Jean-Christophe Hérault Interview: “Those Fireplace And Leather Notes Conjure Up An Entire World”

Jean-Christophe Hérault

IMAGE: IFF.

Creed Aventus. We’ve all heard of the decade-defining fragrance. But it’s only recently that its creator, Jean-Christophe Hérault, is being acknowledged for his part in its phenomenal success. Read my interview with Gabe Oppenheim, author of The Ghost Perfumer: Creed, Lies, & The Scent of the Century (Solicitude), for more on that scented saga.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Creed Aventus EDP

Jean-Christophe Hérault deserves all the credit he’s getting for that 2010 release that’s spawned a mini-industry of clones, dupes and smell-a-likes (Oppenheim’s book again provides admirable detail here). But, as the summary below of some of his creations shows, there’s so much more to the Paris-based perfumer than Creed Aventus.

+ Balenciaga Florabotanica EDP (2012)

+ Comme des Garçons Amazingreen EDP (2012)

+ Karl Lagerfeld For Him EDT (2014)

+ Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb Extreme EDP (2015)

+ Boucheron Ambre d’Alexandrie EDP (2017)

+ Mugler Alien Man EDT (2018)

+ Azzaro Wanted Girl EDP (2019)

+ Paco Rabanne Lady Million Empire EDP (2019)

+ Dolce & Gabbana The One For Men EDP Intense (2020)

+ Roberto Cavalli Paradise Found For Men EDT (2020)

+ Coach Open Road EDT (2022)

+ Valentino Uomo Born In Roma Coral Fantasy EDT (2022)

+ Jacques Fath Vetiver Gris Parfum (2022)

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Balenciaga Florabotanica EDP

IMAGE: Balenciaga.

While his father produced concentrates for the fragrance industry and Jean-Christophe Hérault initially pursued an internship in fragrance control after studying chemistry, his life took a dramatic turn when he met Pierre Bourdon.

The legendary perfumer (creator of Yves Saint Laurent Kouros EDT, Davidoff Blue Water EDT and Creed Green Irish Tweed EDP, among others) noticed something special in him and took him on as a trainee perfumer. This involved reading Marcel Proust’s classic six-volume novel In Search of Lost Time (Le Temps Perdu) before learning any of the technical expertise of the profession.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Coach Open Road EDT

Early creations of Jean-Christophe Hérault include Canali Men EDT (2005), Grès My Dream Hommage à Marlene Dietrich EDP (2008) and Canali dal 1934 EDP (2009). They saw the perfumer playing with the pineapple note he perfected in Creed Aventus.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Grès My Dream Hommage à Marlene

IMAGE: Parfums Grès.

In this interview, the senior perfumer at International Fragrance & Flavors (IFF) talks about the influence of Pierre Bourdon, his fondness for smoky, leathery notes and the power of wonderment.

Jean-Christophe Hérault

IMAGE: IFF.

You grew up between Paris and Oise (north of Paris) and your father produced concentrates for the perfume industry. Did you know from an early age that you wanted to become a perfumer? 

Since childhood, I have always been attracted to scents and perfumes. Perfumes are olfactive stories that move people on a different scale, much more profoundly and durably than other perceptions.

I initially worked in quality control for Fragrance Resources in Grasse. Working in Grasse opened my senses; smelling perfumery ingredients, raw materials and fragrances produced at the factory was truly mesmerising. Then I was fortunate to meet Pierre Bourdon, who helped me write my life’s next chapter.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Dolce & Gabbana The One For Men EDP Intense

That must have been a life-changing experience… 

Being mentored by Pierre Bourdon was the most rewarding, beautiful, and complex experience of my life. It was a true gift from God to be trained by a perfumer I admire so much for his talent, choices, erudition, intelligence and articulacy.

He is a creative visionary and is able to beautifully share what he has seen, heard, or felt through fragrances. He taught me a lot about creation and becoming a professional creative.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Comme des Garçons Amazingreen EDP

What do you remember most from your time with him?

Before Pierre Bourdon started training me, he encouraged me to smell flowers. When you come from Paris, you do not know the smell of mimosa, jasmine, centifolia rose, lavender and lavandin cultivars. Even aromatic herbs are a discovery when you smell them in the heat, in the Mediterranean garigue. It fuelled my imagination and my passion.

