Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel. Photograph by Sofia Etmauro

Christine Nagel is one of the most admired perfumers in the world, and has worked as the “nose” of Hermès since 2016. Most recently, she created H24, the brand’s first scent for men in fifteen years. Here, she discusses her approach to creating fragrances and how the industry has changed over the course of her career

LUX: What was the catalyst for your decision to become a perfumer?
Christine Nagel: I am a Swiss national with an Italian mother, I grew up a long way from Grasse and the world of perfumery. My encounter with perfume came through my studies in organic chemistry and my first professional experience. Alberto Morillas, whom I saw from my office window, was instrumental in my decision. He asked two young women to smell his trial fragrances. I saw their smiles, I felt their emotions, I perceived their pleasures. At that precise moment, I knew. I was sure that this job, that allows you to give so much, was for me. So, it was through the infinitely small that I discovered the richness of perfumery. Then, I couldn’t rest until I had become a perfumer, constantly learning, experimenting and perfecting my knowledge. And some wonderful encounters have marked my life. I wasn’t afraid to take risks and luckily, they turned out well for me.

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LUX: What is your favourite scent?
Christine Nagel: The one I’m working on, that is to say the next one. Seriously, though, my favourites fluctuate, and I have no preconceptions about any material or any scent. All raw materials interest me. I like to transform things, I like to make green notes warm, woods liquid, and flowers hostile. But if I really had to choose one, it would be patchouli.

LUX: Do you have a set strategy when creating a new perfume?
Christine Nagel: Once again, there is no marketing intervention before creation. It supports creation, it doesn’t dictate it. What is remarkable about Hermès is the constant faith placed in creation and the creator. If I was chosen by the house, it was for this signature. This recognition is a source of delight every day because I am living my dream of creating fragrances that uphold and embody all the values of this house. My only aim is therefore to create exceptional fragrances.

Hermès’ new fragrance H24. Photograph by Quentin Bertoux

LUX: Should people have different perfumes for separate occasions?
Christine Nagel: A fragrance touches or speaks to us through how it resonates with our emotions, memories and desires. It can make us feel seductive or protected in turn. Everyone can find what they need for a particular time of day or year, or in a personal or professional context.

LUX: Are there advantages to having one gender create scents for the other?
Christine Nagel: No, from my point of view it is not a question of gender but a question of style, a question of signature and sensitivity. I don’t believe that people choose a fragrance on the basis of the perfumer’s sex anymore. That era is over. Women are behind some great creations, whether for famous names or niche brands.

Read more: Celebrating women in wine with VIVANT

LUX: Why has it been so long since Hermès created a male perfume?
Christine Nagel: There have been interpretations of Terre d’Hermès, but it is true that there have been no new creations from scratch. The success stories that have become classics have shaped the history of Hermès for men: Equipage in 1970, Bel ami in 1986, and Terre d’Hermès 15 years ago. They were all bold, and decisively different at the times they were created. They all represented the house’s values, with perfumery that made a statement, a free and committed type of perfumery that was deeply anchored in heritage to better innovate in the present. It was time. H24 is a fragrance for a new audience, in keeping with a desire for innovation and with the tradition of great French perfumery promoted by the house.

Christine Nagel in her atelier in 2017.  Photograph by Quentin Bertoux

LUX: During the past 30 years has there been a noticeable change in desire for perfume generally, or the type of scent demanded?
Christine Nagel: Since my early days in this wonderful profession, perfumery has changed, and I’m very glad it has. It has changed and adapted to every era. The changes are as much sociological and economic as they are artistic and technical. Economic because mass-market perfumery has emerged, sociological because it has adapted to everyone’s tastes, artistic because the perfumers who create the fragrances are named and showcased. And finally, technological because new methods for extracting materials, new molecules and tools for understanding and analysing materials have also shaken up the way fragrance is designed. As for predicting the future, I don’t want to do that because talking about trends is already talking about the past. But if I had a dream it would be to ban consumer tests and panels that have standardised and confined the world of fragrance.

Read more: Olivier Krug on champagne and music

LUX: Do you prefer combining scents or creating completely new ones? Creating a fragrance that belongs to an existing family or starting from scratch as for H24?
Christine Nagel: It’s not the same exercise and both are exciting. It is perhaps a little more difficult to create a fragrance within an existing family because it involves respecting its spirit, structure and imaginary world while adding your own signature.

