Alchemy and Artistry

Guerlain’s master perfumer Thierry Wasser introduces Tobacco Honey, the newest addition to the maison’s coveted L’Art & La Matière haute parfumerie collection

- Nafeesa Saini

A celebrated figure in the fragrance world, Thierry Wasser stands out as a perfumer without pretence. The Guerlain master perfumer was in Singapore for the opening of the maison’s flagship boutique in Ion Orchard this September and conducted an exclusive masterclass, jointly organised with Raffles Prestige, for friends of Tatler. With every interaction, including this interview, his candid honesty catches us off guard. For one, he is dismissive of his own legacy. He also does not believe in overcomplicating fragrances.

His journey into the world of scents is as unconventional as he is: “I got into this trade by chance, thanks to a series of encounters,” he shares. As a child growing up in a bucolic Swiss village near Lake Geneva, he developed an early fondness for gathering medicinal herbs. “It was my passion. I had a strong connection with plants and the seasons,” he says. “Fifty years on, this knowledge still serves me well.”

Fate would smile upon Wasser twice: first when he was identified by a herbalist apprenticeship school despite quitting his studies at age 15, and second when he caught the eye of the head of the Givaudan Perfumery School in Geneva at 20. “I was a school dropout,” he readily admits. “But they saw something in me and trusted me.”