Hervé Gambs

Hervé Gambs, hello and welcome. You have been called the ‘couturier of flowers’. Your domain of predilection is plants, which you feature in the shape of objets de design and imaginary flowers for the home. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

I don’t define myself as an artist, just as someone who is curious about life. I love conceiving worlds and creating “ideas”. I studied interior architecture and textile design. My first career was in advertising, a crazy place, but also a magical school where your wildest ideas can come true. For almost 20 years now, I have devoted myself to work inspired by plants, which are my world, both in terms of flowers and fragrances. I wanted to reinterpret nature for our interiors. With no preconceived notions. So for me, anything can be an influence: fashion, food, travel and more… Luckily, for my work, I get to travel the world over.

We visited your new boutique on Paris’s Rive Gauche last year. You have a strong presence in France, and you’re highly admired in Japan, too. Where else can we find your creations?

We have 3 boutiques in Paris and 8 in Japan. It’s true that the Japanese were the first to appreciate my ideas and my plant-based concept. But our products can now be found on every continent. We are distributed in shops that specialize in interior decoration, fragrance, and fashion, which adds up to some 250 points of sale in the USA and 200 in Europe.

In addition to floral design, you have a large catalogue of home fragrances and candles. Do you see fragrance as part of a continuum of your desire to recreate the plant world?

We integrated fragrance into the company’s creations as early as 1989. It was obvious to me that reinterpreting nature in our interiors had to include fragrance, too.

As part of your fragrance lines, you have designed unusual scented objects, like the ‘Monolithe’ and the collection ‘Une fleur, un parfum’. Why is that?

The ‘Monolithe’ is a contemporary fragrance-objet that contains an element of nature. I was tired of always seeing home fragrance bottles tucked away in drawers, so I designed this objet (an elegant piece of wood that holds the fragrance bottle*) that can be displayed on a coffee table. The flower-box is a modern reinterpretation of the traditional potpourri, using the simple idea of scenting a flower and letting its fragrance permeate the house.

While you used to make chic but relatively classic or contemporary fragrances (orchid, cut grass, fig tree, etc.) you now seem determined to explore new territory, like salty, crunchy green, cashmere and other ranges.

That’s right; I’m part of the Fooding generation. I love eating and cooking; I would have loved to be a chef and to explore new tastes. Luckily for me, when I travel, I get the chance to discover magical flavors and scents... so I “cook them up” in my fragrances. I’ve had tons of new ideas to share since I launched the Fusion line (Sel d’Osmanthus, Yuzu Tonic and Souffle de Bambou*): new aromatic sensations, fragrances that don’t exist, and are surprising at first… And to be perfectly honest, I’m having a fabulous time.

With their clean, pure lines, 100% plant-based wax and 10% fragrance concentration, your candles have been very successful with connoisseurs. Which fragrances are your favorites?

The Fusion collection is the success story of 2007, which just goes to show that people want to discover new sensations. In the Instant Végétal (Plant-Based Instant) collection, Herbe Coupée (Cut Grass), the very 1 st fragrance I designed, back in 1990, is a big favorite; as is Fleur d’Eau, with its sensation of ‘well-being’. This fall’s new item, Bois de Cashmere (a silky woody-Oriental blending amber and agarwood*) has been very well received.
* Information provided by our journalist.

Another unusual thing you do is to present your plant-inspired objets seasonally, like fashion, with a spring-summer collection and a fall-winter one. What trends can you recommend? What will “the best-dressed interiors be wearing” his winter?

It’s true, I’ve always designed two collections a year. It’s a tremendous amount of work, but it seems to me that the necessity is obvious, because each season carries its own sensations. And I’m part of the fashion generation; I’m always in the mood for something new. So each season I choose a theme that suits my whims.
For me, the theme of winter 2007 will be the return of true luxury. Not “bling-bling” or “Italian rococo”. My influences: Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, and my travels, too. The base is plain and elegant: white, beige or black. The accessory is ‘festive’ and colorful, with as much attention to detail and to quality as in haute couture: the careful finishings , the refined materials and all that.

To get back to fragrance, what are your favorite olfactory accords? What is your eau de toilette or fragrance brand of choice?

I adore Guerlain. For me, it will always be THE fragrance brand. Even if over the past few years it seems like marketing has gained ascendance over the products themselves… Personally, I have trouble finding new fragrances that I like. Although I do appreciate Marc Jacobs’s new concept (Marc Jacobs SPLASH*) of launching simple, true eau de toilettes on a seasonal basis. Lately I’ve been switching between Cucumber and Cotton.

What about yourself, Hervé Gambs… have you been considering the possibility of designing fragrances for people rather than just for the home?

Absolutely! I’ve been working on eau de toilettes for the past 2 years. I have a zillion ideas that I can’t wait to introduce, but I have to buckle down and get serious about it. And the market is so overcrowded already that I’m trying to take my sweet time and create something truly innovative, something that will ‘shock’ noses!