Discussing Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Iconicity with CEO, Marc Chaya

Balancing an airy romance, with a more mature gravitas Oud Satin Mood’s olfactory notes include violet accord, geranium, Bulgarian rose oil, cinnamon from Ceylon, Turkish rose absolute, Siamese benzoin, vanilla, and of course, oud from Laos.

The sillage will stay with you all day, imbuing a sense of luxury, sensuality, and mystery to make even the mundane feel mystical. In the traditional French composition, its major and minor notes strike the perfect balance for a melody that is soft, yet strong; daring, yet comforting.

Below, office sits down for an exclusive interview with the CEO of  Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Marc Chaya to discuss the legacy of the perfume brand.

When did you begin working in the perfume world?

I met Francis Kurkdjian as a friend, at a dinner party. And I learned that he was a perfumer. And at the time, I had no idea what a perfumer was, how the industry worked, et cetera. And we became very close friends. And with time, I started simply feeling that it was totally unjustified or — maybe to be stronger — unfair that an extraordinarily creative mind could not exist on his own, like a fashion designer, or an architect, or a celebrity musician could exist on her or his own. And, Francis was the perfumer behind extraordinary perfumes that really left an impact on the industry. Perfumes such as Jean-Paul Gaultier's 'le male' or Narciso Rodriguez's 'for her.' Some of them, I already had in my collection, yet I did not know his name.

And eventually, we started first a great friendship. We traveled together, we brainstormed a lot and the more I got to know the persona, the more I was fascinated by his overall creative genius. His dream was to scent the fountains of Versailles. His dream was to take perfume outside of the bottle into a wider artistic expression. I started really working with him on making his vision come true and making his vision come true in a sustainable fashion, artistically, strategically, but also from a business standpoint. Many years after we met and many years after we started collaborating, the idea became a certainty. The floating idea that carries the name and the vision of a celebrity perfumer could exist started moving from theory to reality. We had a very unique cornerstone in this industry— to be creative-driven, as opposed to marketing-driven. Our aim since day one, when we entered the industry and we decided to create our Maison, was to allow a genius perfumer to express his vision freely and to make sure that our marketing and the way we speak to our consumer is only the expression of the creative Idea. Marketing is at the surface of a creative idea. That's how it took me almost 10 years to move from being a consulting executive into a fragrance executive.

You're talking about this idea of taking the perfume out of the bottle, you're trying to sell something that will live outside of it. Do you remember the first project you tackled when attempting to transform this idea of perfume not just being a scent?

I remember it as if it was yesterday. We were very young. That was 17 years ago—almost 19 years ago. It was 2003. It all started one day, Francis came to me after we went to Japan, then we went to LA, and we ended up in New York, then Paris. And during that travel, we really got to know each other better. And he would relay to me his dream of scenting the fountains of Versailles. He thought it would be extraordinary to scent the fountains of Versailles, the Chateau of Versailles. Because in the past, when they threw parties, they used to scent the fountains because the ambient atmosphere was smelly. They were surrounded by a bad smell, and they would put fragrance inside the fountain to make the air more enjoyable. The scent would go into the water, from the water into the air, and they would, they were able to scent the gardens of their Versailles by putting perfume into the fountains. And his employer at the time was a fragrance lab.

And all that they could offer him was to do a collaboration with the food and beverage section. I would be like, "Oh my God, you are one of the greatest perfumers. Your ideas are extraordinary. They are uplifting. They are full of poetry. They are joyful, they are spectacular. And I would really want you to scent the fountains of Versailles, versus just collaborating on scenting the wine section of a supermarket." Even though it's a luxury supermarket, it's still the supermarket, and "You deserve more than that." And so, that's how the idea came into reality. Francis and our PR person at the time that was helping us went to see the CEO of the Chateau of Versailles, and the lady eventually became the minister of culture in France. And she said, "let's do it."`

The whole idea was to show that the expression of fragrance can go beyond structuring or creating scents to be layered on our skin, and could be a vector for creativity, for an art installation. It is a sense, you know, smelling is the sense that has been underused by humanity. We only use it to recognize food. We use it to recognize a good smell, but no one really taught us how to smell. And we never associated smell to something that is artistic, the way we associate color, music, structures, culture, and shapes.

You talked about this idea of creating poetry with your scents. What words do you think the brand whispers to its customers?

I would say poetry, joy, our number one is joy. We really want to awaken the childhood that sleeps inside every one of us. The joy, the uplifting, the exaltation — you can say that. The smile, anything that could make you smile, anything that we would make you feel happy. These are feelings that are very precious to our mission. We believe also in simple pleasures. You know, we believe that life can be full of great joys and simple pleasures. And that sometimes, you know, more can be less. For example, it's better to eat great pasta with fresh water than to eat bad pasta with hot champagne.

We want to bring joy to our friends, to our customers, and to our community, by offering them the freedom to live the way they want to wear their perfume, the way they want to experience their perfume. So, yeah, joy, childhood, all of these words resonate very strongly. But also another keyword is maybe Paris because Paris is our inspiration and not the cliche Paris. 

Your brand has become nothing short of iconic. What do you believe sets you apart from other perfume houses?

Something very fundamental and very true. It is the fact that we are eponymous of a living perfumer, one of the greatest living perfumers of our time. And the fact that we have built this house to capture and relay his talent. To capture his ideas, to capture his creativity, to make them happen, and to give them to our customers. We are a creative-led house, a bit like a fashion house that has a celebrity fashion designer. We are a fragrance with a celebrity fragrance designer, one of the greatest on earth and everything we do comes from a genuine creative message. As opposed to yet another marketing concept.