Working on an icon, like I did with Terre d’Hermès and Eau des Merveilles, is daunting but also extremely stimulating. I move onto creation after a phase of observation where I examine the formula in depth. I want to understand its workings, decode its mysteries, and then, I immerse myself in creation without fear, which allows me to go quite far. And to be clear, each one is a genuine creation.

H24 100ml bottle by Hermès

LUX: What do you think a choice of perfume says about a person?
Christine Nagel: Fragrance says a lot, as does how it is worn. As I said before, perfume can be protective, acting like armour, a protective bubble to avoid others or, on the contrary, it can be a projector, seeking to seduce, to be seen, to show oneself. But it is nothing without the person who wears it. It only exists and speaks to the senses in the way it is used, whether that is abundant or discreet. However it is used, it makes it possible to be.

LUX: What is the most surprising thing you have noticed during your journey as a perfumer?
Christine Nagel: The incredible emotion that a fragrance can trigger. Scent is an endless source of emotions and stories, because each individual scent opens up a new narrative in an imaginary world.

LUX: Do you think in this day and age it’s appropriate to differentiate perfumes by gender?
Christine Nagel: No, I don’t. For me, fragrances are works of art, and as such are not created specifically for women or for men, but for humanity. The fragrance exists in itself, not in relation to its destination. In Eastern and Indian cultures, rose or patchouli can be worn by men. So it’s not the scent that makes the gender, because a scent becomes masculine on a man’s skin and feminine on a woman’s skin. We just have to know how to dare, be bold, trust ourselves and try things out.

LUX: Do you think the best perfumers are born with a creative olfactory sense or is it something you can learn?
Christine Nagel: That’s not an easy question to answer, but it seems to me that you need a certain sensitivity, a curiosity about the world and an open-mindedness that allows you to capture its richness, not forgetting a certain amount of generosity and the desire to share. You also have to be a hard worker because this job also requires great discipline and a lot of work. Finally, and this is as difficult to explain as it is essential, you need an extra measure of soul, a special something.

Discover Hermès’ collections: hermes.com

Model Will Chalker and his family star in the campaign for Acqua Di Parma’s newest fragrance, Colonia Pura

As famous for its striking yellow Art Deco packaging as its ‘colonias’, Acqua di Parma has developed over the years into a lifestyle brand that embodies the romance and artistry of Italian culture. Now under the leadership of new CEO & President, Laura Burdese the LVMH-owned brand is moving in new directions. Following the launch of Colonia Pura, the brand’s latest fragrance, LUX’s Digital Editor Millie Walton speaks to Burdese about the beauty of the Italian lifestyle, working with artisans and the future of luxury.

Acqua di Parma CEO & President Laura Burdese

LUX: All of Acqua di Parma’s products are handmade. How do you maintain a high-level of craftsmanship in the fast paced, technologically driven world?
Laura Burdese: I must admit that matching hand-crafted processes with an always faster time to market, while delivering outstanding products, is not easy at all, but this is our mission. We have some very clear convictions as a brand. We love things made slowly and by hand, so they develop a soul and we cherish the imperfect as the only true form of perfection. We admire the handcrafted, the slightly irregular, the almost perfect. As you may notice, labels on our products are not perfectly applied sometimes, this is because they are applied by hand. So are our iconic rounded hatboxes.

With this in mind, the high-level of craftsmanship resides in the ability to work closely with our artisans since the very inception of a product, controlling each phase of the process and not only the final outcome. I believe this is a very productive and stimulating way to manage the creative process, which let the essence of our products shine through.

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LUX: How does the city of Parma – the birthplace of the brand – continue to inform the company?
Laura Burdese: If you just have a walk in this beautiful Italian city, you can easily recognise that our iconic shade of sunny yellow resonates with the yellow façades of Parma’s historical buildings.

Elegance, beauty, harmony, mastery of craftsmanship: this is what you perceive in Parma and what the brand first experienced in this city, making its own from the very beginning in 1916. More than that, today Parma is a vibrant, lively Italian city, still a source of inspiration for us because here you can truly “smell” the warmth of the most authentic Italian way of life. And I believe that it’s the same spirit you can smell in all our fragrances.

