you want to know just how busy he’s been since joining Caron, look at the company’s website. Through all the recent releases – “perhaps too many,” he admits – and various collections, the message is clear. Caron is back in business.

Jean Jacques - Caron Vetiver Infini EDP

When we get to chat, he’s at home and animated about all things Caron. Even though English is not his first language, Jean Jacques speaks fast, eloquently and with much knowledge about the house and ingredients. We talk about his dynamic with Ariane de Rothschild, the challenge of making Caron relevant to a contemporary market and various fragrances.

Jean Jacques - Caron Vetiver Infini EDP + Caron Fleur de Rocaille EDP

Your relationship with Ariane de Rothschild is an integral part of Caron. What can you tell us about her?

She knows everything that’s nice in the world, art, she’s a collector. She’s in contact every day with beauty in terms of art, photography, sculpture, painting. Yet she can say, “Wow!” and, “C’est magnifique!” [“It’s magnificent!”]

“This meeting of passion is something that really excites me. There’s a lot of energy, creation and experimentation.”

She’s obviously very passionate about Caron. Something you both have in common…

Oui, oui, this meeting of passion is something that really excites me. There’s a lot of energy, creation and experimentation. Perhaps we did launch too many fragrances in the four years. But now we come back with less, we take more time, but we still have the same passion and energy.

Jean Jacques - Caron Santal Precieux EDP

There’s a magnificent heritage to Caron, which started with Ernest Daltroff in 1904. One of your challenges must be to make Caron relevant to a contemporary market. Some might think Caron is old school, old fashioned. How do you get that balance? It can’t be easy?

No, you’re right. I often start from the legacy to make new creations. For example, the collection of Tabac, because there’s Tabac Blond, we make Tabac Noir EDP, then Tabac Exquis EDP and last year Tabac Blanc EDP.

Because of the first one, Tabac Blond Parfum, which is more than 100 years old, I start with the idea of creating a collection of modern tobacco fragrances.

The same with Poivre Sacré EDP. Caron launched a fragrance called Poivre in 1954. Because of that, I make Poivre Sacré EDP, pushing it even further – the level of oils, the balsams, the cumin, the saffron, the spices – to make an explosive fragrance. Starting from the heritage, I created something totally new.

Jean Jacques - Caron Poivre Sacre EDP

Also with Caron Pour un Homme de Caron EDT, lavender and vanilla, which was created in 1934. I take the lavender but create something new with Caron Pour Un Homme de Caron Le Matin EDT and Caron Pour Un Homme de Caron Le Soir EDP. For the morning, Le Matin, I use lavandin oil and the latest technology, CO2 ginger extract.

For the evening, Le Soir, I use a very nice essence of lavender from Provence. You know, we now have our very own field of lavender in the south of France for Pour Un Homme, but I mix that oil with oakwood extract, which is a totally new ingredient. So once again the legacy but mixed with new ingredients.

Caron Pour Un Homme de Caron Trio

IMAGE: Caron.

Sometimes, though, I make something totally new that’s not directly linked to the history of Caron. For example, Caron Musc Oli EDT, which I did with Oliva de Rothschild, featuring the synthetic ingredients Cashmeran FF and Javanol. Normally at Caron, we use lots of natural ingredients but for this one we still used the best synthetics.

The link with Caron is the adventurous spirit. And now Musc Oli is one of our best-sellers. This means this brand can go far in terms of modernity, as long as the story is good.

Caron Musc Oli EDT

IMAGE: Caron.

I haven’t tried it yet but have tried Tabac Exquis and Rose Ebène de Caron, which have a gourmand aspect…

Those are also good examples of how I mix history and modernity.

For Tabac Exquis, for instance, a natural extraction of tobacco, cacao and a chocolate accord, which is not natural, but we can recreate the smell of chocolate through molecules.

Jean Jacques - Caron Rose Ebene de Caron EDP

I love the way you haven’t done obvious gourmands. Are you a gourmand man yourself?

Non [smiles]. But one of the first fragrances we launched was Aimez-Moi Comme Je Suis EDT [2020], a masculine mix of vetiver and hazelnut. I used hazelnut because it’s gourmand but not sugary. There’s too much sugar on the market. It’s important to find our way to be gourmandise.

Jean Jacques - Caron Tabac Exquis EDP

I wanted to ask you about the one I’m wearing now, Caron Pois de Senteur Parfum, originally created by Ernest Daltroff in 1927, and inspired by the floral sweat pea. How did you approach this recreation?

Oui, oui, it’s more the name that’s important here because sweet pea doesn’t smell strong. Pois de Senteur is an olfactive bomb. There’s a huge amount of natural jasmine and honey molecule in this fragrance. It’s very popular in the Middle East.

“As with all our classics and masterpieces, I had to make a new formulation that respects the IFRA regulations.”

Of course, as with all our classics and masterpieces, I had to make a new formulation that respects the IFRA regulations. What I did for this one and Tabac Blond, Pour un Homme and Narcisse de Noir, each time I worked with the technical support of IFF, the big fragrance creation company, I ask them to analyse the original fragrance.

Jean Jacques - Caron Pois de Senteur Parfum

So I took the 1927 one to make sure it’s legislatively okay. Instead of going with the last version before Caron was bought by Ariane, which had been adapted several times already, I preferred to start with the first one of Daltroff to make sure it’s as close as possible.

For Tabac Blond, natural oakmoss extraction had disappeared from the formulation. A chypre is not a chypre without oakmoss. I brought back the oakmoss absolute in the formula of Tabac Blond.

Jean Jacques - Caron Pois de Senteur Parfum

With IFRA regulations, you must be so careful with ingredients like oakmoss…

Oakmoss is permitted, but you need to make a change to the extraction because the molecule in the ingredient, atranol, is forbidden. So you have to use natural extraction of oakmoss, what we call low atranol, to decrease the concentration of the molecule. If you do that, using oakmoss absolute is not an issue.

The last few years have been intense for you. Do you get time to yourself? Or is perfumery all-consuming?

Oui, oui, you know, I love my job, I think perfume 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But I still have time for making music, my family and golf. I’m just back from England for a big golf tournament, as I’m crazy about the sport. It’s a busy week, I would say, but okay, I’m a lucky guy.

Jean Jacques - Caron Santal Precieux EDP

Music is one of your great loves. Have you ever regretted not following that career path?

I decided to give my life to perfumery and it gave me back a lot more. I have my piano over there and play it with my daughter. I can still do my music, and I do, so I’m very happy to give so much energy to perfumery.