Can you talk about the process between you and Francis and your team and what it's like when you want to introduce a new scent for the season? How are you using your nose intelligently to kind of dictate the new season smell?

It's interesting, unlike fashion, we work years in advance. For example, the scent that we will release next year in June was finalized this year in January. So almost 18 months before it reaches the market, it has been finalized. It all starts with an idea, a conversation between Francis and I, an idea that he brings to me, an inspiration saying, "I feel that this could be beautiful. I have this inspiration in mind." The name acts as an inhibitor as a starting point. He always makes the name. And our first conversation is about the concept, the creative concept, the name, the idea, the emotion that the scent is going to relay. And once we are both aligned on that, we take it to our team for their complementary ideas and approval, and then Francis starts working. And the creative process can take up to a year, from start to finish in terms of formulation and terms of creating the scent.

And one day he would come to me with a little vial, different ones, for me to start evaluating the scent. And I've been working with him now for many years, and we've started this Maison 13 years ago. I've always refused to use ingredients' names, and I only use colors and emotions to give him my feedback. I can say it is not bright enough or it's itchy. Or I would use things that he only can understand, but help him fine-tune scents, and take it to the level that he wants. But what is unique about us, is that at the end of the day, he has the final say, which means that the scent that we go into the bottle is the scent that Francis is at ease with.

And we can sometimes decide to go against the team recommendation because we want to follow Francis' creativity and gut feeling. What is also unique is that we can decide and announce a launch, and then cancel the launch. For example, we can say to all of our network, that we are launching a new scent in the fall of 2022, and we can then go to them and say we're not ready. The reason being— creativity is not something that falls to you from the sky, and if you're not ready, then you're not giving your best. And if you're not giving your best, then you should not release the scent. And once we finalize the scent in parallel, we work on the packaging on the identity. And what's beautiful is that everything flows very easily and very coherently because everything is derived from the creative idea. The creative idea becomes a source of inspiration for the packaging, the colors that we want to choose for the visual campaign, for the video, for the words that we're going to use to describe the scent. And from there, we make it happen and then we roll it globally with the right marketing.

Some of your scents have gone viral through social media, on platforms like TikTok. Have you turned more into social media after this, to see what the general public is feeling about scents? Or wanting to smell?

Wanting to smell like— no. Again, we are not listening to trends. We try to live within our creativity within our principles and our emotions and in accordance with what vibrates into Francis's mind at a specific point in time. But we do look at social media. First of all, I love social media. I'll spend lots of time on Instagram and TikTok. These are my two main go-to's. And I remember at the beginning of COVID, I would go on TikTok and there were quite a few posts about Baccarat Rouge 540. And then one day there was an extraordinary post by a celebrity that went viral. And we started seeing that phenomenon, but it goes beyond social media. I can tell you the story of when I was testing Baccarat Rouge 540, which initially was supposed to be only available for 250 privileged customers.

It was a limited edition scent for the 250th anniversary of the Cristallerie House of Baccarat . It wasn't meant to exist. And when we created it, we created it as an artistic conversation with the house of Baccarat  for their 250th anniversary. I was wearing the scent and my Uber driver literally stopped the car, turned back to me, and said, "Sir, what is your perfume? It is just driving me crazy." And one day I was in New York at William Sonoma and the lady at the cash desk just stood up and said, "Hey guys, someone is smelling so incredibly delicious that I'm going to have to test every one of you to know what you're wearing." And that was Baccarat Rouge 540. And I think, it went viral on social media because it went viral in our society. People would stop you on the street and ask you what you are wearing because the smell is incredibly beautiful that you want to make it yours.

And so this is only the consequence of the genius of creativity or Francis, who is capable of coming up with this amazing fragrance.

I know you're not a perfumer, but you obviously you are around notes, fragrances, and ingredients all day. Can you describe what notes are your perfect day include?

Well, I would say it would depend on the day. I do live by the philosophy of the fragrance wardrobe that we foster and promote within Maison Francis Kurkdjian. It is the freedom to choose the shape that you want to have on you as a scent every day. Some days I want to be sporty and casual, and I can go to something very citrusy, very crisp, slightly Woody, musky, like our 'Aqua Universalis' or with a little bit of Gin tonic, Juniper berry, the top note is fresh, bright. Other days I feel more dressed up and I want to be more outspoken, more warm. And I would go for 'Grand Soir,' which is a very woody, a little bit of honey, you know, something very special, but very warm and dressed up. Other days, I just want to be totally rouge. And I go for my Baccarat Rouge 540, and when I wear it, I feel totally uplifted. I feel sexy.

I know you said you have usually some scents in preparation a year in advance. But, moving forward with the new year in 2022, how are you guys moving in terms of scent? What does 2022 smell like?

So in the new year, we are launching a new scent in September. It will be something that you would learn about, I would guess, not later than May -June. So in a few months, but before—since many years we moved away from this industry trend of "what's new?" Because what's new today becomes old tomorrow, and you become a machine of mass destruction, creative mass destruction. Because I believe that the scents that we have are extraordinary. They are creative pieces meant to transcend time, to resist trends, and are to be here in a hundred years. And so you need to give them time to prosper. You need to give them time to open, you need to give them time to exist. And the more you launch, the less you would allow to your existing portfolio.

We will give you a roll-on with a high concentration so that it's a new way to layer on your skin. We would give you maybe a hand cream, we would give you a body lotion, anything that would enhance your experience. And we would keep giving you ideas on how to wear it, where it came from, what inspired Francis when he created it so that you really know your fragrance better, and you stick to it more. And then every two, three years we will come with a big new launch. Our last big new launch was 'L'Homme À la rose' two years ago, which was inside the rose family. And the launch that we have this year is going to be our biggest launch in two and a half years.