Read next: Czech designer Jiri Kalfar’s bumble-bee collection at London Fashion Week

LUX: How do you see the luxury market developing over the next ten years?
Laura Burdese: It’s a very difficult question. Things are changing so fast nowadays that it’s already difficult to foresee what could happen in 1 or 2 years’ time, nothing is written in stone and 10 years is an eternity. However, I do believe that the luxury market will continue to grow, even if probably at a slower pace, therefore strategy will become paramount. Emerging battlegrounds will be e-business and data management, with the necessity to drive-up investments into luxury, bespoke and taylor made experiences and “lifestyle branding“.

LUX: Acqua di Parma supports many art forms and is culture partner of venues such as the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. How do visual arts influence the brand?
Laura Burdese: Acqua di Parma has always supported the best of artistic creativity in all its expressions with publications, partnerships and events. As you properly mention, one particularly prestigious activity is our collaboration with Guggenheim Intrapresæ, a group of companies dedicated to sustaining the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

We understand the importance of our cultural heritage and we keep considering it as a major source of inspiration in all our creations. In this respect, the values that Acqua di Parma espouses are perfectly reflected in Italian visual arts: the same adventurous spirit and the courage to set aside what is good in order to achieve the best. But also the ability to create styles that resonate with people, that communicate something new, something truthful, allowing the essence of things to shine through.

LUX: Your leather and home collections also promote hand-crafted products. Is it difficult to find traditional artisans nowadays?
Laura Burdese: Honestly, it’s pretty difficult. Making a creative process, such as the artisanal one, also effective and efficient is not simple, but this is how we work. This ambitious objective is possible only if you, as a brand, co-operate closely with your craftsman, motivating them, stimulating them and making them proud to work for you. And I believe this is what give our products such a shining soul.

Acqua di Parma’s latest fragrance, Colonia Pura

LUX: Do you have a favourite fragrance?
Laura Burdese: While I wear different Colonias, depending on the season, I prefer to wear Blu Mediterraneo Fico di Amalfi in summer. Usually I gravitate towards scents that are unisex or more masculine. Lately, I’m in love with Colonia Pura, our new fragrance, a light, modern interpretation of the iconic Acqua di Parma Colonia. True to Colonia, Pura opens with the brand’s signature citrus top notes of crisp bergamot, orange and petit grain. A heart of narcissus, jasmine and coriander, and base of cedar wood and patchouli give Colonia Pura a youthful energy.

Read next: Ruinart’s decadent art hub at Rosewood London

LUX: What’s next for Acqua di Parma?
Laura Burdese: We have always represented the most refined elements of the Italian way of life, but in an understated, discreet way. We are now leading the brand to the next level and keep developing this beautiful Italian story into a global success. Our new fragrance, Colonia Pura, opens a new chapter in the history of Acqua di Parma. Undeniably, Colonia Pura advertising campaign makes a turning point in the way we’ve always communicated. For the first time in our history, we presented an advertising campaign which features a man and his family.

We chose Will Chalker because we believe he embodies the spirit of the brand and conveys a strong yet modern and open masculinity. We were quite fortunate that Will’s family is in the campaign – his wife and young son add a lovely spirit of authenticity and warmth. The campaign images depict Will as a sincere and affectionate father and husband, values that are important in the Italian culture and resonate with the Acqua di Parma client.

As for the next launches, I cannot really reveal our new creations at the moment, but I can assure you they will express the Acqua di Parma personal signature and perfectly embody our brand equity. They will be scents of Italy and scents of life. The ultimate in sophistication: light and simple. Stay tuned.

LUX: How do you relax?
Laura Burdese: I do relax spending time with my kids and my husband. I know it might sound weird, but honestly I have a hectic life and quality time with them is just a gift. We do a lot of sport together, watch movies, talk, share experiences. It’s just about little things that make me feel complete and relaxed!

LUX: What’s the secret to Acqua di Parma’s success?
Laura Burdese: Acqua di Parma is so successful because it is much more than “just” a fragrance brand, it’s a way of life in its most sophisticated form. Our secret has always been moving forward into the future while keeping our DNA intact. We are very proud of our heritage, history and values but we never forget to keep an eye to the future and new generations. Our most important skill and what distinguishes us is the ability to bring style – specifically Italian style – into life.

acquadiparma.com

Rami Mekdachi has worked as a perfumer for over twenty years, collaborating with some of the world’s best known brands, such as L’Oréal, Colette, Lacoste and Chloé. And now, he’s created his own high-concept brand, Lola James Harper, bringing together his passion for music, film, design and fragrance with his friends and family. Millie Walton speaks to the Frenchman about curing perfectionism, capturing memories and bringing creativity to the hospitality industry.