Jean Jacques - Caron Tabac Exquis EDP

One last question, the new collection, Les Colognes Sublimes, which has just been launched…

In fact, last year, but we’re focusing on it now. It’s a collection of five really nice colognes. Five [he emphasises and laughs].

We love their names, inspired by French poetry, even if they are a bit complicated. Champ Bleu du Ciel [from Georges Bataille’s poem of the same name] is not easy to say, especially if you’re not French. L’Invitation Au Voyage comes from the poem by Charles Baudelaire.

Olfactively, they’re really good. L’Invitation Au Voyage, for example, combines violet leaf and cinnamon. It doesn’t sound like they should work together but they do.

Caron Les Colognes Sublimes

IMAGE: Caron.

Are they eau de colognes? I haven’t tried them but from what I’ve read, they’re stronger than conventional colognes.

You’re right. We called them colognes to explain there’s a lot of freshness, but it is not eau de colognes in the historical sense of being concentrated at four to five percent, lots of citrus and not lasting long.

Ivre de Liberté Cologne Sublime, for example, is concentrated at 18%. So there is freshness at the concentration of eau de toilette or eau de parfum. They last longer and are real fragrances with real signatures.

Caron Ivre de Liberté Cologne Sublime

IMAGE: Caron.

Caron fragrances are available in South Africa from Skins Cosmetics

Clement Gavarry Interview: “I Try To Use Naturals As Much As I Can, Because They Allow The Fragrance To Be More Alive”

Clement Gavarry

IMAGE: dsm-firmenich.

The career of Clement Gavarry (see his list of creations below) was doing very nicely, thank you. And then something happened in 2018 with the launch of Ariana Grande Cloud EDP that brought him to the attention of a much wider audience.

Clement Gavarry - Ariana Grande Cloud EDP

This mega-hit should come as no surprise to those who have followed the career of the Frenchman. Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely EDP (co-created with Laurent le Guernec) is an earlier success of his from 2005 and he’s continued to progress over the years with a diverse selection of creations.

+ Matthew Williamson Jasmine Sambac EDP (2007)

+ Tom Ford Black Violet EDP (2007)

+ Elizabeth Arden Untold EDP (2013)

+ Roberto Cavalli Just Him EDT (2013)

+ Diana Vreeland Simply Divine EDP (2014)

+ Olfactive Studio Panorama EDP (2014)

+ Ostens Impression Jasmine Absolue EDP (2018)

+ Abercrombie & Fitch Authentic Man EDT (2019)

+ Guess 1981 Los Angeles Women EDT (2019)

+ Cher Eau de Couture EDP (2019)

+ Oscar de la Renta Bella Essence EDP (2020)

+ Estée Lauder Blushing Sands EDP (2021)

+ Kayali Eden Juicy Apple 01 EDP (2021)

+ MCM EDP (2021)

+ Boy Smells Les EDP (2023)

Clement Gavarry - Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely EDP

IMAGE: Coty Inc.

Despite my best attempts to get Clement Gavarry to reveal specific details about working with clients, especially the high-profile celebrities, he’s too much of a professional to fall for that and keeps it general. And he won’t be drawn into any discussion about supposed similarities between Ariana Grande Cloud and the hugely influential and popular Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540. Darn, I must be losing my touch!

Clement Gavarry

IMAGE: dsm-firmenich.

What fragrance are you wearing today?

Today, none, because I am at work. As I work on so many scents at the same time, I can’t be distracted with what I am wearing.

That said, I normally wear the scents I am working on and in my free time, I love to wear Calvin Klein cK One EDT and Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme EDT – based on the occasions, of course. Another scent I’ve been loving to wear lately is Creed Aventus EDP.

Creed Aventus

Where did perfumery start for you?

It was something I grew up around and at age 15, I began doing annual fragrance-related internships where I really dove into analysing ingredients. I then went to ISIPCA [the French perfumery school] where I graduated with a Master’s in organic chemistry focused on chromatography.

“It made me feel like I was on a bit of a treasure hunt trying to unlock some of the mysteries for fragrances I knew.” – Clement Gavarry

This was an amazing way to learn about all kinds of ingredients from synthetics to naturals, and it also made me feel like I was on a bit of a treasure hunt trying to unlock some of the mysteries for fragrances I knew.

After my studies, I moved to NYC, where I still am today.

Clement Gavarry - Abercrombie & Fitch Authentic Man EDT

Your father, Max Gavarry, created classics such as Antonio Puig Quorum EDT (1981), Dior Dioressence EDT (1979) and Estée Lauder Beautiful EDP (1985). Was he a big influence on your decision to become a perfumer and did that come with its own pressures?

My father did not push me to become a perfumer. Growing up it was always a thing where people assumed it was what I would do, almost something I wanted to go against. But in the end, I independently fell in love with the scientific side of the industry.

Max Gavarry

IMAGE: Fragrantica.

You studied at ISIPCA. Was it a formative time for you?

The truth is I studied chemistry first and ISPICA was an added bonus, but my major was organic chemistry.

When I was at IPSICA, I spent most of my time, a good half or two-thirds of the year, doing internships and so that working experience was formative for me.

Clement Gavarry - Diana Vreeland Simply Divine EDP

IMAGE: Diana Vreeland Parfums.

What was your fine fragrance debut? What do you think of it now?

That was in 2004 when I worked on Prada Amber EDP with my mentor and my dad.

It’s still a beautiful fragrance, almost niche without even trying to be. It was a unique experience to work on this project, as there were people involved in this creation from all parts of the world.

Clement Gavarry - Prada Amber EDP

IMAGE: Prada.

Although your creations are obviously guided by briefs, what do you always try to give them? 

I try to use naturals as much as I can, because they allow the fragrance to be more alive and have a strong signature. They bring an element of surprise because the fragrance is living and there is a lot of chemistry happening within the formula that gives it that point of differentiation.

Clement Gavarry - Olfactive Studio Panorama EDP

IMAGE: Olfactive Studio.

I love Dolce & Gabbana Intenso EDP (2014). What can you tell us about the creation of this scent? 

This was a beautiful experience and also quite unique. They decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme EDT and because my dad created the original, they asked me to create the new iteration. I, of course, said yes, as I was thrilled to work on such a great scent and initiative.

Clement Gavarry - Dolce & Gabbana Intenso EDP

When did you move to NYC? Does working and living in such a dynamic environment bring something different to your creations?

I moved to NYC in the year 2000. Yes, of course, living in NYC inspires me because it is so dynamic and there is so much happening. Just walking around the city brings me a lot of inspiration; it is truly unlike anywhere else and one of the best places to find inspiration all around.

Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme EDT

IMAGE: Dolce & Gabbana.

You work for dsm-firmenich, the Swiss fragrance and flavoUr company. Which of their ingredients / captive molecules do you particularly enjoy using?

I have always loved the dsm-firmenich palette of ingredients, even before working here [from 2000 to 2017, he worked for the American fragrance and flavor company IFF].

I love their captive molecules and this was a big reason why I joined them. The overall palette, from captives to musks, are ingredients I enjoy creating with.

Clement Gavarry - Oscar de la Renta Bella Essence EDP

IMAGE: Oscar de la Renta.

You’ve worked on several celebrity fragrances over the years. For example, Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely EDP (2005), Ariana Grande Cloud EDP (2018), Cher Eau de Couture EDP (2019) and Paris Hilton Love Rush EDP (2022). Is this a genre you enjoy working on? What makes it different to other projects?

There is always a strong connection when you have a celebrity involved in the development and creation, and in trying to translate what they are looking for into a fragrance. It’s nice to work together with them and talking through ingredients, for example, especially if they are interested in learning about the process, because this allows for good communication and a stronger connection.

“Celebrities don’t necessarily go for big blockbusters from the get-go.” – Clement Gavarry

Celebrities always have a different approach in the way they want to create their scents and don’t necessarily go for big blockbusters from the get-go.

Clement Gavarry - Cher Eau de Couture EDP

IMAGE: Cher.

Often, they rather focus on what scent represents them or on something that is dear to them and they have always dreamed about using in their fragrance. This makes the process less business-only and allows us freedom in creativity, which is something I enjoy.

 

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense: The Making Of A Gourmand Hit

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense

I don’t like making predictions so early in the year (it’s only May, after all). But I’m willing to put my reputation on the line for Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense as one of the most popular. The 2023 release from the United Arab Emirates-based brand is everywhere at the moment.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense

PERFUMERS

Father and son Olivier Cresp and Sébastien Cresp teamed up for this scent.

You don’t get more accomplished than Olivier Cresp, the master perfumer behind the gourmand-pioneering Mugler Angel EDP (1992).

He also created Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue EDT (2001), Versace Man Eau Fraiche EDT (2006), Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling EDT (2011), Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium EDP (2014) and Parfums de Marly Sedley EDP (2019). We can thank him (and colleague Nathalie Lorson) for maintaining the consistent quality of the Gentleman Givenchy range. In 2018, he launched his own niche brand, Akro, with his daughter Anaïs Cresp.

Mugler Angel EDP

While not as well known as his father, Sébastien Cresp is also making his mark in the world of fragrance. His creations include Bath & Body Works Toasted Praline & Pear Fine Fragrance Mist (2019), Confessions of A Rebel Morning After EDP (2021) and Nissaba Provence EDP (2023).

See my interview with the creators of Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense at the end of this review. FYI: the number 33 refers to the amount of formula modifications that went into the creation of the perfume.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Olivier & Sebastien Cresp

IMAGE: Firmenich.

INSPIRATION

“I wanted to combine my two favourite indulgences, fragrance & gelato! Ever since I can remember, ice cream has been my favourite food and always my #1 choice when asked what would be my last meal!

“In 2014, I went on a trip to Rome with my sister Alya and discovered pistachio gelato – I have been OBSESSED ever since! Just like the dreamy dessert, I wanted to create something that made me feel yummy, happy and irresistible!

“Working with Olivier Cresp (a world-renowned perfumer who is often credited as the ‘father’ of gourmand fragrances) and his son, Sébastien, was SO exciting. With every delicious spritz, you’ll feel like YOU ARE the dessert! – brand founder Mona Kattan

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Mona Kattan

IMAGE: Huda Beauty.

SO WHAT DOES KAYALI YUM PISTACHIO GELATO 33 EDP INTENSE SMELL LIKE?

It makes an impression right from the start. Pistachio can be a salty, savoury note but here it’s given the sweet gourmand treatment with an ice cream(y) accord that features the crisp citrus tones of bergamot and the additional woody nuttiness of hazelnut. The combo of cardamom and rum brings an element of spicy booziness to the treat.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense

There’s some floral-fruitiness in the mix too, but I’d be hard pushed to identify any specific notes. Nevertheless, it enhances the fresh aspect of the scent.

It’s in the drydown that Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense comes into its own. There’s a whole lot of powderiness via marshmallow, cotton candy (the synthetic ethyl maltol at work here, well known for its use in Mugler Angel EDP and Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540) and a Turkish delight accord. I like how the latter gives a nod to brand founder Mona Kattan’s Middle Eastern heritage and reinforces the pistachio-ness of the composition (the nut is an integral part of the confection).

Most of all, though, it’s the whipped and sandalwood creaminess blended with vanilla-ish tonka beans that leaves a lasting impression.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense

As with many fragrances from the company – for example, Kayali Vanilla 28 EDP (2018), Kayali Déjà Vu White Flower 57 EDP (2020), Kayali Invite Only Amber 23 EDP (2021) – it’s unashamedly on the sweet spectrum.

Beauty entrepreneur Mona Kattan (Kayali falls under the Huda Beauty umbrella) is very in tune with what consumers want from their fragrances: boldness, distinctiveness and pleasure. And Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense delivers in all those ways. Yes, it’s being hyped, but that doesn’t stop it from being a delicious scent. Anyone looking for crowd-pleasing upliftment and escapism with addictive sugariness will appreciate this one.

Kayali fragrances are available in South Africa from Arc Store.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense

INTERVIEW WITH OLIVIER CRESP & SÉBASTIEN CRESP, THE CREATORS OF KAYALI YUM PISTACHIO GELATO 33 EDP INTENSE

 I go behind the scent scenes to find out more about the creation of the hit.

Is this the first time you’ve worked together on a fragrance?

Sébastien Cresp (SC): No, my father is my mentor and [role] model since my childhood, so I obviously always discussed his trials [perfume tests] a lot with him. Naturally, when I became a perfumer, we started to share ideas, giving input to each other.

I love working with my father because when we share our ideas, we directly confront our points of view, and above all, we understand each other immediately. This creative dialogue between us is an extremely enriching experience for me.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Olivier & Sebastien Cresp

IMAGE: Firmenich.

Olivier Cresp (OC): We are collaborating more and more together; we have already signed several fragrances together [for example: Aerin Lauder Rose de Grasse Pour Filles EDT (2021), Victoria’s Secret VS Him Deepwater EDP (2021) and O.U.i Original Unique Individuel Jardin de Grasse EDP (2021)].

