Francis Kurkjian. “For some perfumes, it’s like clothes that fit you; you wear it and it’s you.”

“What a brand for a perfumer.” This exclamation comes from Cyrano de Bergerac’s famous tirade and refers directly to his nose, not sure Francis Kurkjian will take it. Nose, a name that disapproves of Parfums Christian Dior’s star perfumers. “The nose is an organ. “Perfume is work,” she says.

“I don’t have the impression that the profession boils down to an anatomical or physiological feature. I prefer perfumer, perfumer or composer. This is my observation: perfume is a work of the mind, not of the nose. Besides, I don’t “smell” very well. It’s not a predisposition.”

There is no special emphasis in this manifesto. For Francis Kurkjian, everything is a matter of accuracy, precision, intellectual honesty. Each question requires an exact answer. “In perfumery, before the formula enters the laboratory, there is a pre-existing thought, a mental projection. I really believe in work.”

Francis Kurkjian worked hard. As with any good self-respecting success story, nothing really predisposed him to become a perfumer; “It was plan B. Plan A was to become a star dancer or nothing.” This did not happen. Meanwhile he saw wild, starring Yves Montagne as a perfumer on the run. Jean-Paul Rapenoud’s comedy blows his mind.

Predisposition in fashion

However, this family of Armenian origin had some fashion tendencies. Both his grandfathers were tailors. The sharp sound of scissors, the shrill hum of a sewing machine, the warm smell of patemu. sewing dominates his environment and becomes crucial to his imagination. His aunt is a designer at Dior. “In all these professions there is an idea of ​​transformation, of the transcendence of matter, which has always fascinated and dazzled me.”

On the other hand, basic olfactory memories are few. My mother wore Madame Rochas, Fiji, Empreinte or Calèche. It was the 1970s, when perfume was closely associated with fashion houses; it definitely made me want to go to dior later on. The connection between the perfume and the fashion house has remained very strong in my mind.” Not without longing, he adds. “I am 55 years old, I lived in this period, I remember. We were waiting for the next Dior, the next Chanel or the next Yves Saint Laurent. Mr. Dior has already said about the fashion shows. we have to create excitement, satisfy women’s desires.”

A dazzling success

During his time there, he trained at the International Superior Institute of Perfumery in Versailles, a benchmark school. Success came very fast, dazzling, overflowing. In 1993, he was not yet 25 years old when he created Le Mâle by Jean Paul Gaultier, which won and remains one of the world’s best-selling fragrances. After spending four years at Quest International in New York, he opened his then-unusual specialty perfumery, then co-founded his own Maison Francis Kurkdjian in 2009, which is still there, well-known, which didn’t hurt; since joining Dior in October 2021, where he is the creative director of perfumery.

When Dior looked at him, he did not hesitate. “The simple name of Dior was a motivation in itself. When we look at the history of this house, we see that perfume owes a lot to it. Dior has created some holy monsters, offering admirable creations, “Poison” and its power, “Diorissimo” and its insane severity, the revolutionary Fahrenheit, to the most recent “J’adore” and “Sauvage”. It’s part of the perfume’s heritage.”

Carte blanche

At Dior he now has carte blanche. Creating (juices for La Collection Privée) or revisiting (eg L’Or de J’adore) give him the same pleasures. Today he is working on the fifth version of the already legendary Sauvage (a. “wing”in perfume slang), created in 2015 by Francois Demachy, an instant hit that captured the face of Johnny Depp, the indestructible muse who even withstood a highly publicized trial pitting him against his ex-wife Amber Heard, disappeared from the radar;

“Having your interpretation of Sauvage is a privilege. The idea is to establish a dialogue with the pre-existing juice; take a piece of clothing that isn’t yours and turn it into a custom piece of clothing. It can be said that each new version has its own identity, with a family resemblance to the previous ones.

Lavender processing

Francis Kurkjian has reworked lavender, a staple of men’s perfumes known for being fresh and sensual. The mission. “Bringing out the freshest side of it with the desire to make it a long-lasting perfume.” In addition to its new notes (cool spices, bleached lavender, wood and musk), a remarkable feature is that this Eau Forte has been developed with new alcohol-free, water-based concentrations; the ingredients – it invigorates, it nuances and creates a sensation,” he explains. “The result is a manly fragrance, but not masculine.”

It turns out that defining a perfume is an almost impossible mission. But a perfume of this nuance, who never wears perfume, ironically evokes the idea of ​​”sensation”; “I like perfumes that don’t look like the skin has been ‘sweated’ or more accurately ‘exposed’. Sensation, emotion, like a suggestion. Some perfumes feel like they stick to you. It’s like clothes that fit you. you wear it and it’s you. That’s what perfume is, it’s you and your skin.”

He adds: “A good perfume gives joy.” What else? Francis Kurkjian follows the changes in the world with interest. Will artificial intelligence and its software, which is beginning to be used in the beauty industry and intervene in the process of creating perfumes, change the cards? “There are questions. It is interesting. Why not if it helps save time balancing ingredients? But do these machines have instincts? They take into account the state of the world. Can they copy her beauty? Did Baudelaire? Rimbaud Saga? My work is based on so much irrationality…” he concludes with a certain smile.

dior.com