Le Male

Over the summer, in preparation for the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of the "Book For Men", distributed by SHARP magazine, I had the most wonderful opportunity to interview Francis Kurkdjian. Although certainly not a household name, Kurkdjian has worked with some of the most influential designers and fashion houses in the industry, from Dior and Lanvin to Ferragamo and Gaultier, as a master perfumer. In fact, Kurkdjian is responsible for creating the most commercially successful cologne in the marketplace (Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier), and was able to do so right out of school, no less. In other words, he's kind of a big deal. Calling into Paris on a sunny morning in Toronto, I was pleased to find out that the man remained polite and charming, despite his reputation and success. We chatted about his triumphs and history, work in the industry, experiences with designers, and the process required to create a scent, from formulation to production. It truly was a fascinating discussion! You can read my article in the F/W 2011 issue of the "Book for Men", by SHARP magazine, or continue below! I've included supplementary material from the interview that we weren't able to fit into the book, so please enjoy!

FRANCIS KURKDJIAN

The "Nose" of Gaultier

We recently sat down with perfumer, Francis Kurkdjian, to discuss his work with Jean Paul Gaultier and all things “fragrance”. The man has much to be proud of (after all, his first fragrance out of perfumery school just so happens to be the most commercially successful male scent to hit the market), but his achievements are all products of disciplined, hard work, and a reflection of his insight in the industry. 

Lance Chung: Thank you for sitting down with us!

Francis Kurkdjian: It is my pleasure.

LC: When creating a new fragrance, where do you like to draw inspiration from?

FK: It depends on who I have to work for. If it's for another brand, usually I'm given some direction to create. I just created the new fragrance for Elie Saab, so basically I got inspiration from his work, where he comes from, ideas he may have had, the way he thinks a woman should wear a dress or not, and more. It all depends. If it comes from my own company, because I have my own label, it depends on my mood really. I have many sources of inspiration from music to ballet to literature – a single word can be very inspiring. I draw inspiration from what I see and experience around me. 

LC:  Did you work directly with Mr. Jean Paul Gaultier?

FK: I worked directly with the team that he was a part of to create the fragrance. It wasn't a one-to-one conversation, but more of an open discussion. He has the first input and the final choice, but creating a fragrance is far different from creating a dress. It's not better or worse, it's just a different process. Jean Paul Gaultier doesn't have the background knowledge, so we need to make sure that the process runs smooth.

LC: How did Gaultier provide input?

FK: There is always a starting point, there is always an input. For Le Male [Kurkdjian's first fragrance], it was very precise, yet simple. There were two main concepts that we wanted in the fragrance. The first was a tribute to the old barbershops– a very chic and elegant old style. Yet, he also wanted something edible in the sense that you felt like you could eat the scent off a man's skin. It's very open. You get barbershop and male sexuality, and you have to come up with something.

LC: Is there an open dialogue between the team and Mr. Gaultier, or does he give you a couple notes to give you direction?

FK: Jean Paul Gaultier never talks about aromatives. He might think of something to give an example of what he thinks instead. I remember for Madame, he wanted something sunny and bright. So he was thinking of something orange. It doesn't mean you have to give something that smells like orange, it's just an example of something that makes him happy. That's what happened with Le Male, he said he wanted to be able to “eat” the scent, not in the sense of something chocolatey or sweet or food-like, but just the idea that you are so excited to be with your man, that you want to eat him. You want to put your nose in his neck, you want to grab him. It's all about the imagery behind the word. You can't take his words literally. 

LC: Did you come up with a variety of scents to present to him?

FK: On that specific case [Le Male], the whole process was very competitive between the different fragrance houses, with each containing about ten different perfumers. So I was about 1 out of 40 perfumers. What happened was I submitted three fragrances, where out of these three, right away, they had a crush on one of them. I gave them good names to give them a feeling of what the fragrance was about. 

LC: When you are creating a new fragrance, is there a certain man or woman that you envision specifically?

FK: It really depends on the moment. When you work for a fashion designer, they all have the same language. They all think that the men or women are sexy, glamourous, feminine or masculine, and that they are very chic and elegant. You don't go beyond that. So you have to really focus on the designer you work for. If I'm not invited to the fashion shows, I try to get videotapes, watch interviews and more, to get a feeling of what these words mean to them. I always say that when you create for someone else, you have to be like an actor. You have to play a script , which is not written by you. You have to find a precise fit and common language so that when you create the fragrance, you are in their environment. 

LC: What kind of expertise is needed in order to create a new fragrance?