He also encouraged me to look at chromatographs [the technique of separating a mixture into its individual components] to learn and memorise how a blackcurrant base, a rose essence, or a jasmine absolute are composed. He told me to use that time to learn as much as possible.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Viktor & Rolf Spicebomb Extreme EDP

IMAGE: Viktor & Rolf.

Do you still ask him for advice?

I don’t really ask him for advice anymore. I believe a relationship with a mentor always has a beginning and an end.

Davidoff Cool Water Parfum is one of your recent creations from 2021. Pierre Bourdon created the 1988 original. Did you feel additional pressure taking on this project?

Not really. I was proud, though. As Pierre Bourdon’s former trainee, I immensely enjoyed working on this project. I wanted to ensure the continuity of the Cool Water story in an impressive way.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Davidoff Cool Water Parfum

IMAGE: Davidoff.

How would you describe your style of perfumery?

It is always difficult for a perfumer to describe their personal style.

Fair enough. What do you hope to achieve with your creations?

Time hones your technique; you store tons of information, which helps you make shortcuts. We are only free once our knowledge is broad enough to play around with all the information we have in our minds.

But you have to keep that technique and knowledge on a leash, keep it at the right distance to preserve the freshness and the time spent daydreaming about the simple pleasures of childhood, which are so authentic and powerful, and resonate with so many people.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Creed Aventus EDP

You must force yourself to continue seeing things with a child’s eyes, unencumbered by logic. That wonderment is what I give in my compositions. It’s the springboard to conveying emotions.

“That wonderment is what I give in my compositions. It’s the springboard to conveying emotions.” – Jean-Christophe Hérault

You’re getting recognition at last as the creator of Creed Aventus. What thoughts come to your mind when you see this super-successful scent?

I’ll never forget the Creed Aventus project. I worked directly with Olivier Creed and was given free rein. It was a true creative journey.

Have you read Gabe Oppenheim’s book? Your thoughts please.

I have received a copy, but still need to take the time to read it.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - The Ghost Perfumer

Do you have a favourite ingredient? Could you give an example of where and how you’ve used it?

I am very fond of smoky, leathery notes suggesting the smell of an open fire. There is a leathery note in Alien Man by Mugler expressed in smoky notes extracted from beech. In Aventus by Creed, I also used smoky notes.

“I like highly evocative ingredients, even when they are only present in trace amounts.”  – Jean-Christophe Hérault

I like highly evocative ingredients, even when they are only present in trace amounts. Those fireplace and leather notes conjure up an entire world – a season, the countryside, the mountains, a new school bag, shoes and my mother’s fragrance, Shalimar by Guerlain.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Mugler Alien Man EDT

IMAGE: Mugler.

What perfume project have you just completed and what can you tell us about it? 

Kenzo Memori Poudre Matcha is a gentle and nostalgic fragrance, the embodiment of a happy memory, reminiscent of the Japanese tea ceremony. It is a beautiful cloud of matcha tea, velvet rose and white musk.

Jean-Christophe Hérault - Kenzo Memori Poudre Matcha EDP

IMAGE: Kenzo.

What gets you through a stressful time?

Taking a stroll outside has always helped me to relax. We are fortunate to have a beautiful park next to our offices, one of the largest company parks in Paris.

There’s no doubting your perfume skills. What are your other passions?

I have always loved literature. Pierre Bourdon asked me to read In Search of Lost Time by Proust before I started working with him; it was part of our “contract”. This masterpiece shows that there are aesthetic forms everywhere that can touch and inspire us. An encounter, a feeling, be it love or sadness. This book helped me accept myself as a creative.

IMAGE: The Folio Society.

I am fascinated by art history, which led me to take classes at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. The subject has immensely contributed to my inspiration for perfume creation.

I am also fond of anything to do with culinary arts. There are many bridges between perfumery and cuisine, and I believe there are many more to build; the possibilities are endless.

Creed Aventus EDP is available in South Africa at Skins Cosmetics

The Ghost Perfumer (The Perfume Book You Should Read This Year): An Interview With Author Gabe Oppenheim

The Ghost Perfumer

Every now and then, a book comes along that changes your perspective of an industry and some of the players within it. The Ghost Perfumer: Creed, Lies, & The Scent of the Century by Gabe Oppenheim (Solicitude) is that kind of read.