It is a pleasure to exchange and discuss our ideas. Sébastien is very creative, and I enjoy working with my son. I am increasingly focused on passing on my legacy.

Aerin Lauder Rose de Grasse Pour Filles EDT

IMAGE: Aerin Lauder.

How would you describe the Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense creation experience? 

OC: Sébastien always leads me to explore new olfactive fields of possibilities, and Mona was also really challenging on her desire to create an ultimate gourmand fragrance.

She was involved in all stages of creation and challenged us on the pleasure that her fragrance should give. Mona wanted a perfume that pushed more and more gourmand as the different modifications went on. We shaped the notes together to achieve the result she wanted, an ultra-gourmand creation that makes your mouth water.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Mona Kattan

IMAGE: Huda Beauty.

Did you have different ideas on how to execute this scent?

OC: The initial idea I submitted was to create what I called “a gourmand explosion”, a fragrance inspired by a dessert, built like a pastry with layers of different sweet and tasty notes, such as cacao, rum, cotton candy and vanilla.

“Our internal code name for this project was ‘Yum’ and when Mona read it on our sample, she felt like it was the perfect name.”

SC: Then Mona talked about her love for pistachio gelato and I had this idea to turn my father’s initial formula into a sweet pistachio ice-cream by adding, of course, a pistachio accord but also more milky notes. Our internal code name for this project was “Yum” and when Mona read it on our laboratory sample, she felt like it was the perfect name to describe this fragrance.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Olivier & Sebastien Cresp

IMAGE: Firmenich.

How did you get this fragrance to be so creamy? Any particular ingredients?

SC: We started with an aroma formula to translate the pistachio as close as possible to the edible version with its mouthwatering dimension. We combined the STT (Smell the Taste) pistachio with milky notes to reinforce the creaminess, the lightness and obtain the “pistachio gelato” effect.

There is indeed a feeling of a fluffy creaminess, very enveloping, which is the result of the association of the main three unique ingredients: a cotton candy accord, a Marshmallow STT and a Chantilly STT.

STT means “Smell the Taste”, a technique drawn by the expertise of Firmenich flavorists for perfumers and their creations to express tastes into fragrances.

The Marshmallow STT is a gourmand, creamy and slightly powdery note, while the Chantilly STT offers a light and fresh note of fluffy whipped cream. To boost its daring and liquorous effect, we blended it with rum for its fruity, oak woods undertones and Bourbon vanilla accents. This charismatic addiction is an original creation with a strong gourmand and sensual signature.

Kayali Yum Pistachio Gelato 33 EDP Intense - Olivier & Sebastien Cresp

IMAGE: Firmenich.

With your pioneering gourmand background, I must ask if you enjoy eating gourmand treats as much as you enjoy smelling and creating them?

OC: Of course! I’m lucky to live in Paris where I can enjoy the finest pastry. To be entirely honest, part of this fragrance was fed by the magnificent pastry “trompe l’oeil” of the chef Cédric Grolet, which created a pistachio cake, very sophisticated and texturized, that Sébastien and I discovered during afternoon tea-time at Le Meurice [the hotel where Grolet is the executive pastry chef].

Captive Molecules: Frank Voelkl Reveals All (Mostly)

Captive Molecules - Frank Voelkl

IMAGE: Firmenich.

The last time I chatted with Frank Voelkl, I instinctively knew he would enlighten me about the importance of synthetics in modern perfumery. So I turned once again to the New York-based perfumer to find out more about the intriguing (and often secretive) world of captive molecules.

Captive Molecules - Frank Voelkl

IMAGE: Firmenich.

Who created the decade-defining Le Labo Santal 33 EDP (2011) and helped kick-start the Ariana Grande fragrance empire with Ari EDP (2015)? That would be the German-born perfumer. He’s also the creator of the fragrances below, among others:

+ Dunhill X-Centric EDT (2001)

+ Kenneth Cole Reaction EDT (2004)

+ Sarah Jessica Parker Covet EDP (2007)

+ Oscar de la Renta Esprit d’Oscar EDP (2011)

+ Ermenegildo Zegna Florentine Iris EDP (2012)

+ Paris Hilton Dazzle EDP (2012)

+ Gucci Bamboo EDP (2015)

+ Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Amber Sun EDP (2017)

+ Glossier You EDP (2017, in collaboration with Dora Baghriche)

+ Hugo Boss Hugo Now EDT (2020)

+ Kilian Roses On Ice EDP (2020)

+ Boy Smells Marble Fruit Cologne de Parfum (2021, in collaboration with Hamid Kashani )

+ Aedes de Venustas 16a Orchard EDP (2021)

+ Abercrombie & Fitch Authentic Self Man EDT (2023)

+ Ellis Brooklyn Florist EDP (2023)

Le Labo Santal 33 EDP

Before we get to the actual interview, some general background info on the workings of perfumery: The fragrance (and flavour) industry is dominated by several multinationals: Firmenich (Switzerland), Givaudan (Switzerland), International Flavors & Fragrances (America), Symrise (Germany), Takasago (Japan), Mane (France) and Robertet (France).

These corporates have a vast array of ingredients (naturals, synthetics and increasingly biotechnology) to be used by their perfumers.

Ariana Grande Ari EDP

IMAGE: Ariana Grande Fragrances.

What fragrances do you wear?

I like to wear different fragrances for different moments and occasions. For example, I wear Le Labo Santal 33 when I go out because it’s rich, warm, has a lot of signature and it’s my way of making a statement.

When I am on vacation, I wear Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò Profumo. There is a nice balance of freshness and woody elegance, but it still feels casual.

When I travel and board a plane, I wear Hermès Terre d’Hermès as it has such a nice presence and I will smell myself more than anything or anybody else around me.

Hermès Terre d’Hermès EDT

Where did perfumery start for you?

It really started for me when I was living in Paris as a teenager in the Eighties. I discovered my passion for fragrance and learned there are actually people who create them called perfumers. That sparked my desire to pursue this career.

Ellis Brooklyn Florist EDP

IMAGE: Ellis Brooklyn.

When you studied at ISIPCA, were you aware of the existence of captive molecules?

I wasn’t aware of that back then, as my focus at the time centred on imprinting any molecules and natural ingredients into my olfactive memory. It was only once I entered a fragrance house (my first employer was Haarmann & Reimer) that I started understanding how powerful captive ingredients can be.

Hugo Boss Hugo Now EDT

IMAGE: Hugo Boss.

What was your fine fragrance debut?

