#MCCOTInterview {21}
Aurélien Guichard, the French Master Perfumer who creates magic and emotions
You may not know his name but surely lots of you have probably already wear one of the iconic perfumes he is the creator of : Acqua Allegoria Anisia Bella by Guerlain and Love in Paris by Nina Ricci- his first- or Burberry Hero, Narciso Rodriguez, Gucci Guilty, Gucci for Men, Versace Eros, Tom Ford Sole di Positano. Born in the sunny Grasse, the World Capital of perfumes, in a family of Perfumers since 7th generations, Aurélien Guichard had a delicately perfumed childhood and teenagehood. Drawn to creation since his young age, he really discovered he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, Jean Guichard, the nose who created Loulou and Eden for Cacharel and l’Eau d’Hadrien for Annick Goutal, thanks to the captivating perfume wear by a female guest of his parents at a dinner. Trained at Givaudan Perfumery School, Aurélien is now an experienced (over 20 years in the industry) and renowned nose and Master Perfumer for Japanese Takasago. Since 2014, he is the owner of an organic perfume flower farm located in his hometown and since 2019, the proud Co-founder and Creative Director of the brand MATIERE PREMIERE. Let's meet a son of art who has got his place in the sun by working hard with passion.
By Hélène BattagliaWho are you?
I'm a 7th generation French Perfumer, born in Grasse. I live and work between Paris and Grasse. As a Master Perfumer, I have been creating
fragrances for the finest Couture Houses for the past twenty years – such as
Burberry Hero, Narciso Rodriguez, Gucci Guilty, Gucci for Men, Versace Eros,
Tom Ford Sole di Positano… I am a lover of natural ingredients, and founded an organic perfume flower farm in my native region of Grasse in 2014. This is where I grow Rose Centifolia, Tuberose and soon more plants, which I use as main ingredients in my creations for MATIERE PREMIERE, the Perfume House I founded in 2019.
Which was the smell of your childhood spent in the middle of a house of Perfumers?
I have many wonderful memories of course, but one in particular is dear to me. It was one summer in the 80s, during the jasmine harvest. My grandfather had gathered the pickers in the barn, it was time to weigh the harvest of the day. The incredible smell of the flowers mixed with the smell of the soil, of the gas from the truck and of the burlap sacks I will never forget.
When did you exactly know you would follow the steps of your family?
When
I was young I admired as much the creative commitment of my father Perfumer,
Jean Guichard, who created Loulou and Eden for Cacharel, l’Eau d’Hadrien for
Annick Goutal, as the one my mother gave to sculpting and painting. Most of their
friends, were artists too, or dedicated to some kind of art. So I knew from a
young age I was drawn to creation, and the life that goes with it, but I wasn’t
set on becoming a Perfumer. It
happened one night in my late teenage years, at the end of a dinner. As I
helped a lady put her fur coat back on, the fragrance she was wearing started
diffusing such an irresistible aura around her, that I realized how mesmerizing
and powerful a perfume could be to express one’s personality. I knew from this
moment I wanted to try and create such magic.
How did you become the renowned nose and Master perfumer you are today?
With
a lot of work, and amazing encounters. I studied at Givaudan Perfumery School in Paris, and during 3 years of pure dedication, I learned perfume composition
techniques. And I learned how to recognize over 2000 different ingredients that
compose the main palette of a Perfumer, until I knew then by heart. Then I was
lucky enough to sign my first creations right out of Perfumery School, Acqua
Allegoria Anisia Bella for Guerlain and Love in Paris for Nina Ricci, two
prestigious French Houses. I decided right after that to move to New York and
work for American Houses such as Estee Lauder, and US personalities such as
Sean John with the fragrance Unforgivable. It was so rich for me to create for
such different people, cultures and creative backgrounds. Then
I just kept working hard, with passion, collaborating with amazing people
through my years at Givaudan in the US, then in Paris, later at Firmenich and
today at Takasago.
By the way, could you tell us what is exactly the difference between a nose and a perfumer?
