Inside the World of Custom Fragrance Making & A Look at Their Elite Customers

Q OUT ON WASSER PHOTO

A woman flew from Australia to meet with Louis Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud in the South of France. A lover of fragrance, she wanted a made-to-measure perfume. But more than having it just for herself, the client hoped the scent would ultimately be passed down to her granddaughters, to stir up memories of her.

“It’s so powerful,” says Cavallier-Belletrud. “We designed something really exceptional.”

A small selection of perfumers are offering bespoke services to people from the world over. Just don’t ask who the clients are.

“Confidentiality is key,” says perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. 

Prices are also carefully guarded, but industry sources say they can start anywhere from 45,000 euros and go up to 100,000 euros-plus. Among major cost contributors are the olfactive ingredients used.

Yet still there are often waiting lists for those women and men wanting their own fragrance, since perfumers generally can only accommodate a handful of clients annually. The rarified process takes anywhere from several months to over a year to complete. 

Here, a look at what that goes on behind-the-scenes.

Guerlain

Guerlain has been in the bespoke fragrance trade for more than 170 years. In 1853, Eau de Cologne Impériale was created as a special order for the Empress Eugénie for her marriage to Napoleon III by Pierre François Pascal Guerlain, founder of the perfume house. In 1933, his grandson Jacques Guerlain developed Sous le Vent for Josephine Baker and six years later conceived Coque d’Or for Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes — to name a few of the made-to-measure creations.

How it works today is that Thierry Wasser, Guerlain’s master perfumer, first has a formal appointment with a client. That can take place in the boutique, laboratory or hotel.

“There, we talk,” he says. “It’s very human to be on your guard, and fragrance is about emotion.” 

With an iPad, the client peruses colors and textures. “I try to figure out the interest of the person,” says Wasser. “I have a little toolbox with accords, like ambery, chypre, floral.” Raw materials are contained in the toolbox, as well. 

“Very often, the first meeting has nothing to do with scents. You play it by ear,” he says. “You have to deal with every single individual. Some are shy.

“People like to be rational. Usually, they think too much,” continues Wasser. “A lot of people hide behind rationality.”

He works with fragrance evaluator Peggy Ploix, and in the next gathering they show the client three to four initial fragrance possibilities. Wasser prefers meetings to be in person, so he can read expressions.

“Strangely enough, it is a real human journey,” says Wasser. “It’s a very personal encounter, and we have to build up a sort of a relationship.”

At the start, people need to be clear what they do — and don’t — like.

“If they’re not engaged, they are not going to be able to enjoy the end result,” says Wasser. “It’s difficult, though, to engage people and try to talk about something they’re not used to, because fragrance is a language. A lot of people hear that language, but very few speak that language. I want to have a common ground and common vocabulary with the customer to be able to communicate efficiently.”

More back-and-forth ensues, and the whole process takes 18 months, including busy clients and time needed to clear regulatory requirements and testing, which are stringent for perfume.

“If you design a fragrance for one person or you do a fragrance with millions of bottles, the process is exactly the same,” says Wasser.

The Guerlain bespoke fragrance comes in a Moynat trunk, with a 1-liter golden bee-spangled bottle, six 100-ml. sprays and four 30-ml. travel sprays. Refills can be ordered, and formulas are owned for a lifetime — and beyond for family members.

“Everything’s possible,” says Wasser.

He recalls one client who wanted a rose fragrance. “The person said: ‘Can you make it a little more naughty?’” says Wasser. “You have to figure out what ‘naughty’ is for that person. Whether it’s animalic or fruity-sugary.”

Another had chosen two scents: one a bright chypre, the other ambery. “This one is the person I envision being — that’s who I want to project to be. And the other is who I am,” Wasser recounts the woman as saying. “Psychologically, it was interesting,” he continues, adding each fragrance-making process is different. 

One former client returned after a decade to create another scent. Wasser asked if she had fallen out of love with the initial bespoke perfume. The answer was no.

“But 10 years ago, I was not the same person,” Wasser remembers her saying. “I grew, I’m different and I want something new.”

He considers himself a translator of each person’s idea. “I give, but I receive much more love,” Wasser says.

Henry Jacques

Henry Jacques was founded almost a half-decade ago by Henry Jacques Cremona and his wife Yvette Cremona. Tailor-made perfumes were on offer from the start.

“Without ever talking about it, because there’s really this sense of secrecy and delicacy,” says his daughter Anne-Lise Cremona, now chief executive officer of the house.

