Carving a FRAGRANT NICHE

Bazaar India spoke to Martine Micallef, Co-founder of luxury fragrance brand M.Micallef, on the launch of the Maison's new scent, the future of the industry, and the one ingredient she would use to create an India-inspired perfume.

- MEGHNA SHARMA

Harper’s Bazaar: Tell us about the origin of your eponymous brand M. Micallef.

Martine Micallef: “My journey began 26 years ago, when my husband Geoffrey [Nejman] and I decided to launch a perfume business together. In the beginning, we didn’t know much about the fragrance industry. My husband was a banker, while I, at the time, ran a beauty salon—it was my first business. One night, I asked Geoffrey, ‘Why don’t we start a perfume business?’. He was not thrilled at first, as we didn’t have any experience in this area, we didn’t have a business plan, and we had no ‘brand name’ or goodwill.

But I am an artist first... I knew exactly what I wanted to create. I used to meet a lot of women in my beauty salon and that gave me a fair idea of what women liked. I assured my husband that I knew what I was doing, and I made him meet Jean-Claude Astier, a senior perfumer, who’s also my mentor. And he helped create scents for us.”

HB: Did you and Jean-Claude work together to create the fragrances?

MM: “My husband and I travel a lot, so we brought a lot of ingredients from different countries, and we tried to create new fragrances with Jean-Claude. Slowly and steadily, we reached a stage where our brand was recognised and appreciated for the unexpected blends.

It was almost like a love story that unravelled. Geoffrey and I wanted to do something together—I am creative and he is good with numbers, and because of this combination, we were able to manage the different departments well.”