Interviews

Even before he founded his own niche fragrance company, Matiere Premiere, in 2019, Aurélien Guichard was admired for his distinctive creations. The list below will give you an indication of his prodigious talent: 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,...

When he looks back at his life in the future, 2023 will be a landmark year for Alexis Grugeon.  Of course, anyone who’s being 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: The boy...

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: And then...

What started out as a request for product info* (for some reason, I decided 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...

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

Clement Gavarry’s career (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.  This mega-hit should come as no surprise to those who have followed the career of...

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.  Who created the decade-defining Le Labo Santal 33...

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...

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 our 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...

You might not have heard of Louise Turner if you’re not in the perfume industry. But you’ve most certainly seen/smelled one of her creations:  Oh, and then there’s the super-successful Carolina Herrera Good Girl franchise, with its numerous flankers and limited editions from 2016 onwards.   Medicine’s loss was perfumery’s gain when the Brit dropped out...

If you spend a fair amount of time on Instagram, you’ll have seen the stop-scrolling majestic bottles. But as this interview with Claire Sokell Thompson, Electimuss creative and communications director, will show you, there’s more to the London-based niche brand than eye candy. The company was founded by Luke Granger and Jason Collison in 2015,...

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.  In a punchy and page-turning style with well-researched detail, Gabe Oppenheim gives credence...

When three Parisians with an impressive array of skills and backgrounds – Sylvie Loday, Olivier Royère, and Benoît Verdier – got together to start their own company in 2013, there was no guarantee of realizing their ambitions. Especially in the ruthlessly competitive and ever-growing niche perfume sector. Nine years later, the trio can justifiably be proud of...

Fabrice Pellegrin is one of the most accomplished perfumers of our time. Considering his expertise and achievements, he’s probably also the most unknown outside the industry, in that he truly prefers to be behind the scenes and let his creations speak for themselves. The list below of perfumes he has produced is just a snapshot...

Some people you don’t even have to meet to get a sense of them. Nathalie Feisthauer is one of those individuals. And I use the word “individual” purposefully because the 30-year+ career of the Paris-based master perfumer has been defined by unconventionality.  From her education at Roure Bertrand Dupont (now the Givaudan Perfumery School) to...

The last time I interviewed Quentin Bisch, in 2018, the Paris-based perfumer was already making an impression with his creations for brands such as Chloé, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Etat Libre d’Orange, Mugler, Ex Nihilo and Jean Paul Gaultier.  Four years later, the Strasbourg-born Givaudan Perfumery School graduate has become highly sought after, so much so that...

Heritage has become an over-traded term in niche perfumery. Some houses (no names mentioned) even invent it to give themselves more credibility.  Le Jardin Retrouvé is not one of those companies. Founded by Yuri Gutsatz in 1975, the Paris-based brand can justifiably claim to be one of the pioneers of niche perfumery, along with L’Artisan...

Launching a perfume company at any time takes balls. Launching a perfume company in 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, takes balls of steel. And dollops of optimism and a strongly defined vision. All of which Anselm Skogstad of Der Duft seems to have in abundance. In the two years since its launch,...

Maurice Roucel called me last week. Shameless name-dropping aside, I’ve always wanted to say that. After all, how often does a living legend respond to a flurry of emails with a phone call to set up a time for an interview a week later? I gush because, in his nearly five decades-long career, Maurice Roucel...

Sophie Labbé’s first big commercial hit – the classic Givenchy Organza EDP (1996) – was no fluke. The Paris-based perfumer had already shown she was destined for great things when she graduated top of her class at perfume school in 1997.   In her career spanning more than three decades, she has worked for big fragrance...

It’s intriguing to see buzz (as opposed to the hype) develop around a perfume brand. And there’s plenty of that when it comes to Maison Crivelli. Founded in 2018 by Thibaud Crivelli, the Paris-based niche company focuses on fragrances inspired by his experiences. When Thibaud Crivelli moved to China in 2006 and lived in various...