She began running the company 14 years ago, keeping bespoke always at the heart of Henry Jacques. The ongoing practice in the Nineties and aughts ran countercurrent to prevailing trends for more mass-produced fragrances.

Henry Jacques has an ever-growing perfumery laboratory, which today is composed of natural olfactive components — more than 1,200 altogether — conceived in the South of France and used just for the brand. There, at the domain, Henry Jacques has its own fields of rose and jasmine for use as olfactive ingredients.

Cremona and her family “are carried away by the passion for beauty, the profession and creation,” she says, so Henry Jacques keeps servicing “great connoisseurs, great lovers of perfume.”

The Sur-Mesure process starts generally with a consultation in any one of the 10 Henry Jacques retail locations, which includes a flagship on Paris’ tony Avenue Montaigne.

“We have questions that are quite specific,” says Cremona. They also use “the tray,” a tool created by her with a committee of internal perfumers for blind olfactive sampling and emotion-led feedback. “There is nothing harder than talking about perfume. Sometimes what we think we like is not what we really like,” she says.

Clients can further sample scents from the in-house perfume collections to suss out their preferences. Next up is an exchange with the lab and then first samples are presented. 

“We often get it right very quickly,” says Cremona.

In general, it takes the house between five months to a year to come up with a bespoke scent. Henry Jacques works with artisans, such as crystal-makers, who can design made-to-measure flacons, as well as leather artisans and trunk-makers.

Cremona deems bespoke fragrance as being at the heart of the house. 

“I’m going to develop it even further,” she says. “There is not much more beautiful to offer than that. It represents a person. It is the ultimate refinement. It’s a very beautiful adventure.”

Henry Jacques’ Sur-Mesure creations can come in a variety of forms, such as essences, solids or mists. It’s for the client to choose which, as well as their bottle size and count.

Special orders might include made-to-measure furniture and even rooms created around a scent, too.

As an offshoot of Sur-Mesure, Henry Jacques has launched the All Intimacy offer. For that, the brand collaborates with well-known couples to share their story through their bespoke fragrance. The individuals create their own made-to-measure perfumes, which are then available to the public. Creations for Rafael Nadal and Maria Francisca Perello came out in 2022, while those for Heron Preston and Sabrina Albarello were released in November.

“We share the métier of perfume, the know-how, the time it took,” says Cremona. “We have so much to say around that.” 

Louis Vuitton

Cavallier-Belletrud started bespoke fragrances for the house in 2021. 

“Bespoke is in the DNA of the brand,” he says of the 170-year-old leather goods label, which began with made-to-order trunks and other items. 

Cavallier-Belletrud relaunched Vuitton in the fragrance market in 2016, 70 years after its last scent had been introduced. “It was [obvious] to develop this activity, as it is very Vuitton,” he says. “And it’s to bring even more luxury in the perfumery business activity in the brand and in general.

“It is the ultimate chic to have a perfume that you are the only one in the world to wear,” adds Cavallier-Belletrud.

He develops such scents with his daughter Camille. More often than not, they meet personally with a perspective client in Grasse, France, where Cavallier-Belletrud has headquarters at Les Fontaines Parfumées.

“So they can have the complete immersive experience with us around the perfume,” he says. “It’s probably more difficult to design a perfume for one person than for a million, because you have to know the history of the person, their taste. To achieve that, we have around 30 or 35 different natural raw materials and accords that we are evaluating together.”

That process takes about two to four hours. 

“What I’m seeking is what they hate — not what they love,” says Cavallier-Belletrud with a laugh. That helps him know what notes will never be used.

“If I use only what they love, I can associate some notes that they hate,” he says. “It’s always connected to the childhood and the experience of those people coming from many different cultures abroad, like the United States, Australia, China, Spain. So it’s very interesting to have this kind of intimacy with them.”

He asks why they want their own perfume. They dine together.

“We are just talking about human feelings and stories,” says Cavallier-Belletrud, explaining he and his daughter pour into the creation the related emotions. “Each project is unique, connected to the life of the person. It’s like haute couture. We are drawing some ideas, making a selection — of course, with Camille and the team here, and then we send around six ideas to the clients.”

By now the client is back home in the likes of California or Hong Kong, and a Zoom is set up to evaluate each proposal. One or two favorites surface, which then are worn.