My first real debut in fine fragrance was when I succeeded in creating Tiare de Chantecaille EDP in 1997, which was right around the time when the first niche brands started emerging.

I had the opportunity to meet Sylvie de Chantecaille who was getting ready to create her brand. She was looking for an exotic floral fragrance, got hooked on tiare and the fact that I had a personal connection to this iconic flower from Tahiti (my wife is from there and I go to the island almost every year since I met her 30 years ago), we decided to work on this fragrance together around it.

Tiare de Chantecaille EDP

IMAGE: Chantecaille.

Without going into too much technical detail, how would you define captive molecules? And what are some of the most well-known examples?

A molecule is considered captive when a fragrance house such as Firmenich discovers a new fragrance ingredient that is only made available to their own perfumer team rather than being sold to a competitive fragrance house. That means it is exclusively used in fragrances from Firmenich, created by Firmenich perfumers.

In addition, when a team of scientists discovers a new molecule, it will protect it with a patent to avoid any other company copying or manufacturing that same ingredient. So it’s a powerful concept, as captive means exclusive.

Captive Molecules - Muguissimo

MUGUET RELEASE: The lily-of-the-valley synthetic Muguissimo. IMAGE: Firmenich.

Eventually, captives will be released, for example, when the patent has expired and so then they can be taken and recreated. We can decide as a company if we want to release some of our captives to others. Some great examples of captives that we have released in the past are [the lily-of-the-valley synthetic] Muguissimo (2022) and [the aquatic synthetic] Cascalone (2020).

Captive Molecules - Cascalone

AQUA INNOVATION: The synthetic Cascalone. IMAGE: Firmenich.

Are they becoming more important in the creation process?

Captive molecules, as well as captive natural ingredients, have always played an important role in my creations, especially because Firmenich has quite a few captive ingredients available to their perfumers.

They have become more important in recent years as transparency is on the rise and consumers are more interested in the content and the origin of the ingredients used in their products.

Kilian Roses On Ice EDP

Are captive molecules synthetic or natural ingredients?

Captives can be both. They can be molecules / synthetics, or they can be natural ingredients.

Firmenich has a molecule research centre in Geneva, Switzerland, and a Naturals Centre of Excellence in Grasse, France, which both work on finding the next new captives.

Captive Molecules - Calvin Klein Eternity For Men Parfum

IMAGE: Calvin Klein.

Are you incentivised to use Firmenich captive molecules in your creations?

Yes, and the biggest incentive is to have a fragrance creation that nobody outside of Firmenich would be able to recreate. We all know there are some market products out there inspired by previous existing creations, and so using captives allows perfumers to have unique formulas that are not easily copied.

“Using captives allows perfumers to have unique formulas that are not easily copied”

As perfumers, we naturally want to use them in our creations, as it gives us a competitive advantage and edge when we work on projects both for hedonics and for performance.

Captive Molecules - Ariana Grande Mod Blush EDP

IMAGE: Ariana Grande Fragrances.

You’ve created several fragrances for Le Labo. For example: Iris 39, Santal 33, Ylang 49 and Thé Noir 29. And Ariana Grande Ari is one of your many other successes. Did you use any Firmenich captive molecules in their creation?

Sorry, I cannot really share all that information, but I can assure you that almost every single one of my creations will likely contain at least one or two captives from Firmenich in the formula.

That said, here are a few recent creations containing captives, but as they are captives I can’t name them all… Ariana Grande Mod Blush EDP (2022) contains Dreamwood. Calvin Klein Eternity for Men Parfum (2022) contains one of our most recent captives. Le Labo Thé Matcha 26 EDP (2021) contains four captives (two naturals, two synthetics).

Captive Molecules - Le Labo The Matcha 26 EDP

I’m seeing the International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) captive molecule Cashmeran everywhere. Does Firmenich have an equivalent captive molecule?

Cashmeran was indeed originally a captive from IFF, but it has been available for anyone to use for quite some time since 1983. It’s certainly unique in its character and is still trending. It’s not biodegradable, though, so we may see the end of it soon.

Firmenich has its own iconic molecules, such as Muscenone Delta or Helvetolide [both synthetic musks].

Captive Molecules - Helvetolide

ICONIC MOLECULE: The synthetic musk Helvetolide. IMAGE: Firmenich.

Could you tell me how you used a specific Firmenich captive molecule in one of your most recent creations? What did it bring to the composition?

Dreamwood is one of the latest Firmenich captive molecules stemming from our biotechnology research, a milestone in our ingredient advancements.

Natural sandalwood oil has become so rare that I got really excited to be able to use a natural sandalwood note like Dreamwood in a sustainable way. I have used it since the moment it was available to us in 2020. I love the incredible creaminess and comfort it adds to my creations. On top of that, it has benefits beyond its scent such as antimicrobial, antioxidant and soothing effects.

Captive Molecules - Dreamwood

IMAGE: Firmenich.

Le Labo Thé Matcha 26 EDP and Santal 33 EDP are available in South Africa from Skin Cosmetics

HARRY FRÉMONT INTERVIEW: “POWER GOES AGAINST BEAUTY. THAT’S THE FRAGRANCE CREATION CONUNDRUM”

Harry Frémont

IMAGE: Firmenich.

I started following Harry Frémont on Instagram sometime in 2022 and was immediately impressed by his gardening. Could this be the Harry Frémont, the master perfumer behind a legion of classics (see below)? Had he retired? And if so, why, and what was he up to now? My journalistic mind was spinning away and needed answers.

Harry Frémont - Gardening

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

After several DM exchanges, Harry Frémont came back to me with emailed replies to my questions. But before I get to the meat of that, a bit of background on the man who during his more than three-decade career created fragrance hits such as:

+ Aramis New West For Him EDT (1988)

+ Calvin Klein cK One EDT (1994)

+ Ralph Lauren Polo Sport EDT (1994)

+ Lancôme Miracle EDP (2000)

+ Michael Kors Michael For Men EDT (2001)

+ Kenneth Cole Black For Men EDT (2003)

+ Avon Extraordinary EDP (2005)

+ Juicy Couture EDP (2006)

+ Vera Wang Princess EDT (2006)

+ Tom Ford Noir de Noir EDP (2007)

+ Tom Ford Tuscan Leather EDP (2007)

+ Harajuku Lovers Baby EDT (2008)

+ Diesel Fuel For Life Unlimited EDP (2008)

+ Tom Ford Grey Vetiver EDP (2009)

+ Britney Spears Cosmic Radiance EDP (2011)

+ Clean Clean Skin EDP (2012)

+ Estée Lauder Modern Muse EDP (2013)

+ Yves Saint Laurent Mon Paris EDP (2016)

+ Oscar de la Renta Bella Blanca EDP (2018)

Harry Frémont - Lancome Miracle EDP

IMAGE: Lancôme.

