Having spent his childhood in Morocco and worked as a chef at his own restaurant at the age of 22, spices and scents have always inspired perfume creator Gerald Ghislain. Being a globe-trotter as well, travel constitutes an important source of inspiration for him.

Azyaamode interviewed Ghislain to find out more about his early beginnings, his career in perfumery and his latest release, "This Is Not A Blue Bottle”.

 

You spent your childhood in Morocco. How did this affect your interest for scents?

Growing up in a Mediterranean atmosphere gave me a taste for herbs and spices. I also observed a lot of the women around me, the importance they attached to essential oils and their particular Mediterranean beauty rituals. So I grew up surrounded by scents of lavender, amber, thyme, laurel and spices.

But what I remember the most is the time spent in Morocco. It was all about the smell of the pastry Mouna. Actually, it is a brioche which recipe comes from North Africa. My mother used to prepare them at home but we would bake it at the public baker’s. I remember very well the smell of freshly baked buns, lemon fragrance, orange flowers and aniseed. For me it is my "Madeleine de Proust".

How did you start your career in perfumery?

During a trip, I went to the Grasse museum of perfumery. Grasse is a village in the South of France where the French art of perfumery was born. This entire little city is tincture with perfumes and smells. At that time, I understood that perfumes were a perfect way for me to translate my emotions, my imagination and my dreams. Perfumes give me the opportunity to tell my stories on people’s skins.

Before becoming a perfumer, you became the owner of a restaurant in Paris at the age of 22. How does culinary art relate to creating scents?

The switch was natural enough… In both cases, we’re taking control of nature. With cooking, for example, we are using our sense of taste as well as our sense of smell. But the similarities between owner of a restaurant and creating perfumes are not only about mixed natural elements. In both cases, you have to tell a story and to do so, you have to create all the elements. A restaurant is not only about cooking either; it’s also about creating the menus, the decoration and finding ideas to make people want to come in, and come back. In perfumery, you have to create the design of the bottle, the story of the perfume, the packaging, etc.

How do you get inspired when creating a scent?

The creation of a perfume is very technical but since I am not a technical person, I only use my instinct when I create. For me inspiration is nothing intellectual, it is a sensation, a feeling. Of course my work is influenced by everything I learned; my experience, my travel and therefore by my intellect. But when I create I do not think, it all fits together at once, without a plan and often without logic! That’s why the realization of the idea is much more difficult, yet very interesting.

Is there a signature element that sets your perfumes apart from others?

I don't know if we can say that there is a real signature in my creations, I think it's more of a style. As I said previously, when I create a perfume, it's a very instinctive thing because I want to tell a specific story. I don't do it by thinking about what people expect, I don't create a perfume to appeal to the entire world, I create to express myself without concession, to tell a story and if what I create pleases people, that will be the real success.

But a friend once made me realize that in nearly all my perfumes, there is a "gourmand note” that probably comes from my past as a chef and it can be considered as a kind of signature. That shows you how the creation is a very unconscious thing for me.

Can you tell us about your newest release, “This Is Not A Blue Bottle”, which is exclusively available at Sephora stores?

With "This Is Not A Blue Bottle”, the creative process has been totally different from all my other fragrances. I think that now you can understand that I create a fragrance to tell story. But today, with the new tools of communication, especially the social media, you can not only speak, you have to listen too. So I said to myself, "Ok it's been more than fifteen years now that I tell people a story through my fragrances, now it's time for people to tell me and for me to listen."

You know when you tell a story, you have some rules to respect; you must have an intrigue, a place, a trigger factor etc… But with "This Is Not A Blue Bottle" I was totally free, so I simply selected and put together the raw materials that I like. It was like mixing words to create a new language, but this new language is not for me, it's for everybody and I'm very excited to hear what stories they have to tell.

What are your future plans for “Histoires de Parfums”?

I am already working on a new version of "This Is Not A Blue Bottle". I want this new fragrance to be the opposite of the original one, like Ying and Yang.

Is it your first visit to the Middle East? What did you like the most about this region?

I come very often to Dubai. I love the contrast between the modernity of the city and the Emiratis’ respect for their culture. I live in Paris, the French history and culture are engraved in the monuments. In Dubai, as all the buildings are new, the culture is engraved in the heart of the people, and for someone like me, who is inspired by travel and encounter, this city is an absolute inspiration. Of course the Middle East is not only Dubai, and I have already visited a lot of other cities, I still have a lot more places to visit and as I love the region, I can tell you that I will be back, again and again.

 

Mirella Haddad