Julien Rasquinet of IFF

I am 35 years old and grew up in Paris, but spent every weekend in the countryside, in Normandy. Although I now live between Dubai and Paris, I am a countryman, and escape anything that looks like a city as soon as I can. When I think of my childhood, what comes to my mind is the smell of Normandy. So many scent memories…the fresh cut grass, the rose garden, the Butterfly bushes, the smell of rotten apples on the ground in October, the wet soil in the forest in autumn, and the chimney fire in winter, the smell of my horse, and of the room where I hung her saddle, the smell of mint nearby the river, and the smell of earth as I tended my vegetable garden  when I was 11 years old.

Clinique Aromatics Elixir was created by Bernard Chant  also of IFF in 1971

The first perfume I remember really loving was the one my mother was wearing, of course. I was fortunate as she has very good taste and her signature scent was "Aromatics Elixir”! One of the greatest marvels of perfumery! I cannot say I always intended to become a perfumer. The sure thing is that when I was a teenager, I fell in love with Fahrenheit, Kenzo pour Homme, and  CHANEL Egoiste Platinum and with those fragrances, perfume took a very important place in my life.I didn't know that the job of a perfumer even existed and didn't realize the complexity and beauty of it. I only realized what it entailed when I joined IFF for a marketing internship in 2003, and became fascinated with the work of perfumers such as Dominique Ropion, Olivier Polge, and all the "hall of fame" now in Neuilly.

Master Perfumer Pierre Bourdon holding Julien Rasquinet's son 

 I owe my career and much more to one man, the great Pierre Bourdon. There is a funny story about how we  began our relationship.  Pierre and my father met in an airport, they had already met before at some dinners, but my dad had no idea what kind of a humongous star Pierre was. So after they met at the airport, my father gave me his contact card telling me "I met this guy, he does something in perfumes, and maybe it's interesting for you". When I saw the name on the card, I jumped to the ceiling, and after I had stopped bouncing off the walls, I called him. We had lots of meetings, phone calls, discussions, dinners, during which I never had the courage to ask him all I wanted to know. I was too shy and believed I didn't have the necessary background, as I graduated from a business school, not from ISIPCA. But it finally came from him; he told me before his retirement he wanted to train two young perfumers. He had already chose Julie Masse, and then chose me too. I was so surprised and shocked I was unable to answer, and don't even remember the end of our discussion. I think I replied with the most stupid sentence: "I will think about it"! I didn't sleep a single minute and called 50 times the next day between 9h00 and 10h00 until someone picked up the phone; I told him it was a dream come true and  for the rest of my life I would be loyal and grateful to him.

Julien Rasquinet Labo at NOTE DE COUER

When Pierre retired, I created my own company, NOTE DE COEUR, with which I had a success that even surprised me, again with the great help of Pierre. I had been working with international customers, from the German shopping TVs, to mass market, and niche brands. I was also working part-time as the "ghostwriter" of one of the oldest and renowned niche houses.

Dubai Offices of IFF photo IFF

 Since 2014, I joined IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances) one of the leading perfume creations companies, in the Dubai creative center, I wanted an experience in the Middle East, as it is for me a great idea laboratory, a place of intuition, of excess, and it gives the rare opportunity to talk directly to the owners of beautiful perfume brands. It is also something I used to appreciate a lot in the European niche. It is key today for a perfumer to understand this booming market, in terms of business, as it’s a source of inspiration for the rest of the world, and also in terms of a perfumery with strong identity. I am not so worried about IFRA for new creations, as I believe we have enough creative resources and expertise in developing new molecules innovation to create new olfactive forms.

Renaud Coutaudier and Naomi Goodsir (photo Julien)

My clients are also my friends. I have a very special relationship with the milliner and designer Naomi Goodsir and her partner Renaud Coutaudier, as they trusted me at the very beginning of their amazing scent adventure, when no one had even heard of me. Now their brand has garnered success with the perfume connoisseurs. I hope we will continue the work we've started with "Bois d'ascese", "Cuir Velours" and this year’s "Iris Cendre".

Gerald Ghislain of Histoires de Parfums

Another great collaboration is with  Gerald Ghislain of Histoires des Parfums, who also became a friend. I often see him in Dubai, and respect his talent, in fact I am sometimes frightened by the 20 ideas he can have in a minute. He can be hyperactive, which I am not,  but we find a way! Recently we created "Fidelis" and "This is not a blue bottle". Again, I believe we have many more fragrances to create together in the future!

Riccardo Tedeschi and Alessandro Brun of Masque Milano

Then, I also love working with my Middle-East customers, who are not necessarily well known in Europe and US, who have a great intuition, expertise, talent, sensitivity as much as a great sense of humor, warmth and generosity. I must say I feel extremely comfortable in this culture I really didn't know before. I enjoyed my collaboration with Laurent Laclos, working with the great independent Japanese Fashion Designer IRIE with who we created "I.D. est" "Post Scriptum" and "Nota Bene", who has been a great and respectful person.  I enjoyed working with Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi, of Masque, for whom I signed "Russian Tea".

Langue de bois by Irina Rasquinet

But my inspiration comes mostly from my personal life, which I share with my wife, the Russian artist Irina Rasquinet. With each encounter, each sentence, each moment of the day there is a purpose of creation. And I am surrounded at home with her masterpieces which give me amazing energy.