Born in Cannes, France, and a graduate of the prestigious Isipca perfumery school, Harry Frémont moved to New York City in 1990 as the Swiss company Firmenich’s first full-time perfumer there. Instrumental in establishing the firm’s credentials in the all-important American market, he received several Fragrance Foundation Awards, including 2003 Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Luxury for Vera Wang EDP, 2004 Fragrance of the Year – Men’s Prestige for Kenneth Cole Black For Men EDT, 2007 Fragrance of the Year – Women’s Prestige for Juicy Couture EDP and the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Harry Frémont - The Fragrance Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award

IMAGE: Firmenich.

Now, officially retired, his answers reflect a freedom from the stifling demands of corporate life, insights into a changing industry and the joy of immersing himself in what truly matters. It’s a longer interview than usual, with so much astute detail, so pour yourself a glass of your favourite and enjoy.

Harry Frémont

IMAGE: Firmenich.

What fragrance are you wearing today? Why did you choose it?

I am not wearing any fragrance today. We live in the middle of nature and I love fragrances, but nothing is better than fresh air, the smell of trees, leaves, grass, the wind or the rain.

I occasionally wear fragrance when we go into town but always very little, as almost no one wears fragrance in rural California. I always go back to the same one: the original Purple Label EDT from Ralph Lauren [2003] that I created and a woody fragrance that I worked to death for a project that I lost (weirdly enough, I go back to my first trial).

Harry Frémont - Ralph Lauren Purple Label EDT

IMAGE: Ralph Lauren.

From time to time, I also wear two classics: Calvin Klein for Men Eternity EDT [1990] and a fragrance I always wore when travelling as a perfumer: Giorgio Armani Acqua di Giò EDT [1996].

You retired in 2018. You mentioned in our initial chat on IG that the industry was changing. Please elaborate on how this influenced your decision to retire.

Difficult question to answer without going back to the big changes the industry went through in the last 30 years, in NYC, in particular, but also globally. My decision to retire is more linked to the evolution of the fine fragrance business rather than the changes before 2018.

I also want to say I am grateful for being part of that business for so many years. You always have young people who are beginning with the same passion and enthusiasm I had when I started. I find this very refreshing.

Harry Frémont - Oscar de la Renta Bella Rosa EDP

The 1990s were my first decade in NYC and America. It was hard at the beginning because Firmenich [the Swiss fragrance and flavour company he worked for] was a newcomer, but by ’92/’93 we started being successful and the business had a lot of glamour. Most of the top sellers were from American companies, products with strong concepts and an enticing style of perfumery: fresh, transparent, very floral, clean woods…

The [economic] crisis of 2000 and September 11 changed everything: the department store fragrance business started to suffer, possibly because a lot of cosmetic brands and make-up artists started to take over the fragrance floor. Speciality retail, with Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, were growing by leaps and bounds, churning out new products all the time. The fine fragrance concepts were not as strong and precise. Fragrances started to become heavier and our clients had a lot of hesitations to take decisions.

IMAGE: Bath & Body Works.

At the same time every celebrity wanted a fragrance. The fragrance business in Latin America, especially Brazil, was becoming more and more important.

Requests for flankers were starting to appear. All this increased tremendously the amount of work created for the perfumers and we had to adapt.

“At the beginning it was exciting and you felt powerful but it became like an exhausting mind game or an addiction.” – Harry Frémont

Around 2000, some of us perfumers discovered we could work remotely, transferring formula modifications to our office or affiliate if the evaluators at the office were giving us the right comments. From that point I never unplugged, even when on vacation or travelling, except for the week between Christmas and New Year when the company was closed. At the beginning it was exciting and you felt powerful but it became like an exhausting mind game or an addiction. Even if my focus was our North American clients, I was working on a crazy number of projects at the same time in different time zones.

Harry Frémont - O Boticário Love Lily EDP

IMAGE: O Boticário.

Then came the [economic] crisis of 2008 and the decade that followed was not my favourite. A lot of things changed again. You had to work much more to win business, which was becoming very fragmented and with most of the time a short shelf-life, with the launch of so many flankers, it became difficult to build classics.

Niche and boutique fragrances were emerging. At the beginning I thought they would save us and bring back the quality we were losing in fine fragrance and they kind of did. But they confused customers even more…

Some of our clients started development teams for all their different brands, looking for new ideas without concepts and then working these fragrances to death with heavy consumer tests.

The business model of the flavour and fragrance companies needed to evolve. Symrise and IFF followed the example of Givaudan and finally Firmenich did the same last year with the merger with DSM [the Dutch health, nutrition and bioscience company]. All evolving into bigger multinational corporations and branching out into health, nutrition, etc, and providing a wider range of products and services bringing the budget for research, safety, testing, sourcing, etc. The fragrance industry today is the sum of so many competencies and synergies.

Harry Frémont - Victoria's Secret Dream Angels Desire EDP

IMAGE: Victoria’s Secret.

After working 28 years in NYC, I had built strong relationships with clients and some of them were leaving the industry to be replaced with young people who didn’t have necessarily the same experience. On a personal level, even if I still had this passion for fragrance creation, the process was becoming less fulfilling, sometimes really frustrating, and a new life was waiting for me and my family in California, where we had found our happy place and where I could enjoy my other passion to the fullest: gardening! It was time for me to go.

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

From your Instagram page, it looks like you are well on your way to becoming a Master Gardener. Was gardening always a passion of yours, or did this develop in recent years?

Gardening has always been a passion of mine; I started when I was five years old in my parents’ garden in Cannes. Living in northern California is almost like reliving my childhood with a Mediterranean climate.

After gardening for 28 years in New York, it is like gardening paradise if you have water: we have no rain from May to October, so the flowers have a long blooming time, with almost no disease on roses and vegetables. Because of the mild rainy winters, you can also play with wild flowers. Seeding them before the first rain, they grow all winter to explode in colourful blooms when April comes.

GREEN FINGERS: Harry Frémont with one of his grand-daughters in the greenhouse he built himself. IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

Is gardening similar to perfumery in any ways?

Absolutely! In both cases you need to be patient and then you need to have the vision for what you want to create. Pick the right plants with the right colours to blend together. You have to be sure one plant is not going to overtake the other. Colour, odour, they are remarkably similar if you blend them right, they can really express emotions. When you love someone flowers and perfumes are the best gifts! (Okay, there is also chocolate.)