The Ghost Perfumer

In a punchy and page-turning style with well-researched detail, Gabe Oppenheim gives credence to the rumours that have been swirling for years on online forums regarding Creed’s claims that the niche fragrance house has been producing fragrances since 1760 and for an impressive array of celebrities and dignitaries along the way, including King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Cary Grant.

The Ghost Perfumer - Gabe Oppenheim

But more importantly, the writer reveals how Olivier Creed, heir to the Creed clothing business, passed off many high-profile Creed releases as his own creations by taking advantage of the insecurities of a trio of perfumers.

Most of The Ghost Perfumer tells the story of Pierre Bourdon, creator of classics such as Yves Saint Laurent Kouros EDT, Davidoff Cool Water EDT, Montblanc Individuel EDT and Frédéric Malle French Lover EDP. And now acknowledged as the master behind several Creeds, including Fleurs de Bulgarie EDP, Green Irish Tweed EDP, Erolfa EDP, Millésime Impérial EDP, Silver Mountain Water EDP, Spring Flower EDP and Original Santal EDP.

And what of Creed Aventus, “the scent of the century”? Jean-Christophe Hérault gets long-last recognition for being the true talent behind this decade-defining and much-copied perfume. Julien Rasquinet also gets credit for creating Creed Royal Oud EDP and Creed Fleurs de Gardenia EDP, among others. Both these perfumers were students of Pierre Bourdon, which just adds to the intricacies and intrigues of the intertwined narratives explored by Gabe Oppenheim.

The Ghost Perfumer - Creed Aventus EDP

In what could have been a mere hatchet-job on a nasty character, Gabe Oppenheim places the behaviour of Olivier Creed and Pierre Bourdon in the context of an industry that’s built on fantasy, obfuscation and sometimes questionable business practises (for example, the rampant cloning of successful scents).

In this interview he chats about how The Ghost Perfumer come about, the workings of the industry and meeting Pierre Bourdon.

The Ghost Perfumer

You’re known as a contributor to various magazines and author of books. How was this Creed project different to your other writing projects?

In many ways, it felt very similar – when I covered boxing, there was always a narrative that promoters were trying to push about their fighters, about upcoming match-ups. This was often hype that had very little relation to the reality of the boxer’s preparation or the event itself.

And so it struck me as kind of familiar when I saw that in the scent industry, the stories told about the supposed perfumers and their inspirations were generally cant and utterly apart from the truth of how fragrance is created.

“The Ghost Perfumer was different from some of my sports coverage because there’s a degree of truth in sports that the arts just cannot provide.” 

That said, The Ghost Perfumer different from some of my sports coverage because there’s a degree of truth in sports that the arts just cannot provide. A baseball score, barring any cheating, is an objective measure of who was better on the day. A knockout is unimpeachably the triumph of one combatant over another.

And yet in fragrance, even compositions that win briefs can’t necessarily be said to be better formulas than those that lost. A scent wins in the eyes of an evaluator or creative director. Or even in a panel test. But all those judgments are subjective, and runner-up scents can end up on the market under another name and prove themselves superior to those frags they lost to in an initial brief.

Was there a particular event that sparked this project?

A lot of events. I was tired of covering combat sport, generally, and I was curious about the creators of scents. I had actually interviewed the duo behind the Imaginary Authors brand while I was still working on the fights. I wore their A City on Fire scent to Jay-Z’s office building once, back when his company was really trying to build up a boxing promotion.

IMAGE: Imaginary Authors.

But perhaps the final trigger was this zest I had for packing a new fragrance every time I travelled around the world to cover a fight. I was wearing these fascinating scents on press row in arenas the world over. And by 2019, I realised I was being somewhat myopic – why not figure out who had concocted these potions and why and what they were like beyond their laboratory orgues?

I knew there was good nonfiction to be found there, even if I didn’t yet have a clue as to what focus a book might take.

What were your thoughts on Creed fragrances before you started the book? Were you aware of the rumours about the dates of the releases and their supposed celebrity wearers?

I’d always found the celebrity claims a little preposterous. And I’d always liked the scents very much – I wore Green Irish Tweed, Bois du Portugal, Royal Oud and Aventus regularly. Over time I took a liking to Viking. I’d tried Tabarome and found it lacking as a tobacco scent.