Coty Chypre

You ask which fragrances I wished I had created. A way to estimate and value a masterpiece is by how influential it has been in relation to other creations at the time. The biggest influencers of all time were, of course done by Francois Coty. "Chypre" and "L'Origan" have set modern olfactive families like never before. Another perfume I wish I had created is "Cool Water" by Pierre Bourdon for Davidoff. It was also a trendsetting fragrance, with an overdose of Dihydro myrcenol. It was the first fragrance to have such an amazing fresh strength, which later inspired hundreds of others.

Perfume Ingredients collage by Pierre Benard

Since you've asked me which my favorite raw materials, Michelyn,  I keep thinking about this question! I know it sounds like a simple question! I like perfumery that has a certain richness and texture, and I believe this is doable with most of the olfactive families. I first wanted to answer: cistus-labdanum, patchouli Heart N*3 LMR, Turkish rose oil LMR and leather, but I also love green notes, gourmand or fruity, as long as they are evocative. Some people say I have a hand with for spices, some others say for incense and smoke. But for me, the only thing that matters when I am writing my formula, is that the raw material is relevant to the story of the fragrance. I have chosen each raw material like choosing the right word to tell a story. It only depends on the message and the brief. I don't want to keep telling the same story!

There are three things I would give as advice to young perfumers: patience, rigor, and hard work.

Julien in Dubai (photo Irina Rasquinet)

Patience first, because it takes years before you are able to bring into reality the ideas you might have had in the beginning of your career, when you still don't have the technique, the experience, and the needed determination to take risks. It takes a good 10 years for a perfumer to be really able to master his art. The first three years of your apprenticeship will probably be the most questioning and difficult time of your life. Learning, exploring and remembering 1500 raw materials and trying to use them to imitate fragrances that shaped the perfume history is certainly comparable to the complexity of learning solfege in music and playing your first accords. But it is also such a joy, such an achievement when you complete your first nose matches and your first accords!

Rigor, then. If you don't have the moral exigency to do things with perfection, if you can bear approximations and you are not passionate enough to question every raw material you used in a formula as well as their proportions, then do not follow this path!

Hard work is close to the previous idea, but I believe very few perfumers are lazy. I believe, that for most of us, talent is nothing without hard work. We are like writers, I would never want to see one of my "draft copies" on the market. We need to cross out or reduce raw materials, to sleep on an idea and come back to it the next day, to rewrite and sometimes discard,  to question each raw material like each word would be questioned and finally to make sure it  is the best expression of the olfactive story.

Julien Rasquinet, Perfumer at IFF

Complete Listing of Julien’s Fragrances: K n°2 Korloff  (2008), Plaisir de Frederic Frederic Haldimann (2010) Flowers of the Valleyé Judith Williams (2010) Glamorous Jasmine Judith Williams (2010),Vibrant Patchouly Judith Williams (2010), Majestic Lily Judith Williams (2010), Oriental Mandarin Judith Williams (2010), Spirit of Sparkling Miracle Spirit (2010),  Silk Andrea Maack (2011), Weekend Inès de la Fressange (2011)

 

 Arabian Oud Judith Williams (2013), Poésie de Frederic  Frederic Haldimann (2013), Flower Princess Love More (2013), Narcotic Magnolia Judith Williams (2013), Spirit of Sweet Glamour Spirit (2013),Strawberry Champagne Judith Williams (2013), Flower of Eden Essential Garden (2013) Luxury Diamond Judith Williams (2013) Bois d'Ascèse Naomi Goodsir (2012) Caressing Cardamom Judith Williams (2012)

Russian Tea Masque Fragranze Milano (2014) Post Scriptum Irie (2014) Nota Bene Irie (2014), Id Est Irie (2014),This Is Not a Blue Bottle Histoires de Parfums (2015), I, II, III Maxim’s Pierre Cardin (2015), Fidelis Histoires de Parfums (2015) Jette Red  Jette Joop (2015), 4, 5, 6 – Real Madrid Collection Real Madrid (2015) Mémoires – Carnet de Voyage L’Arc (2015) Iris Cendre Naomi Goodsir (2015)

Note from Naomi Goodsir and Renaud Coutaudier:”It is quite amazing how Iris Cendré, which was finalized beginning of 2013 and launched in September 2015, found such an audience. I mean, nothing was planned, excepted to find a way, along with Julien to express a beautiful raw material "in our own way”. We feel blessed & proud!"

Iris Cendre was a top 25 perfume and top 5 perfume for CaFleureBon in 2015 Best of Scent. I first became aware of Julien through hearing he created Silk for Andea Maack. But it was his work for Naomi Goodsir that made me ask "who is this perfumer",  beginning with “Cuir Velours". Last year Russian Tea for Masque was another top five award winner and Fidelis is off to a great start in 2016.

Photo:Naomi GoodSir Parfums

Thanks to the amazing  generosity of Naomi Goodsir Parfums we have a WORLDWIDE draw  (their first, so many thanks) for a registered reader  (you must register to be eligible) of your choice of Bois d'Ascèse Cuir Velours or Iris Cendre  be eligible please leave a comment about what you found fascinating about Julien Rasquinet (a quote perhaps or something you learned), your favourite perfume from his body of work, where you live and which of the Naomi Goodsir perfumes you hope to win.  Draw closes 1/23/2015

We announce the winners only on site and our Facebook page, so like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will just be spilled perfume.