Harry Frémont - Gardening

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

Gardening like creating perfumes is hard work. One is back-breaking and the other can be mind-bending; there is a steep learning curve but you keep learning year after year. As a perfumer it took me 10 to 15 years to feel I was mastering the craft. For gardening, experience is important too but sometimes if you move location with a different climate, you have to learn again.

Harry Frémont - Gardening

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

Beyond the creativity and experience, I always said that communication skills are vital to be a successful perfumer. Perfumes are so subjective but when someone makes comments about a fragrance there is always something true about them. So you need to listen, understand, translate in your formula and then explain what you did so the evaluator or the client feel confident and understand what you did is the right decision.

Harry Frémont - Gardening

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

With gardening there is no one to talk to (which is refreshing!) but you still need to read the signs from nature about the soil, the plant and take the right action to answer their need. Like with perfumes you need to be curious, observe to get the intuition for what you need to do.

“I am totally convinced that I would not have been a good perfumer if I did not have this love for nature and gardening.” – Harry Frémont

I am totally convinced that I would not have been a good perfumer if I did not have this love for nature and gardening. Smells from nature – flowers, woods, leaves, etc – have always been my biggest source of inspiration.

Harry Frémont - Gardening

IMAGE: Harry Frémont.

From your IG page, I see you’ve also spoken out about Donald Trump. What are your thoughts on the current state of American politics?

Honestly, it is quite depressing. I love this country and the USA is my adopted country. No politician has ever made me more upset. You can call me a Never Trumper and I thank him for becoming a Democrat for the rest of my life.

His lie about the 2020 election being stolen and the fact that Republican members of Congress keep supporting this, plus that possibly 30% of the US population still believe this lie, is just mind-boggling. This is a danger for the country, democracy, freedom and the world – look at what just happened in Brazil, mimicking the attack on Congress from 6 January.

The Republican Party is becoming like a rogue organisation populated by unhinged people, not respecting the norms and unfortunately on the wrong side of history about everything from renewable energy to women’s rights, gun control, immigration, science, you name it. They have no program, except the culture war and cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations.

They will never win again the popular vote in a presidential election. There is a growing division between rural and urban voters and our electoral system in the constitution has a built-in bias towards rural Republicans: why is that Wyoming (a beautiful state) with a population of 580 000 gets three electoral votes, when California with 39,5 million people has only 55 votes? If the ratio was correct, we should have 200. And two Senate seats for every state? This is a joke. No wonder it is so difficult to pass legislation in Congress that will benefit every citizen.

IMAGE: Donald J Trump.

Did you always know you wanted to become a perfumer? Or was there another career option for you?

Because of my love of gardening and flowers I wanted to be a landscape designer. I tried to get into an engineer horticultural school in France but I failed the entrance exam, so I did a first degree of biology at Nice University. At the time I wanted to stay in the south of France, so I was looking for a career possibility there and a school to learn a job.

IMAGE: Université Côte d’Azur.

One of my parent’s neighbours was in the fragrance business and introduced me to someone in Grasse who had been to this school called ISIPCA in Versailles. With my first degree I could apply to enter directly in the second year and I got accepted. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about perfumes and I went there without really knowing what to expect. My motivation was to stay in the south of France and work in Grasse, which I never did.

IMAGE: ISIPCA.

After your studies at ISIPCA, what did you have to learn for yourself through experience?

Honestly, everything! ISIPCA was a fantastic school – after three years you had general knowledge of the fragrance business and the goal at the time was not really to teach you how to be a perfumer even if some of us became one.

We had a wonderful lady who taught us perfumery, Monique Schlienger, and one day we had to do a lilac, so she gave us materials to mix together. I started simple trials and after I compared them on blotters, one suddenly smelled exactly like my memory from the lilac that grew in my garden every spring. That was it! I had found a new career and a new passion. I had also found love, as I met my wife at ISIPCA.

IMAGE: The Perfume Society.

To go back to your question, once I graduated from this school, I had to learn everything to become a perfumer. I was never part of a training programme and never had a mentor. I just started at Haarmann & Reimer (H&R, now part of Symrise) in 1982 at their Paris office as an assistant perfumer, compounding formulas for another perfumer, and worked my way up working on the side when I had free time. Like many perfumers I am an introvert and we have this particularity: when we find something we are passionate about, we spend most of our energy to learn about it.

“Like many perfumers I am an introvert and we have this particularity: when we find something we are passionate about, we spend most of our energy to learn about it.” – Harry Frémont

As I had access to a gas chromatography machine and became pretty good at using it, once I understood the structure of the classics and the fragrances that were successful in the 1980s, I started doing some creations. I was extremely curious at the time and knew every fragrance sold in department stores from every fragrance house that existed (the market was simpler than now).

I was lucky and won in ’83 and ’84 the young perfumer contest for best fragrance from the Société Française des Parfumeurs. In ’85 H&R gave me the title of perfumer after a four-month stay in Germany.

Harry Frémont - Yves Saint Laurent Mon Paris EDP

IMAGE: Yves Saint Laurent.

I have always been hard working. We didn’t have a TV at the time and for five years, every evening after the kids were sleeping, I was working at home for at least two hours, sometimes on the weekends. So when I joined Firmenich Geneva in 1987 I decided I would never work from home again, until I realised I could work on formulas remotely in 2000.

Harry Frémont - Estée Lauder Modern Muse EDP

IMAGE: Estée Lauder.

In Geneva I was kind of sheltered from clients but when I arrived in NYC, I realized that to be successful I also needed to become much better at communication. So it took me a few years to understand the power of words to describe a fragrance, as well as trying to read the body language from the people I was working with.

Harry Frémont - Aramis New West EDT

IMAGE: Aramis.

What was your fine fragrance debut and what do you think of it now?

It was a fragrance for men in an unusual black bottle for an obscure client at H&R. I don’t remember the name, but I remember it was quite expensive and I used great raw materials, natural and molecules, to create it. It was extremely woody and kind of smoky-leathery (leather smells are one of my obsessions). If I could smell it now, I would find it old-fashioned.

Calvin Klein cK One (which you co-created with Alberto Morillas) was one of your earlier successes. Why do you think it was and still is such a hit?

It is a combination of the character of the fragrance – fresh and easy to wear – with the way it lasts on skin. This creation has a trail and aura without being overpowering.

Many fragrances today are just too strong, which makes them difficult to wear for yourself and the people around you. To be an enduring success, you need to have this feel-good effect for yourself and constant reinforcement from the people around you that this fragrance is so good on you. That’s how classics are made.