“We continue to evaluate and see what we can do further,” says Cavallier-Belletrud. Some people are satisfied quickly, while others take more time.

“But this is not a problem, as we guarantee a full service as a tailor-made,” he says. 

The client is ultimately sent their small trunk in the color and skin of their choice, like exotic leather, Damier or Monogram. The solo offer includes 10 100-ml. fragrance bottles, one 100-ml. bottle with a travel case, one 7.5-ml. travel spray and 16 travel spray refills. The duo offer includes two sets of nine 100-ml. bottles, two 100-ml. fragrances with cases, two 7.5-ml. travel sprays and two sets of eight travel spray refills. Both the trunk and bottles, filled in Grasse, can be engraved.

“There is a kind of celebration here in Grasse with the client, or in their favorite store, where they made the order at the beginning,” says Cavallier-Belletrud.

Many return, he shares, adding: “Luxury is an experience.”

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Francis Kurkdjian began creating bespoke fragrances in 2001, when he was just back from the U.S. and before launching his eponymous brand in 2009. Terry de Gunzburg at the time had opened her bespoke makeup atelier in Paris. Kurkdjian thought: If there’s made-to-measure makeup, clothing, shoes and cars — why not perfume?

“At the time no one was talking about custom-made or bespoke in terms of fragrances,” he recalls. “It was more about going mass market.”

By chance, Kurkdjian then met de Gunzburg waiting for her luggage to arrive after a flight, introduced himself and made a scent for her. 

“Terry was my first client,” he says. Kurkdjian, then a full-time Quest employee, negotiated to work for himself partially on bespoke fragrances. At the time, those came in classic green bottles from old-time perfumers’ shelves. The exterior packaging was — and remains — handmade near Venice, Italy. The silk cord wrapped around the bottle’s neck is from France, and there’s a shopping bag developed specifically for Kurkdjian’s bespoke creations.

The first meeting always takes place over the phone. 

“Because when you speak over the phone, you have on one side a kind of intimacy with the voice,” says Kurkdjian. “But you don’t have the judgment of how you should dress, where it is. The visual doesn’t take over.

“I need my client to be engaged,” he continues. “Second, I need to make sure that she’s happy to switch perfume.”

That’s especially true when the bespoke fragrance is a gift, and sometimes in that instance the answer is “no.” Kurkdjian asks what scent the person wears, what their expectations are. He takes notes and tries to define an olfactive silhouette.

From his little travel perfume case that doubles as a portable mini lab — with pipettes, ingredients and a scale — together they can try out olfactive notes and combinations. Some ingredients are available in very limited quantities, but enough for a bespoke scent.

“Or what you can do also is use ancient techniques, like infusions,” Kurkdjian says. “The only limit you have is bringing in an ingredient that is not registered.”  

He next offers various samples for the person to try. 

“Usually, I ask my client to wear it for at least a week,” says Kurkdjian, who calls them after that time to get comments. “It’s a long process and not so easy.”

On average this can take six to eight months. One client in Switzerland ordered three perfumes back-to-back — one for day, another for night and the third for special occasions.

To him, bespoke is a head-to-toe service. “So basically, I am at the disposal of my client,” says Kurkdjian. “Where do you want me to go? When?”

For follow-up visits he has flown, for instance, to Marrakesh, New York, London and Switzerland — Geneva and Gstaad — and the French Riviera. It’s all about where the client feels best. So he is reachable anytime, anywhere. They have his number.

“Bespoke perfume is not only having your own perfume. It’s also to learn about the craft and to share with someone who is passionate the experience and some knowledge,” says Kurkdjian. “There are a lot of questions about how it works. I try to make it very immersive.”

He asks how many bottles of fragrance the customer wants and where should they be sent. Refills and ancillaries are possible, and shipments can be made to almost anywhere.

“This is part, to me, of exclusivity and of custom-made,” says Kurkdjian, who with bespoke pushes the boundaries of his own work. 

With one client, out of Taiwan, he crafted a fragrance in order to offer 150 bottles of perfume to guests at a party in Venice. Another, in Abu Dhabi, wanted perfume, as well as scented burning paper and candles, all with the same fragrance.

“I love those projects,” says Kurkdjian, who has scented events with bubbles. He’s also perfumed fans and leather goods from L’Atelier Renard.

For a made-to-measure fragrance, Kurkdjian provides a certificate of exclusive, endless use for the client and his or her family. The creations are celebrated with a small, confidential dinner or lunch.