Rami Mekdachi

LUX: When did you decide to master perfumery?
Rami Mekdachi: I never decided really. Encounters and opportunities make things happen in our lives. In 1996 I met Catherine Raiser, Head of CCB/L’Oréal. We decided to work together and I joined as a Perfume Developer. That same year, I met Pierre Bourdon and Benoist Lapouza, two amazing perfumers, and now two friends. That’s when I realised how grand the perfume world is. How playing with scents, images, poetry, myth and design can be powerful and generous. How wide and touching it can be…

LUX: Do you have a favourite scent?
RM: I have so many!

LUX: Have you ever struggled to capture a certain smell?
RM: Anything I do, I do it for the term. I do not struggle, I just take my time. I have 100 projects going on at the same time. I am way too much of a perfectionist and when I was 20 years old, I spent too much time on little things, struggling to get what I wanted and trying to get it as fast as possible. Now I have found the cure: 100 projects at a time, no time to lose, when it comes, it comes, when it does not come I change the project. My days are super diverse, every two hours I change fields and projects. That is my cure to perfectionism.

Read next: Marsden Hartley’s Maine at The Met Breuer 

LUX: You’ve had a very successful career as a perfumer, what led you to create Lola James Harper?
RM: For twenty five years, I have been playing music with great singers around the world and I would take pictures for music and travel magazines. Music and photography were in my blood even before perfume. My work as a perfumer was inspired by those experiences. I was lucky enough to have the chance to work with great people and big brands: Colette, Ines de le Fressange, Costes, Lacoste, Chloé, Roger Vivier, Dinh Van. Lola James Harper was a way to gather all the people I love and the three fields I enjoy: music, photography and perfumery.

LUX: Is there a central concept that ties all of your products together?
RM: Good and touching memories of places and people we love, generous and elevating mind sets.

LUX: The names of your candles suggest that their scent evokes a particular memory for their creator. Is it important that the customer realises the story behind the scent or is it more for the purpose of your inspiration?
RM: The point of it all is to share a life and moments that could be touching and evocative for everyone, to transport and make everyone dream. We are all dreaming machines. With Lola James Harper pictures, movies, music and fragrances I want to give to everyone the opportunity to feel free to dream and to do it.

Lola James Harper scented candle

LUX: How does your experience in perfumery inform your other creative pursuits? Music and film, for example?
RM: In music, film and perfumery, I have to compose ingredients together to create a new evocative world. In music I mix sounds, in perfume I mix fragrance notes, in film I mix pictures, motion pictures and sounds. Music helped me to get into the perfume field much faster in 1996, then working with amazing perfumers helped me to enhance my comprehension of a sound mix. Trying to imagine what a fragrance note evokes to people, what colour, what mind set, just opened my consciousness to what immaterial things provoke in our apprehension of the world and gave me so many clues about how to edit pictures, sounds and colours in a film. Life is a huge place to learn and now I know that when I am looking for any answer it always lies somewhere else.

Read next: Fraser sets the standard for ethical and adventurous yachting 

LUX: What’s the most difficult part of your job?
Rami Mekdachi: The logistic and legal part of it! Legislation shifts so often in the perfume world that we have to change our fragrance composition and stickers every year.

LUX: Where do you go to escape?
RM: The basket-ball court with my son. Movie theatres with my daughter. Walking the town, any town, with my wife, son and daughter. Road tripping the world, renting a car with my family and cruising for days. And when I want to be alone, I like to go to any good coffee shop with good music and tasteful coffee where I know no one.

Lola James Harper Shop in Le Bon Marché department store, Paris

LUX: What lies ahead for Lola James Harper?
RM: Lola James Harper is a magical project. It gathers my family and all my friends and my encounters for over two decades. It brings together my three fields, music, photo and perfumery. I love to see people passing by our places and just feeling happy looking at our pictures, listening to our music and testing our fragrance memories. I am really proud to have achieved all that in one successful project.

Now we are working on opening full Lola James Harper destinations, hotels! Hotels with basketball courts, music studios, TV basements, vinyl shops, coffee shops, full of travel and music pictures, full of good fragrances and our way of life. This should happen in 2018. And just for now, we are finalising our first movie, 85 minutes about the last two decades, globe-trotting the world, discovering music, pictures, friendship and family.

lolajamesharper.com