“To be an enduring success, you need to have this feel-good effect for yourself and constant reinforcement from the people around you that this fragrance is so good on you.” – Harry Frémont

Also, the concept, the simplicity of the bottle and its sea-glass soft feeling in your hand that convey a certain sensuality that you find in the fragrance after a few hours on skin. People think fresh for cK One because of the citrus-aromatic feeling on top but there is this hidden sensuality with the woods, the musk combination and even a tiny tinge of vanilla.

Harry Frémont - Calvin Klein cK One EDT

Tom Ford Grey Vetiver must be one of my favourite creations of yours. What can you tell us about its creation? And what was it like working with Mr Ford on this project?

Tom Ford Grey Vetiver is possibly one of the most fulfilling projects I worked on. I have always loved the raw material vetiver oil. It is one of the most complex essential oils, analytically but also from an olfactive point of view with so many facets you can play with and blend with other materials.

Harry Frémont - Tom Ford Grey Vetiver EDP

IMAGE: Tom Ford.

I always wanted to do a high-end vetiver fragrance and I tried many times with different clients but they were afraid to do that (thinking it was too polarising) and I never had enough money to make a great one. When we got this brief from Karyn Khoury [Senior Vice President of Fragrance Development Worldwide for The Estée Lauder Companies], I was so excited. I could see what Mr Ford wanted with this new request – the level of sophistication, almost like a classic with a modern twist – having worked on Black Orchid (that we had lost to Givaudan) and some of the Private Blend Collection like Tuscan Leather, White Suede and Noir de Noir.

KEEP IT BRIEF: Karyn Khoury, Senior Vice President of Fragrance Development Worldwide for The Estée Lauder Companies. IMAGE: Estée Lauder.

I started working on it with the idea of building the whole fragrance around vetiver. Quickly I realised, even with the good amount of money Lauder had given us to work with, it wasn’t enough, especially because we had this amazing CO2 vetiver roots extract – the perfumer’s dream vetiver without any of the bad notes that you find sometimes in the regular oil, very pure with a lot of depth and character.

Harry Frémont - Tom Ford Tuscan Leather EDP

IMAGE: Tom Ford.

My idea was to show this vetiver in its best light and as the main character. I had, of course, to convince the salesperson who explained the situation to Karyn who accepted to look at my creation. I had worked so much on vetiver blends in the past that the fragrance came together quickly and I didn’t do too many trials once I had found the right balance between the citrus-aromatic slightly fruity top, some floral spices in the mid and modern woods and musks in the back.

Harry Frémont - Tom Ford White Suede EDP

IMAGE: Tom Ford.

The stars were aligned: both Karyn Khoury and Tom Ford liked and picked my fragrance. We did some tweaks to it but nothing drastic. The following year in 2010, we won The Fragrance Foundation Perfume Extraordinaire of the Year. Mr Ford has a real vision for the fragrance he is looking for and has a keen eye for details and quality fabric for his fashion or fragrance materials. Grey Vetiver, for me, is like a tailored men’s suit that fits you perfectly with a light, high-quality fabric like Italian super 150’s wool.

“Mr Ford has a real vision for the fragrance he is looking for and has a keen eye for details and quality fabric for his fashion or fragrance materials.” – Harry Frémont

I didn’t meet Tom Ford for Grey Vetiver – the development went very fast. But I met him many times during the development for Black Orchid and at the beginning of the Private Blend Collection.

Ermenegildo Zegna Indonesian Oud (2012) is superb stuff. You co-created this with Pierre Negrin, Frank Voelkl and Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud. How did you contribute to it?

Hehe, this is quite funny! If I remember correctly, this fragrance was originally created by Jacques and after a few years there was a colouration problem. I worked on it to fix it without changing the character… not very glamorous! I think Frank and Pierre worked on it after I left the company, as they relaunched the line not long ago. I am not 100% sure.

Harry Frémont - Ermenegildo Zegna Indonesian Oud

IMAGE: Ermenegildo Zegna.

What did you try to achieve with all your creations?

Beauty and make people happy, make them feel good. Both are difficult to achieve because as a perfumer you don’t work in a vacuum and you have to deal with many opinions to finish a fragrance. But in my head, I had always this compass to guide me through the numerous modifications.

Harry Frémont - Ralph Lauren Glamourous EDP

IMAGE: Ralph Lauren.

Fragrance is one of the most subjective things, so every time you do this journey from your original idea/creation to the finished fragrance that will be launched, it is always a challenge and every day you must find solutions within your vision to modify the fragrance to address the concerns from your client or even the people you work with.

This is why I compare sometimes fragrance development to a mind game. To stay in control, you must time your mods [modifications] during the course of a project. Unfortunately, it happens quite often that you lose control. That’s why you have all this teamwork going on between perfumers on the big projects.

Harry Frémont - Calvin Klein Eternity Moment EDP

IMAGE: Calvin Klein.

People forget that our sense of smell originally exists to make the difference between safe and danger the smell of fire, gas, spoiled food. And when you create a fragrance, you need to take this into account; you want people who are wearing your fragrance to send a safe message to others; it is beyond seduction.

“I was always against fragrances that are overtly strong, almost aggressive, and are overwhelming for people around you. Power goes against beauty.” – Harry Frémont

This is the reason why I was always against all these fragrances that are overtly strong, almost aggressive, and are overwhelming for people around you. Unfortunately, for many people power is quality and goes beyond the real signature of the fragrance. Power goes against beauty, that’s the fragrance creation conundrum.

Harry Frémont - Calvin Klein cK All EDT

Of your many creations, is there one that has special significance for you?

Very difficult question! I guess I will say Romance from Ralph Lauren because going back to what I was saying above, it has everything I love about fragrance.

I was always pretty good at doing men’s fragrance but at the beginning of my career I was struggling with women’s fragrance. Romance was an important step for me to be successful in NYC. Also, years later so many women told me that it was the fragrance they wore in high school or college and how important it was for the image they wanted to project of themselves at the time. My mom wore it too and every time I smelled it, it reminded me of her.

Harry Frémont - Ralph Lauren Romance EDP

Between these stories, smelling the fragrance in the street and the success, what could be more special?

You won several awards during your career. Where do you keep your them?

Awards are always special but once you are retired, you just need to look at them to feel great about your achievements in your previous life. They are very personal, so I have all of them in my bedroom at home.

People say you cannot create memories if you don’t have an emotion and it is so true. I could describe every minute from the event where I received them and my relief after every acceptance speech.