Sketch of Bauhaus inspired Flacon.
by Frédéric Malle himself
for his Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
“He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men,” wrote German author Patrick Süskind in his historical fantasy novel ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’. In this 1985 cult favourite, the perfumer ultimately gains “the invincible power to command the love of mankind.” Today, if anyone understands the profound impact of fragrance, it’s celebrated French Perfume Editor Frédéric Malle — a true revolutionary and leading figure in the perfume world.
Malle grew up surrounded by creativity. His father produced films, while his uncle was the renowned film director Louis Malle. His mother served as the former Art Director at Parfums Christian Dior, a brand established in 1947 by Malle’s maternal grandfather. Malle immersed himself in this legacy, studying perfumery at the laboratories of Roure Bertrand Dupont before working as a consultant for fashion houses such as Christian Lacroix and Hermès.
Since founding his fragrance house, Les Editions de Parfum Frédéric Malle, in 2000, his team of nine perfumers has steadily expanded. His innovative production philosophy — allowing perfumers full creative control and ensuring they receive credit on each perfume bottle — has been praised by leading publications. This practice was virtually unheard of 25 years ago, when the industry traditionally hid creators’ identities behind fashion labels or designer names. Yet Malle insisted that perfumers were not “ghostwriters” but rather “fragrance authors.”
Malle urges his perfumers to explore new creative horizons while emphasizing the importance of precision and the meticulous crafting of formulas. This philosophy has given rise to masterpieces such as Le Parfum de Thérèse by Edmond Roudnitska — a personal love letter, bottled for Roudnitska’s wife before his death, which Thérèse herself approved for Malle to release.
The rich stories behind each of the house’s treasured scents are compiled in Malle’s lavish 2012 book, On Perfume Making. Schön! alive meets with him to dive deeper into this fascinating world of scent.
Frédéric Malle.
photography. Brigitte Lacombe
When did you first discover the power of perfume?
It must have been Eau Sauvage by Parfums Christian Dior. I was four or five, and my mother had worked on the perfume which became a landmark perfume for men. We had big bottles of it and we wore it as little children because I just loved the smell. And then I went to boarding school, and I was playing lots of sports and I was always covering myself with it. When you sweat, either through making love or playing sports, the blending of you and the perfume deepens. That was how I developed an addiction for scent. It was a subliminal and organic evolution. I realised how you can fall in love with a person and the way they smelled.
How did you get into perfumery?
Perfumery always lingered in the back of my mind, but the fact that my mother was involved in the industry ensured that it wasn’t foreign to me. I didn’t want to enter her trade but I was always impressed by the job of my friend’s father, who was the [art] director of CHANEL. I loved the imagery. I loved what he did with legendary photographers Irving Penn and Helmut Newton. I wanted to get into this industry, but more as an art director than anything else.
So, I worked as a photographer’s assistant, I studied art history, I was in advertising. I did a whole sort of periphery, as I believed that one should really know the trade. While I was minding my own business in advertising, someone who was the head of the best lab in the industry, which was a legendary lab called Roar, asked me to become an assistant. From the moment I accepted the role, I felt very much at home. For one thing, I was immediately impressed with how modest the team was. These were the people responsible for the world smelling the way it smelled. I mean, I was having lunch with Edouard Fletcher, who had just made Poison, and the world was smelling of Poison, and he was completely modest and informal.
Perfume consultation.
photography. Naho Kubota
Where do you find inspiration for a new perfume?
It’s an ongoing conversation between myself and the perfumers. We are all friends. It’s a very intimate world, because we are all in love with this thing that we can’t share with that many people. Perfumery is a language that nobody speaks. And so, we are a club who suffers for perfumery, who dreams about perfumery, and we are very close to one another because of that common secret that we share. Naturally, we talk shop all the time and, sometimes, a perfumer or I will come up with a fragrance idea and we will discuss how to make it a reality.
The perfume process begins with conversation. We talk about the formulating process like it’s a collage; from layering extracts to magnifying, removing or blending different scents. Using our own jargon, we describe shapes, colours or raw materials, like a landscape painter who says, “Oh, let’s make a big blue thing and then why don’t we have a dot of red on it?”, and then the fragrance in our minds creates itself. The formula emerges like an illustration of the initial conversation. It’s brought to life in the lab, and we ask questions such as, “Is it too simple? Is it too complex? Is it comfortable?” We also have to consider two fundamental aspects. There is a mechanical aspect, where the perfume diffuses and lasts for a long time; then there is subjectivity, where the perfume needs to be recognisable, comfortable, addictive and harmonious.
Atelier Jean Claude Ellena.
Carrousel of Ingredients for perfume making
image. Courtesy of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
How would you explain the recent success of more niche perfume houses?
In what way have they changed the industry? When I started this company 25 years ago, I was always telling people [that], unlike the big brand’s duty free and self-service perfumery (which became the equivalent of supermarket perfumery), artisanal perfumery will deliver something authentic. People soon rediscovered real perfumery through us, I suppose, and it became a big thing. Those who doubted what we were doing then realised that you can make money with this and became copycats, but at least there is an interest in perfumery again.
Is it also because they find that people want to be individual?
We see this in fashion as well. People want to be themselves…to have bigger, more precise expressions of themselves, for sure. Also, you have markets in China who are truly interested in how things are made and markets in Japan who are interested in craft. There is an interest in artistry, and people understand that a chef can be somehow an artist. So, there is this curiosity, this appetite for individuality, this appetite for knowledge. All of this leads to this more considered perfume, a more artistic perfume.
How important are ingredients?
Ingredients are instruments we use to solve a puzzle. They are not the kings. The perfume is the important thing, but then the best perfumers have the best ingredients because it’s like sports people, they have the best materials. Some ingredients are actually quite extraordinary and they have amazing pedigree, but it’s a little bit like art. I don’t care about the pedigree of an artist. What I care about is the art that it produces. I don’t care so much about where the ingredients come from, whether it’s cultivated on the side of the Himalayas or by my next-door neighbour, as long as it smells good and right for that perfume.
IFF New York – shelf ingredients for perfume making
image. Courtesy of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle
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interview. Raoul Keil
words. Raegan Rubin