I think the only info I had about the reality of their creation was what Michael Edwards and Luca Turin had discovered prior to my breaking into the field – that somehow Pierre Bourdon had had a hand in making Green Irish Tweed. But that was all I knew.

The Ghost Perfumer - Creed Green Irish Tweed EDP

And so I just kept trying to reach out to Bourdon, despite his self-imposed exile from Parisian perfumer society and resultant residence up in Normandy. It’s why Pierre should get so much credit for my own reportage – if he hadn’t decided one day, many months into the project, to open up to me, I may not have dug too deeply into just how Creed had ostensibly generated those aforementioned scents I so enjoyed wearing.

What were you most surprised to discover in your research?

That Pierre Bourdon’s compensation for creating Creed’s scents consisted almost entirely (if not entirely-entirely) of bespoke suits from Olivier.

“Pierre Bourdon’s compensation for creating Creed’s scents consisted almost entirely (if not entirely-entirely) of bespoke suits from Olivier.” 

What has the official Creed response been to the book since publication?

The new management team that BlackRock [the private equity fund which bought a majority stake in Creed in 2020] installed, a c-suite based in London, was so kind to me when I reached out to them pre-publication, particularly the head of marketing, Giles Gordon. We had a brief email correspondence during which Giles first offered to help me with my research and later retracted the offer, but my impression was that the company wanted to be authentic to its actual roots and not just fantasy.

The Ghost Perfumer - Creed Original Santal EDP

And whether I forced Giles’ hand or not, that assessment has been born out – Creed has published two large magazine volumes since The Ghost Perfumer’s release that update the Creed family’s tale, align it with my own – the first said Olivier began trying to make the haberdashery into a perfumery beginning with fits and starts in the 1960s and the second revised the dates to the 1970s.

Which is truthful: the Creeds were not in the business of fragrance creation before then – and until Pierre became ghost-writer in the early 1980s, Creed’s small-batch scents were insignificant efforts, secondary to tailoring, and retailed primarily in small nooks, like the perfume shop Soleil d’Or in Lille, France.

“Until Pierre became ghost-writer in the early 1980s, Creed’s small-batch scents were insignificant efforts, secondary to tailoring.” 

When I finished the book, I envisioned public smashings of Creed fragrances. But that’s just me being childish. What was your intention with it?

Oh, gosh, I had no such vision. I still own Creed scents. I had no intent except to tell a remarkable story – of a man who owned a company and desperately wanted to be a perfumer and of the diffident genius he used to unfairly snatch that mantle.

I wanted people to be fascinated by the interaction of Olivier and Pierre’s careers. A boycott of the company resembling Disco Demolition night was never a consideration for me.

The Ghost Perfumer - Creed Erolfa EDP

Olivier Creed comes across as, let’s be frank, quite predatorial and a nasty piece of work. Did you approach him for comment? And did you ever have any doubts about your characterisation of him?

I approached Creed’s North American arm early in 2020 and they wouldn’t let me speak to Olivier; tentatively, they scheduled me to talk to Erwin [his son] instead. I figured if I did pose real questions to Erwin, however, I might prove my seriousness as a journalist and earn some time with Olivier.

However, someone rather rude in the Creed North America office cancelled my Erwin email-chat last minute, and after that, no matter who I asked at Creed about talking to Olivier or getting clarification on his actual status as a “perfumer” I got no response at all.

“No matter who I asked at Creed about talking to Olivier or getting clarification on his actual status as a ‘perfumer’ I got no response at all.” 

Partly, I don’t think the company, prior to its takeover by BlackRock, believed I had the cojones or skill to depict the company’s actual workings. And after the takeover, I think those newly in charge felt the revelations were inevitable but didn’t want to hasten their release.

The book isn’t only an exposé of Creed, it also reveals the workings of the industry and its incestuous nature. How did you get people to talk to you about what really goes on behind the scenes?

I wrote long and impassioned emails about the need for perfume folks and general readers to get a better sense of who actually formulated the scents they so loved (and sometimes deplored).

It took a long time to convince perfumers – International Fragrance & Flavours didn’t okay my interviews with their folks for many, many months, before Judith Gross [Vice-President Communication & Branding, Scent], whom I love, ultimately realized I was quite serious about creative nonfiction and not just a shill or a parasite.

ALL OKAY: It took many months to get Judith Gross to approve interviews with IFF’s perfumers for research for The Ghost Perfumer. IMAGE: IFF.

