Portraits of Perfumeurs

Hélène Prévot has worked as a perfumer for a number of fragrance houses for many years, and is a passionate perfume designer. Her desire for independence and direct exchanges with customers led her to found her own company in 2014. HF Perfumes was born. Having become a freelance perfume designer for numerous fragrance brands and often under confidentiality contracts, her desire to be able to reveal her expertise to the public never ceased to grow.  After several years of reflection and hard...

Seven Perfumers create the exceptional ELECTIMUSS perfumes, inspired by Ancient Rome and using the rarest ingredients to create unparalleled luxury fragrances. Céline Bardel, Sofia Bardelli, Marco Genovese, Kevin Mathys, Christian Provenzano, Julien Rasquinet, John Stephen - Cecile Zarokian. Let's discover them through some short portraits.

While Céline Barel admits to an early passion for perfume, her background is atypical. After business studies and a Master's degree in International Marketing and Management, she finally found her vocation in perfume creation.  In her laboratory, Céline composes like a novelist weaves her stories. For her, “Fragrance must induce synesthesia”. Her vision is of a fragrance that must be strong without necessarily smelling strong, carrying a confidence that reveals the best in everyone. She seeks...

Irish perfumer Meabh Mc Curtin embodies the balance between scientific rigour and artistic creativity. Trained in biochemistry and a graduate of prestigious institutions, she perfected her skills with masters such as Dominique Ropion at IFF. Her creations reflect her attachment to literature and emotion. Each fragrance she creates is an olfactory narrative inspired by travels, memories and new associations. She is currently exploring new combinations of materials and concepts, while...

A native of the Cotswolds in England, John Stephen developed an olfactory sensibility from childhood, nourished by the surrounding nature. A chemist by training, he has devoted over 50 years to the art of perfumery, running Cotswold Perfumery, a company dedicated to creation and training. John Stephen has distinguished himself by collaborating with prestigious brands to create fragrances that blend opulence, history and emotion. His signature lies in his balance between technical mastery and...

‘To be irreplaceable, you must always be different’, Christian Provenzano likes to say. Currently Global Director of Perfumery at CPL Aromas, this creator has had a long and fruitful career, marked by collaborations with prestigious houses and the founding of his own brand, illustrating his passion for the art of scent and his desire to constantly innovate, with a deep passion for noble ingredients as a common thread.

‘I still remember the smell of freshly picked citrus fruits in my grandmother's garden. That's where it all began.’ These words from Marco Genovese capture the essence of his olfactory journey. Today, this Italian perfume designer is recognised worldwide for his luxurious and innovative creations. With his resolutely original approach to niche perfumery, he transforms each fragrance into a work of olfactory art, captivating luxury perfume lovers around the world.

Pierre Wulff, born in 1953, is a Swedish-born perfumer who now works in the USA. After training in perfumery in Grasse, he built an international career marked by major collaborations, notably with Byredo. His olfactory style is both narrative and emotional, drawing on memories and landscapes, translating abstract concepts into immersive sensory creations. ‘My fragrances are never a simple juxtaposition of ingredients, they are emotional landscapes,’ he sums up. Humanist and committed, he...

Margaux Le Paih-Guérin is one of the rising stars of contemporary French perfumery, embodying the fusion of tradition and avant-garde in her creations. Trained in the art of perfumery from childhood in a family perfumery in Brittany, she was influenced by the genuine natural landscapes that surrounded her and by the great perfume classics.  She has developed a highly personal style, sometimes even described as experimental, incorporating artistic collaborations and exploring the limits of...

For Amélie Bourgeois, perfume is much more than a technical composition: it's a fragment of emotion, of identity, a piece of intimate history. She remembers a key moment in her childhood, when the smell of the wooded dunes of the Landes region mixed with the salty breeze of the Atlantic coast left a deep impression on her. Today, she is a leading figure in independent perfumery, and co-founder of the FLAIR creative studio, a place where she brings to life unique creations, shaped by her...

The name Jean-Claude Gigodot may not be familiar to perfume lovers, as he is not one of those perfumers who get a lot of media coverage. Throughout his life, this creator of numerous niche fragrances was a discreet man who enjoyed great respect from his peers. In this article, we sketch the portrait of a perfumer in love with his craft, a leading figure in niche perfumery to whom we owe some of L'Artisan Parfumeur's major creations.

The first Franco-Sudanese perfumer, Maiada El Khalifa embodies boldness and innovation. After a successful career in finance and technology, this polymorphous woman who is also an artist founded her own niche perfume brand, TAYSHABA. Born in Sudan and having lived in several countries, she draws on her multicultural roots to create unique fragrances, combining Sudanese heritage with contemporary influences.  This is how she defines her approach, where each creation is a symphony of daring and...