“If I had a middle name, it would be Ambrox, the sexiest molecule alive,” says Ilias Ermenidis with characteristic humour. This ability to see the lighter side of things has served the perfumer well in his career that spans more than three decades and several countries.  Ilias Ermenidis was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and was...

Fragrance nerd alert! Did you know that the first designer to launch a perfume was Paul Poiret? The Parisian couturier founded his company, Parfums de Rosine (named after his daughter), in 1911. It enjoyed considerable success until it was forced to close when the Great Depression hit in 1929.   The house was brought back to...

What do you get when you combine the knowledge of a perfumer (Sarah McCartney, founder of 4160 Tuesdays) and a fragrance blogger (Sam Scriven, iscentyouaday), both award-winners in their fields? It could only be the recently published book, The Perfume Companion: The Definitive Guide To Choosing Your Next Scent (Frances Lincoln). Most of us know...

The numerous awards Jérôme Epinette has earned in recent years speak volumes about his creative and technical expertise. These include Perfume Extraordinaire of the Year for Atelier Cologne Café Tuberosa at The Fragrance Foundation Awards 2018 and Fragrance of the Year – Universal Luxury for Byredo Tobacco Mandarin at The Fragrance Foundation Awards 2021.  Industry accolades aside, you’ll...

You know you’re a highly regarded perfumer when Frédéric Malle gives you his customary carte blanche to create a fragrance for his eponymous brand. Three times. Only the select few – for example, Jean-Claude Ellena and Dominique Ropion – have been acknowledged this way. But then Bruno Jovanovic is not your average perfumer.  His abundant...

The outbreak of Covid in 2020 and the lockdowns that accompanied it caused much turmoil, but also produced intriguing ways of doing things. New York-based visual artist Danilo Lauria recently launched L’Eau de Distance, a digital-inspired perfume available on the cryptocurrency platform, Hic et Nunc. While quarantined in Barcelona, Spain, in May 1920, his investigations...

In the four years since it was founded in 2017 by Michelle Feeney, Floral Street has bagged a number of awards, including The Fragrance Foundation Retailer of the Year 2019. Although a small player in the scheme of things, the company has made a big impact with its vibrant, very British approach to vegan, cruelty-free,...

Launched in 2001, Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue’s evocation of the sun, sea, and sensuality of a southern Italy summer has been a huge commercial success. Even those with only a passing interest in a fragrance will have heard of the Italian luxury fashion brand’s blockbuster. A large part of its success is down to...

When a perfume turns 100 years old, you can bet it has a story to tell. And it doesn’t get more convoluted and juicier than Chanel No. 5.  While The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume by Tilar J Mazzeo (Harper Perennial) was published in 2010, it...

Mention some of the biggest fragrances of the last decade and chances are that Anne Flipo was behind them. The French perfumer is highly respected in the industry and by her many fans for her accomplished and distinctive work across the niche and designer fragrance categories.   Some of her standout creations and co-creations during...

Growing up in Norway, Geir Ness spend weekends in the pristine mountains outside Oslo, hiking, skiing, kayaking in the fjords, and picking wildflowers. Decades later, after working with some of the biggest fragrance houses in the world, he returned to those mountains on a mission to develop a fragrance of his own, inspired by his...

When Shyamala Maisondieu was awarded the 2019 Prix François Coty in recognition of her career and creations, it was confirmation of what we had known for a while.  A snapshot of her diverse creations/co-creations across the designer and niche categories will tell you that the Malaysian-born, London-educated perfumer is one of the brightest talents of...

When Jean Paul Gaultier Le Mâle was launched in 1995, its creator, Francis Kurkdjian, became a perfume star. That auspicious debut was followed by a succession of high-profile releases that have made the 50-year-old one of the most respected perfumers of his generation.  Chances are you’ve worn one of his scents without knowing he created...