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The return of the in-house perfumer

Date: 06.09.2008

They were a rare species not long ago, but times are changing: perfumers are pairing up with houses to become what’s known as “in-house perfumers”. After Jean-Claude Ellena went to Hermès in 2004, Mathilde Laurent to Cartier in 2005 and François Demachy to Dior in 2006, in the space of a single month 2 new house perfumers have been named. Having designed their men’s scent coming this fall, Thierry Wasser has joined the House of Guerlain, while L’Artisan Parfumeur welcomes Bertrand Duchaufour, who had already designed several fragrances for them. Although perfumers like Jean Michel Duriez (Patou) and J-C Ellena (Hermès) are alone at the helm, that‘s not always the case. For some in-house perfumers, the role is more like that of olfactory artistic director than of a solitary fragrance designer. Houses like Cartier, Dior and L’Artisan Parfumeur still work with other perfumers (either independent or from a group like Firmenich, Givaudan or IFF). That’s how it will be at Guerlain, which has been confiding some of its creations to Jean-Paul Guerlain and other outside perfumers (Maurice Roucel, Marie Salamagne, Beatrice Piquet et al.). But these in-house head perfumers, whatever their precise role, will clearly add to the house’s image and reputation in consumers’ eyes.

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