FK: It's like cooking. You have cooks, and then you have chefs. It's not only about mixing things that come up into your mind, but you have to make sure that it's done properly. It's almost like working as an architect. You may draw something on the paper, but you have to make sure that it stands up and doesn’t fall apart. The perfume technique is very similar to that.

LC: What kind of experience and education did you acquire?

FK: I went to a perfumer school and then had an internship in a fragrance company. Then I created Le Male, which was my very first fragrance when I was 24-25 years old. I was a baby perfumer basically. 

LC: And that was one of your highest selling fragrances.

FK: So far, no one has done better. In each store where Le Male is sold, it is the #1 fragrance. 

LC: You did very well, especially for your first fragrance! Now, Le Male is composed of mint, bergamot, lavender, orange blossom, cinnamon, vanilla, and sandal-wood. How do you know what combination of ingredients would smell good together?

FK: Sometimes, when you write the formula, it comes right away. You have something that smells good. The process to get there is very hard to explain because it is something between what you know and what you feel. I would say it's intuition because it's what you  feel, but then it’s work, and you have to try and think. You need a lot of thinking before doing something.

LC: In the case of Le Male?

FK: The process for Le Male was very short because I was very young, and it was my first big project that I worked on. So basically, I kept the formulas very short because it's the best way to get to the point quickly and see when something is wrong, and where the problem is coming from. That technique and simplicity is a part of my work. I'm known to have rather simple formulas. Simple doesn't mean simplistic. It's very much a, “less is more” concept. So far, no other masculine fragrances have beaten or achieved what Le Male has done.

LC: When you're creating a fragrance, how do you know when you're finished?

FK: You have two things: timing and process. With timing, basically if you have nine months to create a fragrance, you will be given nine months. If you have two weeks, you will have two weeks. So, it is something that is very important. Next is the process, which is very much different from fashion. Fashion, when you have to present a collection, you can work until the last minute. As you present the collection three to six months before the season, you have the time to fix things. Perfume is the reverse. You finish the fragrance, perform the prediction three months before launching the fragrance, and then you must reproduce the product. So it goes through an industrial process that asks you to stop at some point. And regardless of if you are happy or unhappy, you have to stop. You have to really control your timing and make sure to deliver.

LC: The process of creating a fragrance seems very meticulous and precise, is there a big difference if you make a small change in a recipe? Say adding or taking out a drop of one ingredient?

FK: The drop might change the story. It depends on the strength of the product that you add because you will have a trace of something that can make a huge difference. It's like a cooking recipe. Think about the proportion of an apple tart. If you add too much sugar, you will ruin the recipe. Basically, it's not because you're adding or taking away a small amount, it's more about the impact of that product within the formula that makes the difference. It can tell you a different story, because the concept and balance are number one in perfume. You can go from jasmine notes to rose to lilly of the valley, with the same 5 ingredients. So it's not only about the ingredients, but the combinations within the ingredients. It's like colours. If you add red and white to get a pink, it depends on the combination between the red and white to get a darker pink, or a pale pink, or a white with a trace of red inside. 

LC: What are the fundamental differences between male and female scents, aside from the obvious? 

FK: The technique is the same, and the rigor is the same, but it's more about the combination of things you put together. It's not about using or not using materials. It's like the colours of fashion. When you think about it, men can wear pink just like women. But you may not see as much pink on men, as you see on women. It also depends on who you work for. If you go to the middle east, men's perfume there is, from a western point of view, very feminine. But in the middle east, they are not. So it depends on the cultural codes as well. 

LC: Similar to fashion and how there are different trends every season, is there a trend cycle for fragrances?

FK: It takes time for fragrances to really become a trend because a perfume moment is much slower than the one you have in fashion. In fashion, everybody shows their work at once at the same time, twice a year, if not more. When you want to create a perfume, you have many different components: you have to create the fragrance, you have the bottling, then you have to ensure that it is safe to use. It takes at least up to a year to come up with a fragrance. So everybody shows their work, or their fragrance, at a different time. It takes at least five years to tell if there is a trend, which is not like when you go to a fashion show and you can tell when everyone is using blue or stripes or things like that to tell you that there is a trend. In perfume, the time is much longer. The cycles are very long. 

LC: Do you see any direction that fragrance is heading in?

FK: I don't really believe in trends, I dislike them. If you see trends in perfume, you might repeat yourself too much, and i'm not known for that. My work is known for doing few, but unique, fragrances. Usually what I do is try to follow each designer I work for. The designers I work for are very unique, like John Galliano (Dior), and known to create something different. I think if you try to think of a trend, it means they are already out in the market. If you want to be ahead of the trend, you are better to not look at what's happening. You do things on your own. 

LC: Well, thank you for sitting down with us. It was an honour to speak to you!

FK: Thank you very much!