And once I had access, I just pressed the perfumers to tell me what they were like, how they had gotten into the business, what they did in their free time. I wanted them to know I saw them as full humans, as artisans of the highest order whose stories could hold as much fascination as painters’ or musicians’ or boxers’.

Still, there are perfumers whose entourages still never let me get close enough to prove any of that – [Jacques] Cavallier, [Alberto] Morillas, [Michel] Almairac. Those are perhaps the top three who didn’t care for such an examination by this American interloper (or maybe Almairac’s son Benjamin never even put the request to his Pops – dunno quite why that never came together).

The part where you meet Pierre Bourdon at his home is particularly touching. Although he was certainly exploited by Oliver Creed, you’re careful not to paint him as a hapless victim…

Bourdon doesn’t view himself as a victim, really. The man got to practice an art whose ideas and concepts he treasures. Maybe he always detested some of the business practices. But the man took his love of Proust and applied the author’s passion for creation – for showing the work of creation in the creation itself – to perfumery. What could have satisfied such a scholarly and thoughtful reader more?

The Ghost Perfumer - Meeting Pierre Bourdon

NORMANDY RENDEZVOUS: Pierre Bourdon in the second Cabinet of Curiosities Room in his home. IMAGE: THE GHOST PERFUMER.

How did you earn Pierre Bourdon’s trust to get him to reveal so much to you?

Through many emails sent to the address he shared with his wife, Kathy, who always seemed to think me a decent sort – but really, through the imploring of Jean-Claude Ellena, who convinced Pierre first that I was serious about my own craft, writing, and could perhaps do justice to Pierre’s.

Let’s talk about Jean-Christophe Hérault and his role in the creation of the mega-hit Creed Aventus. He was very forthcoming at first and then the shutters came down. Why the change in behaviour?

Probably a sense that he had revealed enough to hurt his career and didn’t want to exacerbate things further – I say, probably, because Hérault might dismiss that without offering a better answer.

Gabe Oppenheim - Jean-Christophe Hérault

Regardless, he seems glad now that The Ghost Perfumer was written, that he’s being credited finally with the massive success he engineered. We text each other every now and again, and we’re certainly on friendly terms, for which I’m grateful. He has a signed copy of the book, and I own a good deal of his fragrant output. He has been nothing but kind to me of late.

I don’t blame him for not quite getting at first that my intentions, in terms of attributing work to its rightful creators, were more pure than not, and that I had the gumption to follow this process through to the end.

The Ghost Perfumer - Creed Aventus EDP

You also delve into the Julien Rasquinet creations that were passed off as Olivier Creed’s. Did he actually create any of the other Creed releases that are attributed to him on sites such as Fragrantica?

Olivier was a great creative director – he knew what sort of scent would beguile men (or, at least, he picked up in the 1960s and 1970s these notions). So Olivier can be credited with choosing the best scents, mostly, of those perfumers who did the actual technical work.

Olivier, however, not doing that technical work, cannot fairly be called a perfumer-creator, the definition of which perfumers such as [Christophe] Laudamiel and Calice Becker make rather clear not infrequently. I admire their devotion to getting the bylines in this messy industry cleaned up.

The Ghost Perfumer - Julien Rasquinet

The subtitle of the book is Part 1: Creed, Lies, & The Scent of the Century. What’s the next one about?

The next one could involve a certain Berlin-based perfumer who’s a masterful raconteur and a well-known figure to the fragcomm. But it could also be about the pirates of the Dubai clone market or the bizarre way in which Caron has survived several strange owners (it’s now a property of a Rothschild).

Or perhaps it will be about none of these things. I’ve made a good many false starts in the last few months. But they aren’t all for naught – at least one will hopefully become a full-length book.

IMAGE: Caron.

And I would tell perfume-prose fans, if you like my nonfiction, I think you’ll like my inventions, too – and in fact, I’ve been working also on a novel and perhaps that will come out in between perfume-focused books, first. I’ve written about 4 000 compelling words so far for that project. Maybe I’ll never see it to the end, but for now, I’m just thinking, 96 000 equally satisfying words to go…

The Ghost Perfumer: Creed, Lies, & The Scent of the Century is available worldwide on Amazon.

Gabe Oppenheim - The Ghost Perfumer Cover