In Grasse, a Perfumer can mean anyone working in the perfume industry, from a sales assistant in a boutique, to factory workers in Perfume production. And a Nose is the artist who creates perfumes. Even though we call them “Noses”, the work is not just about smelling, it’s also about creating beauty through a fragrance, and imagining something that will create emotions.
When did you decide to establish your own brand Matiere Premiere?
After I established the farm in 2016, I knew that as a Perfumer I could have a direct implication in producing my own ingredients. With my two partners, who were friends and colleagues from the Perfume industry, and who had also family roots in the South of France, we knew we had the same desire to combine modernity in perfume composition with extreme quality and expertise. We had our first conversations in 2017, and MATIERE PREMIERE was launched end of 2019.
What I love about perfume creation are exchanges and discussions. With my team in the lab, with designers, with personalities who ask me to create a perfume that will bear their name, with marketing teams, and with my friends and family to whom I ask to wear the compositions at different steps of the creation. I never feel alone, even at night before I go to sleep when I think about what changes I will bring to the next trial, and even if, in the end, I have the final cut. It’s always about the next discussion I will have about it, spraying and smelling together with my clients, partners, colleagues or close ones.
Does the perfect perfume really exist?
When I began my studies at Perfumery School, I was told there was never going to be a right or wrong answer. It’s not about perfection, it’s about conviction.
The collaborative side of it, and the adventures it sometimes embarks me on. One time, I was sent a plane ticket with this simple brief: “spend a few days there, feel the place, come back and create the fragrance of this island I love.’ It was Issey Miyake.
Since 2016, you are growing roses Centifolia in an organic farm located on the French Riviera, near Grasse. What is this personal project about?
During my childhood, my grandparents were growing roses, jasmine and verbena for Grasse Perfume factories. I keep such fond memories of this place that I felt the desire to found my own farm, and bring this amazing know-how into the 21st century, with organic farming practices and an EcoCert certification. It also gave me the opportunity to prolong the relationships my family had developed with a group of local professionals, who contributed to the success and prosperity of their cultures of perfume flowers. Today, our farm is one of the largest organic flower farm in the South of France. And our ingredients are dedicated to MATIERE PREMIERE fragrances.
At
Perfumery School I entered a contest to create a Tobacco fragrance. I didn’t
win, but six years later, this exact same formula became Gucci for Men!
How would you describe your olfactive signature?
There are indeed some notes I am particularly fond of the woody notes for example, while I am not a big fan of gourmand notes. But I don’t believe I have a particular signature. When I work for a Couture House, I put my craft at the service of a designer and its universe. When I create for MATIERE PREMIERE, I put my craft at the service of the raw material used in overdose and central to each fragrance.
Is there a daily routine in your work or creativity happens out of the blue?
There is the routine of the laboratory, when you smell the ingredients, write the formula, weigh the components to create the blend, receive it back in the sample bottle, dip a blotter, adapt a spray on the bottle if you liked it from the blotter and start wearing the fragrance. And there is also the fascinating work of diving into the archives of the Couture House I am creating for. But it is mixed with magical moments, when all of a sudden it all makes sense. Usually for me, it is when I find the person that truly embodies the fragrance I am working on. It can be someone from my entourage I will see almost every day, or a client of a couture house I have observed when visiting the boutique, or someone from a neighboring table at a restaurant, or even a person I will just pass by very briefly on the street – but the allure, the aura, the style, the gestures will inspire me until I put the final touch to the creation.
Do you believe that being a talented perfumer is innate or hold in the genes or at the contrary can be learnt thanks to hard work and commitment?
It’s above all a matter of taste. As a Perfumer, I have a global vision of my creations, especially for MATIERE PREMIERE, from the bottle to the name and the scent of course. It all makes one. And working with people you admire is essential to grow in your craft. From my partners and co-founders at MATIERE PREMIERE, to Issey Myake, Narciso Rodriguez, Carine Roitfeld… artists and creative professionals who are also entrepreneurs and founders of their own houses - their courage inspires me.
What is your opinion about the Süskind’s bestseller ‘The Perfume’?
It is so hard to put fragrances into words – Süskind has masterfully succeeded. It inspired so many people to fall in love with perfume.
All the pictures are Courtesy of MATIERE PREMIERE
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